Racking onto Raspberries

[hoptualBrew]

I made a sour mash no-boil Berliner weiss about three months ago and now am racking it on top of 3# of raspberries. They were frozen bags, so from what I read the cell walls should already be broken and since its a Berliner, Im really not worried about any infection.

Two questions. If I just throw the raspberries, untouched, in the bottom of the bucket and rack on top, should that be ok? Or is it suggested to cut them up and refreeze them, etc...?

Second, how long should I expect the Berliner to sit ontop of the raspberries before getting a good deal of flavor?

Thanks in advance.

 

[bratrules]

What size batch are you doing? Reason I ask is because 3 pounds of raspberries won't be enough to leave any flavor. For a five gallon batch most of the time go with 5-6 pounds of fruit.

 

[hoptualBrew]

It was about 4 gallons worth of Berliner

 

[FermentedTed]

With frozen fruit I've always just added it straight from the bag to the sanitized container, covered it while the fruit defrosts, and then just racked on top once the fruit got up to temp. Never had any issues.

I've never done a Berliner, but I usually leave my Raspberry Cream Ale on the fruit for about a week, which results in a strong raspberry flavor and color.

 

[tagz]

I got plenty of flavor from .5 pounds per gallon when I used raspberries in a light Belgian ale. It wasn't raspberry soda, but it was bright and tart raspberry flavor. From what i have read, raspberries deliver more flavor than other fruit.

I just let them soak until the berries turned white. Only took about 5 days iirc.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

The other thing you need to think about is how to rack off the raspberries. Those damn berries break down and will go right up the racking cane. You'll need a filter of some kind to keep them out.