Raspberry Wheat

[Riggs1]

I began home brewing back in January using a carboy and all the gear, four successful brews to date (two cases at at time). Can't afford to keg just yet.

My question is this:
I purchased a standard wheat recipe kit from my local brew shop and I would like to add some raspberry flavor. The kit/recipe has everything you need. Should I use the liquid flavoring they offer, or use fresh raspberry's from my raspberry bush. I have a lot this year.

If I use the fresh, how and when do I add the raspberry? During the cooking process or another time?

Thanks ahead of time.

 

[Natdavis777]

I have used raspberry preserves in the past with ok results. I basically put them in a pot and brought to a boil to sterilize, then strained them and added to the keg to secondary. My mistake is that it went into a witbier @ ~68-70F, so my keg was spewing everywhere when I went to purge out of the relief valve.

Aside from that, I would say the syrup they have at the LHBS would be sufficient. I would say add it to the end of the boil and let it all ferment. There should be some residual sugar left over and still lend some raspberry flavor. There might/is be a better way to approach this though so I am all ears myself.

Good luck on the brew!

 

[wfowlks]

So I HATE the fruit flavorings from my LHBS. They are the typical ones but its such an artificial flavor that you are adding its like you might as well go to the grocery store and get some raspberry extract. I have used them before but I was unhappy with them.

I got my best results from using fresh and frozen fruit.

What I did when I have done my good raspberry beers is buy frozen raspberries. Or if you want to use your own, for a 5 gallon batch I used 1.5 lbs of raspberries that I dipped in starsan then blended with some sterilized water, and poured into a secondary fermentor. I then cold crashed it and put gelatin in for fining and I was still left with a slightly red hazy beer which you would expect with raspberry wheat. If you dont have the full 1.5 lbs suppliment it with frozen, but make sure to try the raspberry first to make sure it is good/fits in with the sweetness/tartness you are going for.

I put it in the secondary for 5 days, then cold crashed and fined and came out with a great beer. Got a 38.5 in a BJCP competition.

 

[ob_1jr]

I used raspberry puree from midwest and it came out pretty good. It was more like raspberry juice than a puree, but it came out tasty either way.

 

[treacheroustexan]

I made a 5 gal batch of rasp. wheat and in the secondary i added 3 lbs of raspberries. Little too much raspberry, so I would cut that in half if i brewed it again.