Raspberry Wheat Recipe Help

[petersusaf]

Hey everyone,

My wife has been asking for me to make a fruit beer for the upcoming holidays. I think a raspberry wheat would be a good one to give a shot. I've mostly done darker beers and would enjoy some experience in making a lighter beer. I've played with a few recipes and I think I have a good one.

Any tips/ideas/critiques would be greatly appreciated!

RECIPE

6lbs Wheat LME
4oz Carafoam malt
4oz Carahell malt
1oz Willamette Hops 60min
1oz Cascade Hops 5min

Yeast US-05

Primary for 3 weeks
then
Add 3 pounds of raspberry to secondary fermenter for 4 weeks.


I want a strong raspberry taste as well as color to this beer.

Do you think 3 pounds is a good amount to add?

Should I clean the raspberries, freeze, thaw and then add to the secondary? Not sure how others have done it in the past successfully.

Thanks for all your help everyone! This forum is the greatest.

 

[beerme70]

Hey everyone,

My wife has been asking for me to make a fruit beer for the upcoming holidays. I think a raspberry wheat would be a good one to give a shot. I've mostly done darker beers and would enjoy some experience in making a lighter beer. I've played with a few recipes and I think I have a good one.

Any tips/ideas/critiques would be greatly appreciated!

RECIPE

6lbs Wheat LME
4oz Carafoam malt
4oz Carahell malt
1oz Willamette Hops 60min
1oz Cascade Hops 5min

Yeast US-05

Primary for 3 weeks
then
Add 3 pounds of raspberry to secondary fermenter for 4 weeks.


I want a strong raspberry taste as well as color to this beer.

Do you think 3 pounds is a good amount to add?

Should I clean the raspberries, freeze, thaw and then add to the secondary? Not sure how others have done it in the past successfully.

Thanks for all your help everyone! This forum is the greatest.

Sounds like a tasty recipe. Raspberry Wheat is one of my favs to brew, well, next to a good thick stout, but I digress. With that being said, may I give a few suggestions. I would eliminate the carafoam and go with 1 lb. of chrystal 10L. Better flavors IMO. Also, use hallertauer and tettnanger hops. I have found that hallertauer (4.8 IBU) for bittering and tettnaner (4.5 IBU) for aroma hits the spot. Quantities and duration for the hops, though, is all up to what you like. Try Wyeast 3068 instead. As for the raspberries, I usually used extract (I know that is taboo, but it's easier). If you are hell-bent on using real fruit, I would get frozen right from the store (make sure it's 100% berries with no added sugar). The flash freezing from the "factory" with perforate the berry hulls, allowing all the goodies to break down easier. Set the bag out and let them thaw, and add them to your secondary fermenter, then rack. Let that sit for about two weeks, then (and this is just me) rack one more time to get the yummy goodness off of the berries and seeds. Let that settle for about a week or so, then bottle away. But, if it's a strong raspberry flavor you are looking for, I would just put 4 oz. of extract in your bottling bucket.

 

[atoughram]

Sounds a bit bitter in my opinion - my 10 gallon recipe uses 1.5 oz of Herbruckers for kettle hops and the other .5 oz goes in the last 5 minutes for aroma. I've also used Raspberry Extract exclusively, but the next batch is getting real fruit - I'm cleaning out the freezer!

IIRC - My Wheat Beer is around 11 IBU's and the OG is 1.046 - some like it hoppy... not me

 

[beerme70]

My all grain recipe has .5 oz Hallertauer for 40 minutes, .5 oz, tettnang for 20 minutes, and .5 oz. Hallertauer Hersbrucker (4.0 IBU) for 10 minutes. 7.5 gallon pre-boil volume, 90 minute boil. That gives me about 14 IBU's, according to BeerSmith.

 

[Epiphanic]

Three pounds of raspberries for five gallons works well. That's the ratio that I use for my raspberry saison.

As for the raspberries, I usually used extract (I know that is taboo, but it's easier). If you are hell-bent on using real fruit, I would get frozen right from the store (make sure it's 100% berries with no added sugar). The flash freezing from the "factory" with perforate the berry hulls, allowing all the goodies to break down easier.

I disagree using pre-frozen berries however. The first couple of times I brewed my saison I bought fresh raspberries, froze them in my freezer, thawed them, and racked on top. The third time I decided to "cut out the middle man" in sense and bought frozen raspberries. That batch had a sour tartness that I didn't like. I went back to using fresh raspberries and immediately noticed an improvement.

That's my experience.

 

[Sudz_Makenzie]

+1 When I did my rapsberry wheat, mine turned out sour and tart as well. Sticking with extract for now.

 

[petersusaf]

Thanks for all the help! I think I have the recipe dialed down now.

RECIPE

6lbs Wheat LME
1lb Crystal 10
4oz Carahell malt
1oz Hallertauer Hops 60min
1oz Tettnager Hops 5min

Yeast - Wyeast 3068

Primary - 3 weeks
Secondary - 2 weeks with 3 pounds fresh raspberries.
Tertiary - 1 week

Probably going to brew it up this weekend!

Thanks again.

 

[beerme70]

Thanks for all the help! I think I have the recipe dialed down now.

RECIPE

6lbs Wheat LME
1lb Crystal 10
4oz Carahell malt
1oz Hallertauer Hops 60min
1oz Tettnager Hops 5min

Yeast - Wyeast 3068

Primary - 3 weeks
Secondary - 2 weeks with 3 pounds fresh raspberries.
Tertiary - 1 week

Probably going to brew it up this weekend!

Thanks again.

You have to let us know how it comes out! You will not be disappointed in the choice of hops IMO.

 

[bondra76]

good luck - I just finished an Epic Brainless Raspberry Wheat clone.

I used fresh fruit and regret it. It came out sour. If I do it again I would probably be using extract. I don't like sour beer at all and this might be my first keg I kick without drinking it. I put a lot of work into it and was disappointed.

 

[petersusaf]

Hey everyone, thought I'd give an update. Took me a little while to get to brewing but I managed to find the time three weeks ago.

I just transferred the beer on top of the raspberries. I gave an initial taste and so far it tastes fantastic. Full of flavor.

Going to let it sit two more weeks and I'll probably bottle it. Going to try to have it done by Christmas.

Sorry my picture isn't so good. I got shaky hands from the military.

Thanks again for everyone's advice.

Cheers

View attachment 1416703950007.jpg

 

[bondra76]

Thanks for the update

I have an update on mine as well actually - mine came out tasting sour like hell when I kegged it. After about 90 days it has mellowed out and tastes fantastic. Most fruit tastes subside after a while but for me this raspberry wheat recipe I've tried actually needed aging to come full circle.