Fruit Beer McMenamin's Ruby

[Picobrew]

I love this beer and appreciate all the info. I'm a Portland ex-pat stuck in Wichita and hope to brew this beer often during the summers.

Do you think there would be any advantage or disadvantage to adding the puree to secondary?

How much raspberry puree do you intend to use next time? If I recall the Ruby has a subtle fruitiness, was 3 pounds too much?

I was planning on cutting the amount of puree down to 1.5 pounds unless somebody has a better idea.

Thanks in advance.

I would cut the fruit down a bit. I did 3lbs and it is good but quite fruity. 2lbs or 1.5lbs would be more subtle. If you add the puree to the secondary, you won't get the pectin haze, but maybe that is what you want?:fro:

 

[CrackyMcZap]

Made an 11-gallon batch yesterday. Went with 16lb of 2-row and 4.5lb berries. Half pound in the mash and four in the boil. Great color, subtle aroma. Depending on flavor at 10 days we might do a pound or so in secondary too. OG after all was said and done, 1.042.

 

[kennymae]

My first attempt was OK but it needs more cow bell: it was too light and mild compared to the Ruby as I remember it. The raspberry flavor was very subtle.

The recipe was:

7.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row)
1.00 lb Wheat
1.00 oz Willamette (60 min)
1.50 lb Oregon raspberry puree (Boil 5.0 min)

For my second attempt I will modify this to:

8.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row)
2.00 lb Wheat
1.50 oz Willamette (60 min)
2.00 lb Oregon raspberry puree (Boil 5.0 min)

 

[Picobrew]

Hi kenny, sorry it was a bit mild for you! Mine was much more tart/fruity than the "official" ruby (at 3lbs puree). I'm not sure when I'm going to make this again - next time, I'll probably add the puree to the secondary even tho that isn't going to result in the cloudy factor.

 

[Picobrew]

My take on this tied for second in the brew crew's oregon fruit beer contest https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/placed-my-first-contest-woohoo-132806/#post1494638

 

[EvilTOJ]

Awesome! Congratulations!

 

[Pete08]

I made this last spring according to your recipe. Very tart the first few months. I had one this evening and I am VERY pleased with this beer now (I've never had the original). That bomber went too fast! It has inspired me to try:

10 lbs pale malt
.5 lb 40L
.5 honey malt (These are approximates as I will be using up some grains I have.)
and perhaps some wheat flakes

into a secondary over 8 lbs of blackberries!!

 

[GroosBrewz]

I made this last spring according to your recipe. Very tart the first few months. I had one this evening and I am VERY pleased with this beer now (I've never had the original). That bomber went too fast! It has inspired me to try:

10 lbs pale malt
.5 lb 40L
.5 honey malt (These are approximates as I will be using up some grains I have.)
and perhaps some wheat flakes

into a secondary over 8 lbs of blackberries!!

that sounds awesome!

 

[khiddy]

Just a note, I had a chance to brew 220 gallons of Ruby with a friend of mine at one of the McMenamins breweries, and they use Chinook as the bittering hop, not Hallertauer. So if you want to create an authentic clone, you gotta use Chinook.

 

[EvilTOJ]

That's interesting. The bittering really shouldn't matter since all the aroma and flavor is boiled away; but I think I'll try it next time.

 

[Jughead]

As a local Portland head and big fan of Ruby, I'm gonna attempt this one. Not looking for exact clone here. Just what I think would be good.
PM-full boil 5.5 gal

3lb X light DME
3.5lb 2-row
1lb wheat malt
.25lb 40L
.5lb honey malt
.4oz Columbus (cause I have a sh@t ton!) @ 60
.2oz Columbus @ 30
3lb raspberry puree @ 3min
Might split up some in boil, some in secondary

70% efficiency
OG 1.047 FG 1.012 4.62 % ABV IBU 27.8+/-
Beer Tools Pro doesn't seem to add anything to OG for the raspberries, it'll "up" it a lil more I'm guessing. Could be wrong.

I took a bit from all the recipes posted here. Might be a lilttle "meatier" than Rube, buy I think it's a little too lite as is. Any thoughts fellas? Much appreciated. Oh and I'm pretty new to the forum and loving every minute of it. My brewing has gained leaps and bounds w/ all your help. Thanks!

Edit:In their pubs you can request a "Rubinator" Ruby mixed w/ there Terminator stout. SWMBO (who doesn't like "chick beers" loves this) If this works I'll adapt it to a darker style.

 

[shamrockdoc]

reviving this thread due to SWMBO loooves this beer especially the RUBINATOR!

jughead i have taken your recipe and will be planning on brewing this one question though what do you suggest for a yeast ?

 

[daenja]

I gave an extract version of this a try last weekend. She's still in primary right now. My recipe is as follows...

4 lbs Briess Pilsen Light DME
1oz Willamette (60mins)
3.3 Fresh whole raspberries (Previously frozen, thawed and crushed) added last 5 mins of boil

California V Ale yeast

My OG was 1.055 (which might not be accurate, I don't remember mixing the wort and the top off water before taking a hydro reading.) Brewing software had OG estimated at 1.035, but I don't think it accounted for the sugars in the berries either.

 

[daenja]

I bottled last weekend. Put a couple bottles in the fridge yesterday and popped one last night. Great raspberry flavor. We just ate at McMenamins a couple nights ago one person in my party ordered a Ruby so I got a taste to compare my brew with the original.

Theirs is very light in color and raspberry flavor, very smooth and easy to drink. Mine's got much more pink color and raspberry flavor, but on the down side is that it's got a bit of tartness to it. I think that the tartness could be attributed to keeping the seeds in during fermentation and bulk aging. Next time I think I'm going to run the berries through a mesh bag to strain out the seeds. I really hope that will get rid of the tartness, as the color and raspberry flavor is truly excellent!

 

[JoshM86]

Hi All,

New to the forums and home brewing. I was trying to think of a great beer I liked to give a shot. I'm going to give this a try based on Picobrew's recipe. I used to get this beer all the time at Mcmenamins when I lived in northern oregon. Sadly their are no Mcmenamins south of Roseburg when I moved to Medford. So I'm going to attempt to make a clone.

 

[daenja]

Update on my version... the tartness is gone! It's beautiful and very delicious!

 

[shamrockdoc]

Update on my version... the tartness is gone! It's beautiful and very delicious!

Wow this is alive! ....again. Did you take the seeds out? Share your knowledge?! Here is my attempt.

Author: CarGan Brewery

Size: 5.36 gal
Efficiency: 75.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 195.57 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.059 (1.026 - 1.120)
Terminal Gravity: 1.015 (0.995 - 1.035)
Color: 5.92 (1.0 - 50.0)
Alcohol: 5.78% (2.5% - 14.5%)
Bitterness: 17.5 (0.0 - 100.0)

Ingredients:
8 lb Maris Otter
1.0 lb Wheat Flaked
1 lb Torrified Wheat
1.0 tsp Amylase enzyme - added during mash
1.0 lb Candi Sugar Clear
1.0 oz Willamette (5.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
2 lb Raspberries (pureed) - added during boil, boiled 5.0 min
1.0 ea WYeast 1272 American Ale II
Notes
Oregon rasberry puree Split 2lb in boil 2 lb in secondary

 

[daenja]

Nope I didn't take the seeds out, they were on the fresh/frozen berries that I brewed with. I did put a mesh bag on my siphon to filter the berry leftovers and seeds when I racked to my bottling bucket. This is still from what I brewed just about 2 months ago...

recipe is:

4 lbs Briess Pilsen Light DME
1oz Willamette (60mins)
3.3 Fresh whole raspberries (Previously frozen, thawed and crushed) added last 5 mins of boil

California V Ale yeast

The tartness is gone completely and some of the raspberry flavor has mellowed. But there's still more raspberry flavor and a darker pink color than the original Mc Menamins Ruby. And mine is less cloudy than the original, it seems that even adding the berries to the end of the boil to get the pectin cloudiness didn't do much.

 

[scsi]

Wow, I can't believe I just stumbled across this... I spent a week in Portland a few months ago, and my hotel was across the street from John Barleycorn's in Tigard.

I must have downed a few gallons of this stuff. I'm going to give it a shot here very soon.

 

[JRDroid]

Me and some friends are very find of this beer. I think I will brew this for my next batch

 

[scsi]

So I'm giving this a shot tonight. I used daenja's extract recipe, sort of:

4 lbs Briess Pilsen Light DME
.75oz Chinook (60mins)
3# Oregon Raspberry Puree (Half added to boil for 5 mins, half added to primary)
White Labs California V Ale yeast

It had a very pink color, and an OG of 1.031 with all the berries. I'm optimistic...

 

[daenja]

Looks great! Let us know how it is after its bottled and carbed up!

 

[JoshM86]

I moved mine to secondary this weekend. I had a quick taste, and it seems very good. It is definitely a little more tart than the Mcmenamins ruby. I have a few bottles of it I'll compare it to once its bottled and carbed.

 

[BlackForestBrewery]

I think I'm gonna brew this up this weekend. Thanks for sharing the recipe Evil.

Gonna go with the original recipe with the exception of using 2 lbs puree as opposed to the fresh berries. Ferment, rack to secondary, bottle, and enjoy.

Do you folks have any extra tips? I've been reading a bit on here about the tartness from using 3-3.3 lbs of puree, so I'm going to cut that down to 2 lbs.

Thanks all,
Pat

 

[BlackForestBrewery]

I ended up brewing this. Posted up the info for anyone curious. Ended up hitting 1.041-1.042 OG.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f85/brew-log-mcmenamins-ruby-ale-clone-218186/

 

[BlackForestBrewery]

Finished product. OG/FG was dead on perfect. Great beer. Light, refreshing, crisp, with a wonderful aroma of raspberry in the nose when you drink it. Color was a bit more golden than I expected but it still has a beautiful slightly pink hue to the haze.

 

[spiffcow]

So I'm going to be brewing this with raspberry puree over the weekend.. For those of you who have brewed this, how much puree should I use to accurately match the flavor to Ruby?

 

[Phantastik]

Went ahead and brewed this today, still chilling actually. Definitely has a pinkish hue to it.
I used...
8 lbs Marris Otter
3 lbs raspberries from our garden that I blended to oblivion. Boiled for last five minutes.
.75 oz Northern Brewer, for 23 ibu's.
Safale US-05
Was planning on pitching Pacman, because I use it for just about everything, but after returning home from a vacation to find that my beer fridge broke and my yeast sat at warm temps for a week, my starter didn't start.
Mashed at 150*F.
Update: 1.048 og ( with the berries. )

 

[khiddy]

Having brewed two batches of Ruby at one of the McMenamins breweries, I can say for certain that the beer is racked on top of the raspberry puree, the fruit does not get put in the boil. They use the aseptic Red Raspberry puree from Oregon Fruit (available to homebrewers here). The mash bill is 2-row, wheat, and a little bit of crystal - I don't remember the exact proportions. IIRC, there's only a bittering hop addition (the previously-mentioned Chinooks, which seems to be the universal bittering hop for most of the McMenamins beers). A single-infusion mash - 150F, recirculated for 40min before pumping over to the brew kettle for the 60-min boil.

Oh, and it's a lot of work! While the pump over to the kettle is happening, you're kegging another beer to make room in the fermenter for the new batch, and cleaning the fermenter, and getting ready to wash returned kegs... it makes me tired again just thinking about it!

 

[archer75]

Where does one get the puree at? I followed the link above but they only sell to breweries. They link to brew craft USA for home brewers but they are a home brew store supply shop and not for the general public. So now not sure where to get the puree.

Also, according to their website as well as the paper on the taster tray, the only malt they use is 2-row. They make no mention of crystal and wheat.

Yeast recommendations?