Advice please

[Captainfester]

Hoping for a little input on a raspberry wheat. I brewed boundary waters wheat from Midwest. My buddies want to make it a raswheat so I am planning on doing half the batch -2.5 gallons.

I have read as much as I can find here about raspberry-ing. But most of the info is scattered and partial at best.

Here's my plan. I'm going to buy whole frozen raspberries 1.5 lbs for the 2.5 gallons. Going to thaw them and cook them on the stove. Bring them to about 175 degrees for about 15 minutes or until it's a consistent 170 degrees.

The mash them.

Place in cheese cloth or grain bag in the carboy and rack onto for 1 week.

Thoughts, comments, advice? Thanks in advance.

 

[SwillyBilly]

I can't comment on fresh raspberries but I racked 3 gallons of witbier over 3 lbs of raspberry puree and it came out with a pretty good raspberry flavor. Not too sweet, a little tart.

 

[DoctorMemory]

I don't know much about raspberries, but I would think after you mash them, they're going to be too runny to stay in a grain bag. I'd recommend filtering them through some cheesecloth to get the seeds out, then just put whatever's left in the carboy w/o a bag.

 

[SwillyBilly]

Any thing that makes it through the filter will settle out in the car boy and not make it into bottling. You should be fine.

 

[Captainfester]

Swilly. I want the raspberry to be a secondary flavor. Not over powering. Is that what u got with a 1:1 ratio or should I go less?

 

[BradleyBrew]

I would go with raspberry puree. I just brewed a 5 gallon batch of a Hefe and i'm going to experiment with 1 gallon over some cherry puree.

 

[SwillyBilly]

Swilly. I want the raspberry to be a secondary flavor. Not over powering. Is that what u got with a 1:1 ratio or should I go less?

The aroma is definitely raspberry. The taste isn't overpowering but is definitely there. I didn't add any other spices or citrus so the raspberry flavor is a little more prominent.

If you have two secondaries you can rack 2 gallons over two lbs puree and 3 gallons over 1 lb puree. Just a suggestion.