Raspberry Real Ale

[nathanR]

I have got some raspberries in the fridge and some coopers real ale in the cupboard so I was thinking about putting the 2 together

I was thinking of along the lines of this

real ale coopers

1 box approx 700 grams of raspberries

1 kg light malt extract

500 grams dex

kit yeast

20 lt water

throw all in fermenter and leave till reddy

not looking for a full on raspberry flavour just something in the back ground

will this be ok or should I leave it for a wheat beer ?

 

[Pete2501]

Interesting. I've seen more fruit wheat beers than any other.

 

[Swinging Beef]

Yeah, just do it.
If you dont like it, see how you can change it for next time.

 

[thesunsettree]

this isnt exactly very informative but at the end i think he is doing something similar to what u want to do

cheers
matt

 

[Wolfy]

Last year I made a raspberry ale (very simple AG recipe but the same theory).

I'd suggest freezing your raspberries, and adding them directly to a secondary fermentation vessel and then racking on-top of them after primary fermentation has completed.
Tthat way the yeast activity does not drive off any raspberry flavour.
Freezing will break the cell walls so they will split and mix easily, in addition IMHO it's too much effort and probably not required to boil/pasteurize them if they have been frozen.

Leave for a week or 3, taste then bottle/keg - you may need to rack several times more to remove all the bits of raspberry - you may also find the end result is a little more hazy than the fruit-less beer.

I used 5kg of fresh red raspberries in a 22l batch; it had a reddish colour and noticeable but still slight (tart) raspberry taste and flavour, so would suggest you use at least 1-2kg to get a subtle raspberry taste (you could split a full sized batch in 1/2 after primary and add the berries to one half).

 

[thanme]

There was a podcast somewhere about this guy who did an extract strawberry blonde...
I just did a couple of fruit wheat beers, and I imagine the princples are the same, except maybe when you add the fruit?
I used about 2kg per 11L (I basically split a 22L batch) and they were both very fruity. I dumped the fruit in the fermenter a week prior to racking/crash chilling and they are both delicious.

+1 to the advice above re handling the fruit, but personally I'd just drop them in the fermenter rather than racking onto them.

 

[nathanR]

I don't have a second fermenter or a fridge to crash chill just a 72 can cooler with a couple of 2lt frozen bottles

I mainly brew because it is cheaper and this way I can afford to drink with a mortgage a new baby and 1 income I cant afford a brew fridge

oh and I am using the frozen packet raspberries I think I will have a second pack

 

[Wolfy]

I don't have a second fermenter or a fridge to crash chill just a 72 can cooler with a couple of 2lt frozen bottles

Numerous people have suggested that by adding the fruit to the boil or primary ferment, many of the fruit flavours are lost due to the vigorous fermentation process. So - in this case - the idea of the secondary is to allow the beer to sit on the raspberries for (up to) several weeks - it does not need to be chilled in a fridge - but due to the additional fermentation time it would be best to add the fruit after you have racked the beer away from the yeast-cake.

Since you said you don't want an overly strong fruit flavour, an easier method is to let it ferment for about 1 week then add the raspberries and leave it for another week before bottling - you'll get most of the fruit flavour and won't need a secondary fermenter that way.

 

[GMK]

Definately use a wheat based can...

and lash out on Wyeast Roselare Yeast.
Will need 2 packs - agree with Wolfe - freeze raspberies 1st - put frozen into fermenter - add wheat can of goo.
Add bioling water and mix - top up with cold water to required Gravity...

pitch nice yeast starter of Roeselare - could also use Saison or bier de garde yeast...