Raspberries: To boil or not to noil

I am making a light raspberry brew for a friend. Should I add the raspberries on the tale end of the boil or put them to the secondary? Simple question but the answer will make or break my delicious brew. Thanks

secondary...boiling will set the pectin, fine if your making jams or jellies but not good for beer or wine.

DONT BOIL THE RASPBERRIES!

Have some sense for goodness sake,! add them to primary after fermentation is done, or to secondary.

If you boil them, dont say we didnt warn you.

Okay, while waiting for a reply, which didn't take long, I read what Papazian had to say, which is NEVER to boil fruit. For the time being I have reached a resolution of this particular recipe, but now I have to ask another question. Does fruit add anything other than flavor. Are the sugars fermentable?

ShameBrews said:

Okay, while waiting for a reply, which didn't take long, I read what Papazian had to say, which is NEVER to boil fruit. For the time being I have reached a resolution of this particular recipe, but now I have to ask another question. Does fruit add anything other than flavor. Are the sugars fermentable?

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Yes, the sugars are fermentable. Many of us make wine out of fruit.

If you have a food mill, it might not be a bad thing to run it through there? perhaps? (noob guessing) Maybe just put the berries in a grain sock?

crush your fruit. yes the sugars from fruit are fermentable and as such tend to dry a beer out a bit in mouthfeel so back off your bittering hops a bit. not much mind you just 5-10 ibus if u use a brewsoftware system.

Freeze them lightly before you add them to primary (or secondary), to break down the cell walls.

When I make a raspberry ale, I add the berries and finishing hops after flame out, and steep for 15 minutes. Then I pour everything into the primary fermenter. I use frozen berries, and usually thaw them first. This last time I didn't thaw them, but tossed them in frozen, and it worked just fine. I rack to a secondary fermenter after fermentation is complete, leaving behind as much of the berries as possible.

However, I will admit my beer is not clear. But then, my beers often aren't, and it doesn't bother me.

Chicken,
Clear beer is overrated.

Yooper, the simplest answer is usually correct and your answer to my question about fermentability, wine is a good example of both. I feel dumb for asking that really. I think I will have to experiment a little bit to figure out what kind of a contribution I can expect from the raspberries. For now I will add them after a week or so. I will try Chicken's technique next time.

ShameBrews said:

Yooper, the simplest answer is usually correct and your answer to my question about fermentability, wine is a good example of both. I feel dumb for asking that really. I think I will have to experiment a little bit to figure out what kind of a contribution I can expect from the raspberries. For now I will add them after a week or so. I will try Chicken's technique next time.

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Oh, no, I didn't mention wine to make you feel dumb! It was just a comment on the fermentability of fruit. Most fruits don't have enough natural sugar to stand on their own to make wine- even apple juice comes in at about 1.045 or so (makes a great cider!). A pound of raspberries will give you some fermentable sugar- but not a whole lot. Still, they will ferment out and leave behind the fruity flavor.