Raspberry Ale Recipe

[wolves63]

Just wanted to get the group opinion of this recipe:

Raspberry Explosion

Style: Fruit Beer
Type: All Grain
OG: 1.046
FG: 1.008
ABV: 5.03 %
IBU's: 42.39
Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Size: 6.53 Gals
Color: 8.0 SRM
Batch Size: 5.00 Gals

Boil Time: 60 minutes

Grains & Adjuncts
AmountPercentageNameTimeGravity
8.00 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US
1.00 lbs Briess Carapils
1.00 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L

Hops
1.00 oz Northern Brewer45 mins
0.50 oz Perle (German)20 mins
0.50 oz Perle (German)7 mins

Yeast
1 vialsCalifornia AleWLP0001
Yeast Starter

Additions
4.00 lb Raspberries Flameout
10.00 ml Clarity Ferm 14 days Primary
1.00 each Whirlfloc Tablet 15 mins Boil
2.00 tsp Gypsum 60 mins Mash

Mash Profile
Profile Name: All Grain Profile
Mash Steps:
Sacch' Rest60 [email protected]°F
Add 12.50 qts water @ 169.6°F
Fly Sparge
Sparge 21.81 qts water @ 170.00 °F

Fermentation Steps
Primary14 days @ 68.0°F
Secondary14 days @ 72.0°F
Bottle/Keg14 days @ 74.0°F


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[RM-MN]

These are my views only and you can take or leave any of them.

1. This seems to me to be an awfully bitter beer for featuring raspberries. I'd have planned for something like 15 to 25 IBUs so the bitterness doesn't take away from the raspberries.

2. Raspberries are not all the same. Taste them before you go any farther. I made a batch similar to this with raspberries I picked locally and the berries were quite tart and that affected the beer so badly that I didn't want to drink the beer, to the point where after a couple years in the bottles I wanted the empty bottles worse than I wanted the beer and dumped the last 37 of a 50 bottle batch. Other people love their raspberry beers so you might have a real winner.

3. In your fermentation steps, I would start the beer at 62 to 64 degrees rather than 68 because I think you will like the flavor much better. I'd do primary at 62 for 5 to 7 days, primary at 72 for another 10 to 14 days and then bottle or keg the beer. Leaving the beer at 72 to 74 in the bottles or keg for a time will allow the flavors to meld and it will improve the taste. You might want to increase the time to 21 to 48 days to give the flavors time to meld.

4. Unless you have a lot of extra time to spend brewing, I'd suggest you batch sparge instead of fly sparging. Stirring well when you add the water will get most of the sugars dissolved in the water you added. You could get a little more by doing 2 sparges.

 

[wolves63]

I definitely understand dropping the IBU's down and have altered the recipe accordingly. I do a modified sparge similar to fly but don't have the hot liquor tank, my sparge water cools a bit more, but, i typically get anywhere from 76 to 80% efficiency with this method and it is easy for me. We have local raspberries which are very sweet with minimal tartness and are very mild, hopefully I don't get a beer that is too tangy, not really wanting sour/tart beer.

 

[solbes]

I personally really prefer a tart raspberry beer to a sweet one. Dangit RM-MN, I should have taken those beers off your hands and traded for clean bottles

I also think raspberry pairs extremely well to a german wheat yeast, and 50/50 wheat/barley ratio. The wheat adds a crispness that is very refreshing. I would guess a pale ale type base beer will work well also, though drop the IBU's as planned.

One other suggestion is to consider getting some raspberry extract (usually 4 oz for like $5). Since you are adding the berries at flameout (assuming to santize), you will lose some of the aroma during primary. Consider adding extract to taste at bottling; 2-3 oz is probably enough. I feel like you get a semi-fake fruit taste if you use only the extract. And you miss out on a lot of the aroma if you use only fruit that gets fermented. I like the combo.

 

[huhwha]

I agree with the raspberry wheat. I did one last year where I used extract at kegging time, which let me easily dial in the amount of raspberry I wanted. If you go this route, add no more than one ounce at a time so you don't over-do it. Also, be sure to use really high quality extract.

I also made a raspberry porter in which I added 4.5 lbs of thawed previously frozen raspberries to the secondary. This was a 5 gal batch and was delicious, but you must really like raspberries! I will make it again, but I might dial the raspberries back to 4 lbs. I know I will certainly strain it better going into the keg, as cleaning that after the fact was no fun


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[wolves63]

I like the idea of mixing extract and fruit to get the pluses of each, great idea and thanks! I would love to do a raspberry wheat, but I am doing a gluten reduced beer and wheat would cause problems, otherwise I would be all for it.

 

[Darwin18]

I would really advise against adding the fruit at flame out. You're going to end up with a very hazy beer. I'd recommend racking the finished beer onto the raspberries and tasting every day or so until you get the right amount of raspberry flavor and aroma that you're looking for. Eight pounds of raspberries is a lot...I'd at least half that and see it ends up.