Chopped Raisins

[tintin]

I'm tackling a partial old ale and I've seen various recipes that have included chopped raisins to the boil towards the end. I was after people's opinion on this if they've tried it and the result. Sounds OK to me but might turn out shocking....

 

[Whistlingjack]

I've never tried it, but I would be worried about the laxative effect.

That would depend on when the fruit was added, of course.

 

[warrenlw63]

Tintin I hope Captain Haddock or Thomson and Thompson don't drink it all on you. :lol:

Haven't tried it personally but it used to be a little popular in Imperial Stouts and similar beers and the idea probably springs from a lot of old ye olde country English brewing texts/books from a couple of decades ago.

Realistically it's probably really only having the effect of adding extra sugar to the beer. Also be mindful that some dried fruits/raisins etc. Have been treated with vegetable oil IIRC. (I could be wrong). :unsure:

Brew Like A Monk. Gives a recipe for a Belgian Dubbel that utilises chopped raisins as well. What can I say? Try it and post your results I guess.

Warren -

 

[Guest Lurker]

If you want it to actually taste of raisins, better to steep some dark crystal.

 

[Malnourished]

Realistically it's probably really only having the effect of adding extra sugar to the beer. Also be mindful that some dried fruits/raisins etc. Have been treated with vegetable oil IIRC. (I could be wrong). :unsure:

This was my experience exactly. I couldn't find any dried fruit without vegetable oil in it (not that I looked all that hard) so just went ahead with what I could get. There was no real negative effect in terms of head retention or anything, but as Warren says it basically just adds a bunch of sugar (70% by weight I believe.) I used 1kg of dried fruit in a 25L batch and you can't even taste it, but the ~700g sugar resulted in a rather dry beer, which wouldn't really help bring out the fruit flavours. As such, I'm not planning on bothering again.

That said, Brouwerij Regenboog's 't Smisje Dubbel uses dates in the boil and had this incredible date-like sweetness. Perhaps dates are preferable, though presumably they'd have even more sugar.

 

[Screwtop]

I've never tried it, but I would be worried about the laxative effect.

That would depend on when the fruit was added, of course.

Think you would only end up mostly with additional sugar and not much flavour after a boil

"Man knnte froh sein, wenn die Luft so rein wre wie das Bier"

sehr im recht

 

[tangent]

i did it in a dubbel
didn't really add anything spectacular
worth a try but normally i'd sub it for crystal.

 

[Steve]

tintin I would be boiling up some raisins for maybe 10 mins in a litre of water and be adding it to secondary.
On the other hand...i know probably not very helpful but not too long ago I was sipping on a heavy scottish ale, my son was eating one of those little boxes of sultanas. I pinched one and was chewing, took a sip of the beer and it was bloody beautiful. I pinched his box and ate and drank at the same time. I can appreciated why you are wanting to get the taste into a beer.
Cheers
Steve