Freshly picked raspberries. Style Ideas?

[SHbrewing]

Hi Community,

I just picked a ton of wild raspberries in my backyard and thought it would be neat to make a beer with them. I figured I would reach out here for a few suggestions. Currently, I am leaning towards a Raspberry Wheat.

I picked 3 boxes

 

[dmtaylor]

A wheat beer will go great with any fruit. Personally I like them in a porter or stout. Just go easy on them, as raspberries are very strong flavored and very tart compared with other fruits. One pound per gallon is plenty, and I'll bet half a pound per gallon would still be plenty. You might want to adjust the pH upwards after the boil with pickling lime or baking soda to help balance, and consider adding a couple ounces lactose per gallon for same reason from a different approach.

 

[hottpeper13]

Like where you're headed DM. My thought (because of the intense flavor) is to go where all the brew pubs are going. A raspberry short cake. It would be 50% wheat fermented on Wit yeast. Mine would be clear, cause that's what I do.

 

[mashpaddled]

The slushy/pie/dessert fruit beers are definitely popular and an option for your raspberries. if that's not your preference, plenty of older styles are a good fit. Raspberries play well with wheat beers, blond ales, sour styles, Belgian abbey/trappist styles, brown ales, porters. Even hoppy styles are not out of the question, especially with the newer fruit forward varieties.

I agree with @dmtaylor if you don't want the raspberries to drag the beer to a more tart place you need to adjust the ph or add counterbalancing unfermentable sugar like lactose.

 

[MashTunnelOfLove]

Interested. I have more raspberries than I can handle and looking for more options to utilize them. Good info here. Thank you.

Do you have to kill wild yeast or pasteurize somehow?

 

[beren]

Kitchen Hack: DIY Produce Wash - Chelan Fresh There’s no vinegar taste left since you rinse it off but the acid kills the wild yeast and bacteria on the surface. Most people say to freeze the fruit at least once to break down the cells to get the most flavor as well

 

[T Murph]

Raspberry Melomel. Nuf said.

 

[Steveruch]

Add them to a cider.