Fresh Raspberries or Frozen?

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andy6026

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I’m assembling ingredients to make a 10 gallon batch of raspberry wheat beer. Will it make a difference if I use frozen raspberries or should I only use fresh? The price is certainly different, but I’ll pay for it if I have to.
 
I use frozen raspberries in a lot of beers. I used to use fresh (when available), but considering that I froze them anyway (to help break down cell walls), and the fact that I couldn't tell any difference in the beers, I stopped buying fresh.
 
I would use fresh only if they're in season... and pasteurize them before adding them to your beer. If not I think that frozen is the better/easier option.
 
This. I do this with mead often. We have a local raspberry farm and we like to pick them fresh, wash real good (make sure no stems and leaves or bugs) smash them a little bit and freeze them. Thaw a few hours before use. Berries have lots of nutrients. Yeast go nuts, if you have some sugars left in the wort combined with the sugar and nutrients in the raspberries, expect a good uptick in bubbling in the airlock/bubbler for at least part of the day.

Be sure to give the fermenter a little shake here and there (nothing major) to keep the fruit from ‘capping’ if allowed to sit for too long, it will begin to crust and even get moldy. If you keep it loose and wet (with alcohol from the wort/beer) it will be fine. It will start to sink after about a week (don’t quote me on that for beer, only used fruit in mead).
 
I would definitely use the frozen berries. First, thaw...lite mash them up lightly. put them in some cheese cloth & add to the fermenter after it has been going a few days. I did this with a cherry wheat & it helped a lot. Cheers!
 

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