brewed first fruit beer...bitter!

[aaronwillen]

I brewed up a raspberry wit from a wit recipe i brewed up a while back. It tastes surprisingly bitter. Any fruit beer brewers: will this age out or is it just somethign im goign to have to deal with? Other than that I like how it tastes...I know green beer can be a bit bitter...and this is prob about 3 weeks old so I am hoping for the best!

 

[dwarven_stout]

What's the recipe? Did you taste the beer before adding raspberry?

 

[GLWIII]

I bet it needs more time. I had the same issue with a Raspberry Stout that I recently made. It called for waiting four weeks before trying. At that time it was bitter and tart. After about eight weeks it really rounded out well and continues to improve as the days go by.

 

[mr_clean]

Maybe its the yeast.I made a cherry ale and i used windsor yeast and it was very bitter.

 

[KirkC]

Subscribed. I'm having the same issue. I brewed a Raspberry Honey Ale May 1. Used real raspberries in the secondary and it was a bitter bad boy at bottle time. I haven't tried it since, figured I'd give it some time to mellow. The raspberries I used tasted pretty bitter when I added them. I'm guessing it will mellow but I have my doubts if it will sweeten up any.

Anyone experienced in homebrewed fruit beer have any ideas?

 

[skybrew]

I made a Raspberry Kolsch last year, it did get better with time.
I brewed the same recipe this year but I added honey at flame out to try and balance out the tartness of the raspberries. I tried a sample when I was kegging it and it seemed to be less tart. It is on the gas right now carbing up so I will see how it tastes cold and carbed in a couple of weeks.

 

[pericles]

Your yeast will eat up all the sugars in the fruit, so you're not left with much of the "sweet." You can counter that by either using fruit extract in lieu of real fruit, or by adding a sugar that the yeast can't digest like lactose or something like splenda. Ultimately, the best choice is probably to use LESS fruit, and aiming for a more subtle flavor. That way the leftover bitter won't be overpowering.

 

[aaronwillen]

now that this beer is actually carbed up it does taste a lot less bitter....but still needs to round out a bit. Last time I made the base recipe without the raspberries it tasted like absolute crap...then one day I tasted it after 2 weeks in the keg and it tasted INSANE it was great! I find that wheat beers taste watery as hell before they are ready. Then my new kegerator FROZE the whole keg before i got temp issues figured out...which made the beer taste horrible again...oh well!

 

[MgMt_Home_Brew]

Your yeast will eat up all the sugars in the fruit, so you're not left with much of the "sweet." You can counter that by either using fruit extract in lieu of real fruit, or by adding a sugar that the yeast can't digest like lactose or something like splenda. Ultimately, the best choice is probably to use LESS fruit, and aiming for a more subtle flavor. That way the leftover bitter won't be overpowering.

I second this. The sugars in the fruit will be eaten so don't expect a nice sweet fruit flavor.

 

[Bobby_M]

If you take a recipe that wasn't intended to be fruited, you have to drop the IBU down a bit because most fruits add an extra tartness. It's the same as souring a beer in that regard.