Transferring Raspberry Sour

[gometz]

Hey all,

I have a raspberry sour aging that I'd like to transfer next week to a final carboy for oaking. Problem is, there's a ton of raspberry solids (15 lb for around 4.5 gallons, per a ratio I got from Jester King).

Anyone have a good way to transfer a beer like this that minimizes solids transfer?

I plan to transfer another base sour onto the raspberries afterwards to pick up remaining flavors, possibly adding some Cabernet concentrate.

 

[microbusbrewery]

I've tried it a couple different ways. I used to put a hop sack over the end of the autosiphon but sometimes I'd have problems with it clogging. I've had better results lining the receiving vessel (secondary, bottling bucket, keg, etc.) with a five gallon paint strainer bag. Fruit pulp and hop debris will usually pass right through the autosiphon without clogging, especially if you opt for the larger diameter version. Just rack into the paint strainer bag, then gently lift it out and the majority of debris will come along with it.

 

[gometz]

One idea I had that's similar, but putting the hop bag over the end of the siphon tube in the receiving vessel. Then it can't get sucked into the auto siphon.

Only problem I have with that is making sure I get the bag back out.

 

[microbusbrewery]

Yeah, that's the nice part of the paint strainer bag. They're large enough that the whole bag doesn't have to be submerged, so they're easy to retrieve.

 

[gometz]

I think I'm going to use just a regular draw string bag. Sanitize some floss for retrieval tied to the end and the other end of the floss outside the carboy. Even if the bag doesn't come out, it'll still catch the fruit and stay in there until I bottle.

 

[gometz]

In case someone else finds this thread in a few years, I wanted to give an update.

I used a drawstring bag (boiled beforehand) attached to the end of the siphon in the receiving carboy, using boiled unwaxed floss to make sure it didn't slip off of the tubing (one end tied off to the neck of the carboy).

How did it turn out... mixed.

Because of the large amount of thick berry sludge at the bottom, at first it seemed to work fine while I was getting a clear to clear-ish transfer. Once it started picking up a large amount of sludge, it began to slow. I had to pump to autosiphon a few times to get it to keep going. Finally it wouldn't move at all.

When I starting pulling out the tubing and bag, I noticed that the whole bag was packed tight with solids. It captured most of the solids that when into the carboy (I'd estimate 90%). So now the sour is aging with cognac oak for a few weeks with a packed bag of solids in it. Once I siphon off the liquid, I'll have to pull the bag to the top, undo the drawstring, then flush the crap out of it to clean it out and get it out of the neck.

So it basically worked, just not how I had expected.