Getting a deeper red from Raspberries.

[jivex5k]

I was recently at a bottle share and had the pleasure of trying The Bruery - Berazzled.
It looks like this:

Now THAT is the red color I am going for in mine, yet they come out pink:

What's the best way to get a deeper hue? I used 4.5lbs of raspberries on 5 gallons of beer for a week. Should I let it sit longer? More raspberries?
Also these were fresh raspberries, frozen and then thawed.

A couple suggestions I've had so far were:
1. Add beet juice
2. Add a small amount of roasted malt

Grain bill is 50/50 Pilsen/White Wheat

 

[Bensiff]

I don't think roasted malt will get you to the color you want, probably just turn brown. I don't know if longer contact time will do the trick as I think its pretty much the juice that has the color in it, unlike wine where the red comes from the skins. I'd go food coloring (the beet juice) or more raspberries.

 

[Ladd]

Do you add them whole? I usually add around the same amount as you but I puree them in a blender before adding them and get good color from them that way.

Edit for spelling.

 

[jivex5k]

No puree, just frozen and thawed.

 

[Ladd]

Next time try pureeing them after thawing and see if that helps.

 

[dyqik]

Some of the difference is probably the clarity as well - the colors will look deeper if the beer is clearer (you'll be able to see further through the beer, and so get less green and blue light reflected relative to the red light).

Improving that would mean one or more of: using whirlfloc or Irish moss, getting a good hot and cold break, cold crashing, maybe using gelatin, maybe just extended aging.

 

[DanMyers]

I would puree the berries as suggested. A point on the clarity issue, you may want to add Pectic Enzyme in order to break down the pectin.

 

[biertourist]

I'd also say to puree the berries but you could also add a wine enzyme designed to extract more color from grape to extract more color from your berries.

See: Lallzyme Ex to aid color extraction.


Adam

 

[Bensiff]

I would worry that if you puree the berries you would rip apart the seeds and run the risk of excessive tannin extraction...I suppose that gets into how you would do it, I have a 3hp Vitamix that would puree a stainless spoon if I tried, so the seeds would be shredded.

 

[Ladd]

I wouldn't worry about the seeds, they are super small and I have never had a problem with them using a traditional blender. Usually there is around an inch or so of them on the bottom and a bunch more floating on the top after fermentation is complete. I've made 4 or 5 raspberry beers now with blending the berries and have never had a problem. I wouldn't bother with enzyme additions either, I get plenty of color from pureeing alone. Just my 2 cents.

 

[J343MY]

I think it comes down to quantity and quality of the raspberries. Where were the raspberries from? Were they grocery store raspberries, or locally grown? You may be better off adding another pound or two also.

here is a photo of my new raspberry beer pulled from the fermenter:

I used just over 6lbs of fresh, local raspberries. They were absolutely delicious. I did no prep whatsoever. just added them to the fermenter, shook it up a bit to squish them, and racked a year old sour onto them.

 

[jekeane]

When the berries were in secondary did you let them go completely white before racking off of them? I just brewed a raspberry jalapeño wheat 5g batch with 4lbs of frozen organic store berries. Left them in secondary 2 weeks till the berries were white. And my beer is kool aid red!

Grains
6lbs 2 row
6lbs wheat malt

mashed at 154°