raspberry lovlyness

[Chard]

ok im part way through my pilsner fermentation and ive split the batch. most of it (19L) will christen my cornie and is in a 2nd FV to clear. the rest (3L maybe) is in a demijohn and available to be tinkered with! it will later be bottled.

the plan was to try and add some raspberry to it as the OH had some raspberry beer once and loved it. ive done a little research and formulated this half assed scheme.

basically the raspberrys need sterilising and some people say heat them up some say mush them with a campden tablet. ive gone with put them in a little tub of water (an old deli pot) with 1/2 a campten tablet overnight. tomorrow i plan to mush them and add them to the beer for a secondary fermentation. give it maybe a week and ill bottle the beer leaving the goopey raspberry mess behind and hopefully taking some flavour and colour into my bottles.

Ill add some pectolase at some stage to avoid haze from the fruit pectins.

if anyone has any better ideas or has done something similar please let me know. if not ill let u know in a few weeks how my experimental beer turned out!

[Mountain]

I added about 3 kilos 15mins before the end of the boil. No need to sterilise then.
-
It was very good and has all gone!

Edit: Here, I found the thread. I added them 20mins before the end of the boil.
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=26711&p=294813&hili ... ry#p294813

[dave-o]

If you're putting them in secondary, I'd boil them for 10-15 minutes first. I wouldn't trust a campden tablet alone.

Use some pectic enzyme if you have some or can get some.

[sam c]

ive done this with a cream ale base.

i racked about 4 litres onto 225g of raspberrys. all i did to the raspberrys was freeze them so to break the skin.

it gave lots of colour and a nice raspberry flavour. if i was to do it again i would use twice as many raspberrys though as although it was nice it just wasn't enough

[pantsmachine]

Same for me, boil for 15 minutes in as little water as possible and the pitch the lot into the fv. Turns out very well.

[Chard]

ok i guess i should be ok then. i put 100g of fruit in a saucepan with a splash of tap water and simmered for 15 mins then added to the racked off beer (only 3L of it maybe. all the colour has left the pulp and now i have gross pale brown pulpy bits floating in a lovely pink tinged beer. i guess ill have to rack off AGAIN in a day or 2 to leave all the pulp behind before bottling.

[dave-o]

i guess ill have to rack off AGAIN in a day or 2 to leave all the pulp behind before bottling.

Yeah, i would.

[jason123]

Can anyone recommend a good source of the lovely raspberries. I've been looking around but fresh are far to expensive and the local supermarkets don't do frozen.

[dave-o]

I suppose this depends on where you live, but near me they have fruit and veg markets where they sell fruit at £1 a bowl. The weight depends on the fruit, but when they have raspberries it's usually about half a kilo in a bowl.

If you live out in the sticks, it's probably best to wait for fruit season and then go to a "pick your own" place.

[Chard]

*sigh* i had a v productive day! well productive from a homebrew point of view. i drove and got a little bottler kit for my raspberry lovelyness from the LHBS along with a grey quick disconnect and gas tube for my corny. then i drove all the way to guildford for a CO2 tank and then back via a plumbing shop for hose clamps (aka jubilee clips.

all before lunch! then i assembled my corny regulator setup and bottled my teeny tiny batch of raspberry beer. i had to rig up a filter by putting a bit of muslin over the racking cane but this worked v well at keeping the floaty bits of fruit out. it was only an experimental side batch and if it works ill do a full batch but it was a hell of a lot of work for a 6pack

i just took a photo of my one clear bottle (rest are in brown) and ill upload it in a min. hope theres enough yeast still in suspension for secondary carbonation.

[Chard]

as promised ...im not sure the pic does it justice but it does have a pinkish tinge to it considering the base is from a pilsner. tasted the leftovers in the FV and there is a definate raspberry taste and nose. looking forward to this one.

[jason123]

Looks Great and a lovely colour. I'll be keeping my eyes open for some raspberries.

[Mountain]

Can anyone recommend a good source of the lovely raspberries. I've been looking around but fresh are far to expensive and the local supermarkets don't do frozen.

I made my Raspberry beer from a load that my mother picked from the hedgerows around your way. My folks live about 8miles from Spalding. I was brought up there
Go for a drive around the country lanes in late summer and autumn. If you find the right spots, you'll find plenty of raspberries, blackberries and sloes.
-
Not much call for cabbage beer though
-
Here's my cherry beer. EDIT.....er Raspberry beer I mean
http://i762.photobucket.com/albums/xx26 ... oto215.jpg

[pantsmachine]

I was speaking to the head brewer at Cantillon brewery in belguim. They use 1 kg of cherries per 5ltrs in their Kriek. The colour and taste were sensational. I mention this as in the past i have put in maybe 3kgs rasps for a 20 ltr batch; Its not enough.

[Mountain]

I was speaking to the head brewer at Cantillon brewery in belguim. They use 1 kg of cherries per 5ltrs in their Kriek. The colour and taste were sensational. I mention this as in the past i have put in maybe 3kgs rasps for a 20 ltr batch; Its not enough.

Yep, you need a lot of fruit in any fruit beer. I think also it depends on the type and quality of fruit used.
However,3kgs was spot on for my raspberry beer, but they were wild raspberries. They were sour and packed a much bigger raspberry punch than commercially grown ones which are a bit....er...watery!
You can see what the colour was like from the picture. Plenty of raspberryness.