Color Question (Blackberry and Raspberries)

[Virginia_Ranger]

So I have a 9 SRM base beer that is being racked onto blackberries and raspberries (20 oz even split for a 1.5 gallon batch). I am hoping for a purple / pinkish color but am scared my base beer was too dark. Any thoughts or experience? Also bonus points, has any one achieved layered colors in beer yet almost like a cosmos swirl?

 

[rburrelli]

Closest I have seen to multi colored beer is a traditional Black and Tan. Don’t know exactly how that works though.

 

[InspectorJon]

Black and Tan is based on different final gravity beers. The lower gravity beer will float on top of a higher gravity beer if it is poured carefully.

 

[Dgallo]

So I have a 9 SRM base beer that is being racked onto blackberries and raspberries (20 oz even split for a 1.5 gallon batch). I am hoping for a purple / pinkish color but am scared my base beer was too dark. Any thoughts or experience? Also bonus points, has any one achieved layered colors in beer yet almost like a cosmos swirl?

The lighter the beer the easier it is for it to pick up colors from the fruits. Darker beers can pick up color too but with the already darker hue, you may be get a deeper crimson look. I can give you some idea about the difference in color between raspberries vs. darker berry fruits

This is a a sour I did with red raspberry (prefruit srm est 4.8)

This is a sour with blueberry, black raspberry, and hibiscus (est srm prefruit 5.1) which def provided a slightly more purple hue

 

[day_trippr]

^beautiful colors^ - that first one is amazing, I wouldn't have imagined a beer could appear so vividly colored...

Cheers!

 

[Virginia_Ranger]

Thanks! Pictures are very helpful!

 

[day_trippr]

May I ask how much raspberry (and in what form) that first beer required to appear so amazing?

Cheers!

 

[AzOr]

Blackberries are very dark in a beer/cider.
I once made 2 batches of cider. One regular and one fermented w 3lbs per 5 gallons of blackberries. I was transferring reg cider into keg and I had a couple of ounces of blackberry cider in the auto siphon. It turned the regular batch of cider a gross dishwater color. Tastes fine but the appearance was gross.
Strong stuff.

 

[Dgallo]

May I ask how much raspberry (and in what form) that first beer required to appear so amazing?

Cheers!

6lbs of frozen raspberries that I puréed with a 1.5 pints of water .75lbs of lactose and a 1 cup of dme to maintain the body

I used a slightly modified version of my NEIPA grain bill for that beer and I think the hazyness helped the way the light passed through it to truly let the color pop. This is the same beer 2.5 months later after it cleared some. Still great color just slightly less vibrant

 

[Rob2010SS]

6lbs of frozen raspberries that I puréed with a 1.5 pints of water .75lbs of lactose and a 1 cup of dme to maintain the body

I used a slightly modified version of my NEIPA grain bill for that beer and I think the hazyness helped the way the light passed through it to truly let the color pop. This is the same beer 2.5 months later after it cleared some. Still great color just slightly less vibrant
View attachment 658350

@Dgallo Was this 6lbs of raspberries for a 5 gallon batch?

Also, how did you decide how much lactose to use in the puree to maintain body? Was it a calculator you used or just from experience?

 

[Dgallo]

@Dgallo Was this 6lbs of raspberries for a 5 gallon batch?

Also, how did you decide how much lactose to use in the puree to maintain body? Was it a calculator you used or just from experience?

6 lbs for 5.5lb in FV to account for loss.

It was just experience using this process. When adding the pint of water and the fruit it was adding more water that sugar to the beer and slightly diluted it. This is why I used the DME in the water to be 10 GU points above my OG to compensate for this. The lactose wasn’t necessarily added for that, it was already in the recipe for the style. I’ve adjusted this recipe since and now add 1.25lbs of lactose

 

[Rob2010SS]

6 lbs for 5.5lb in FV to account for loss.

It was just experience using this process. When adding the pint of water and the fruit it was adding more water that sugar to the beer and slightly diluted it. This is why I used the DME in the water to be 10 GU points above my OG to compensate for this. The lactose wasn’t necessarily added for that, it was already in the recipe for the style. I’ve adjusted this recipe since and now add 1.25lbs of lactose

Ok, so you pureed the fruit with water, DME, AND lactose? You just used enough DME in the pint of water to get it 10 pts above the gravity of your beer? So if your finished gravity was 1.020, you used enough DME to get to 1.030 in that pint?

Am I understanding that right?

 

[Dgallo]

Ok, so you pureed the fruit with water, DME, AND lactose? You just used enough DME in the pint of water to get it 10 pts above the gravity of your beer? So if your finished gravity was 1.020, you used enough DME to get to 1.030 in that pint?

Am I understanding that right?

You got everything right but I based your 16 oz of water and the 1 cup of dme to be 10 points over the og. Og was 1.074 so I mixed 4 oz of dme in a .5 L of water to get a 1.084

 

[Rob2010SS]

You got everything right but I based your 16 oz of water and the 1 cup of dme to be 10 points over the og. Og was 1.074 so I mixed 4 oz of dme in a .5 L of water to get a 1.084

Awesome.

What's been your experience with pureed fruit and how much space it takes up in the fermenter? Trying to figure out how much 18 lbs of fruit is going to take up.

 

[Dgallo]

Awesome.

What's been your experience with pureed fruit and how much space it takes up in the fermenter? Trying to figure out how much 18 lbs of fruit is going to take up.

I’ll send you a picture a little later, I have a farmhouse going with an equivalent ratio of fruit to wort/fv size so you’ll be able to get some idea.

 

[day_trippr]

Seems like I answered a similar question yesterday: I've done 20 gallons of raspberry hibiscus wheat beer and it's been pretty close to a pint per pound of puree...

Cheers!

 

[Rob2010SS]

Seems like I answered a similar question yesterday: I've done 20 gallons of raspberry hibiscus wheat beer and it's been pretty close to a pint per pound of puree...

Cheers!

You did and thank you @day_trippr . I figured I'd get a couple more pieces of input and just see if multiple experiences fall into the same kind of numbers.

 

[day_trippr]

Oh, well, right then. Carry on

Cheers!