Raspberry Blonde Ale

[Norsman]

Hi. I've done some reading here on the forum about using Raspberries in the secondary, but I still have a few questions that you guys might be able to clear up for me.

I would like to know what is the best way of preparing the raspberries?
I have read that they should be given a quick boil to kill any nasties, but after that I'm not too clear on what should happen. Should I put them in a (sterilized) blender to chop them up? or just simply freeze the whole berries to rupture the cells.. or both methods?

Also I am concerned about having raspberry floaties in my final product. I would like for my beer to be as clear as possible (I don't own a filter). Would placing the frozen/pulped/Frozen-pulped berries in one of those muslin grain bags used for steeping specialty grains work well to contain all of the pulpy bits, or would they still be able to escape through the holes?

Thanks for any help.

 

[Whistlingjack]

Hey Norsman,

I used raspberries in one of my last hefeweizens. I could only get frozen ones which I'm told is good for the reasons you mentioned. I used one kilogram for my 25 litre batch and put them inside a muslin (cheesecloth) bag into the secondary. Not one trace of raspberry sediment in the finished beer.

The flavour was very nice. Not sweet, but dry, which seemed to fit in with the beer style.

I'm not sure how you would treat fresh fruit and I don't know how the factory would do it. Bear in mind that some bacteria may outlive a quick blanching, but not the alcohol in the secondary fermenter.

Good luck, I really liked mine and so did the dozen or so people who got some for Christmas last year.

WJ

 

[Norsman]

Hey Norsman,

I used raspberries in one of my last hefeweizens. I could only get frozen ones which I'm told is good for the reasons you mentioned. I used one kilogram for my 25 litre batch and put them inside a muslin (cheesecloth) bag into the secondary. Not one trace of raspberry sediment in the finished beer.

So you never did anything to the frozen berries, no boil, no blending or bruising?

 

[DJR]

I just chucked 'em in, 1kg in 23L, into secondary. Just plain old frozen raspberries, worked fine. Had about 4.5% ABV by that stage already.

 

[Whistlingjack]

No, Norsman, absolutely nothing, except thawing them first.

When I racked to the priming vessel, I gave the bag a good squeeze to get the last of the moisture out then added a little cream to the leftover solids, mixed it in and had them for dessert...

True, and tasty they were!

The beer had a distinct raspberry aroma and some of the flavour up front indicating a subtle sweetness, ending with a dry palate similar to a nice red wine. Very lightly hopped (14 IBU). It had a pale orange colour from the red raspberry blending with my 8.2 EBC weissbier.



Not in keeping with the Reinheitsgebot, but hey, I made it at home...

WJ

 

[Lukes]

I too just chuck em the secondary (a very special wheat to get that).

Last time they were fresh from the folks back yard and I just gave them a good rinse/ short soak and mixed them to a pulp with about 2 grams per litre of tettnag flowers.

It was very tart and very dry :chug:

- Luke

That color is a good match WJ

 

[Adamt]

I just chucked them in frozen into a (thrice boiled) stocking and fed it into my cube before racking onto it. The frozenness gives it a good crash cooling too for CCing.

Very dry and tart but still nice.

 

[Norsman]

Hey thanks for all the replies, I think I know what I'm going to do now.

I got lazy so I picked up a wort kit from my local Microbrew/HBS (no affiliation) and pitched the wort onto a nottingham yeast cake from my last brew. I'm purposely trying to ferment the beer warm to add some interesting fruity esters to the mix. Last time I did this with nottingham I got banannas. I think I'll go with 1.2 Kg of frozen berries in a cheese cloth bag in the secondary. Wish me luck.

P.S. Has anyone got anymore raspberry beer picks for me? there's something relaxing about looking at pink beer

 

[petesbrew]

Here's mine. Tasted great & looked fantastic!

 

[Phrak]

Here's mine. Tasted great & looked fantastic!

I can vouch for that! :super: The floaties added fantastic character

Norseman, have a look at this thread. There's a recipe towards the bottom:
http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...showtopic=13758
It's a cherry blonde ale, but it might give you some ideas.

:beer:
Tim

 

[petesbrew]

I can vouch for that! :super: The floaties added fantastic character

Norseman, have a look at this thread. There's a recipe towards the bottom:
http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...showtopic=13758
It's a cherry blonde ale, but it might give you some ideas.

:beer:
Tim

Will you be bringing the cherry ale to the pizza night, Tim?
Pete