chocolate rasberry imperial stout very tart

[BullGator]

So I wanted to brew a chocolate raspberry imperial stout so I started with researching chocolate imperial stouts and brewed up what I thought was an extremely good chocolate imperial stout (in my humble opinion). I then researched adding raspberries and hesitatingly added 4lb of raspberry puree (boiled for only a few minutes) into my secondary and racked my beer on top. So I sampled tonight after 10 days and I am not very happy. I do taste a subtle raspberry flavor but I am overwhelmed by the sourness/tartness. What should I do? Do I leave it to get more fruit flavor? Would adding some unfermentable sugar in the keg quiet the sourness? Did I just ruin my wonderful chocolate imperial stout? Thanks in advance for the help.

If it helps my gravity prior to rasberries was 1.023 and after adding the rasberries and waiting 10 days the gravity is again 1.023.

Now I never stirred the secondary. I tried swirling but perhaps I should try and get something in the carboy and stir? I only say this because I am not 100% sure fermentation restarted again after I added the rasberries. I think my yeast may have been whipped by the primary fermentation because I saw very little if any air-lock activity after adding the fruit. It is a 10.4% abv beer so I imagine this is possible. Anyways, what do you think?

 

[whatsleftofyou]

I did that to a stout once. It's been over two years since I brewed it and the raspberry is finally at a manageable level.

 

[BullGator]

Anybody have any suggestions?

 

[whatsleftofyou]

The raspberry puree probably only added 3-4 points of gravity, so fermentation is likely done. Regarding how tart it is, either wait forever for it to age out, or brew it again without the raspberries and blend it.

 

[VillageBrew]

How many times did you check your final gravity and how long did you have it in the primary? 1.023 sounds high to me. Imperial stouts are BIG beers that require some time to fully ferment out. It possibly could have been stuck and you racked on top of an incomplete fermentation. 4 lbs is a lot of fruit, but there really isn't any thing that I can think of except to wait several more weeks and wait it see how it turns out.

 

[BullGator]

How many times did you check your final gravity and how long did you have it in the primary? 1.023 sounds high to me. Imperial stouts are BIG beers that require some time to fully ferment out. It possibly could have been stuck and you racked on top of an incomplete fermentation. 4 lbs is a lot of fruit, but there really isn't any thing that I can think of except to wait several more weeks and wait it see how it turns out.

I thought about it not being done but it was in primary for at least 2 weeks. I was also expecting slightly lower final gravity but I think my yeast may have been done. I pitched a crap ton of yeast but I think the abv over 10 might have done them in.

So should I leave it alone for a few more weeks and see what happens? Or perhaps put it in the keg and let it sit for a few more weeks? My friend recommended putting it in a keg with some sugar to help cut the tartness (and in the keg I won't have to worry about little bombs) .

 

[whatsleftofyou]

1.023 is not all that high for a RIS. Plus if it was under-attenuated it'd be sweeter, not tart. You could keg it with some sugar (assuming that you keep it cold) or lactose to help balance it a bit.

 

[BullGator]

1.023 is not all that high for a RIS. Plus if it was under-attenuated it'd be sweeter, not tart. You could keg it with some sugar (assuming that you keep it cold) or lactose to help balance it a bit.

How much do you recommend? Start out with a cup?

 

[one8tvw]

Let it go to at least 21 days on fruit. And I suggest adding about 8-16oz lactose to bottling/kegging

 

[whatsleftofyou]

I agree with one8tvw. Start out with 8oz of lactose. If it's still not where you want it, add 8oz more. Make sure you boil and cool it like you would priming sugar.

 

[etrain666]

Recently brewed a raspberry porter and think its one of my best beers to date. Based on suggestions from a fellow brewer I pureed the raspberries, but did not boil. I think this can alter the flavor you are looking for too drastically. Instead, I threw the (frozen) berries into a well sanitized blender and then dumped into the secondary. I only used 1.5 pounds for a 5 gallon batch. The flavor is a nice balance of sweet berrie and chocolate malt.