I'm intending to try and make a Hoegaarden type raspberry beer using fresh raspberries and I have the basic ingredients but I am not sure about how to add the fresh raspberry. I'm going to blanche the berries to remove any organisms then freeze and mash. My options that I can think of are ;
Add the fresh raspberry to the fermenter after the initial 7 days and do a secondary ferment (then add sugar to the bottles ? )
Add the fresh raspberry to the bottles in place of sugar ( If I use enough raspberry to produce the same amount of sugar that would normally go in the bottle ?)
Add the fresh raspberry to the bottles as well as sugar
I'm a bit worried that this will end up with a huge alcohol content. Has anybody done this or can offer advice ?
Raspberry beer
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mysterio
Re: Raspberry beer
I just bought frozen raspberries and added them to a secondary fermenter, racked a kolsch style beer on top. This was my one and only fruit beer.
The beer turned out fine, however it was less like a beer and more like an alcoholic raspberry cordial, because of the thin mouthfeel and lack of malt character. So when you design your base beer, allow for the effect the sugar from the fruit will have, that is it will thin the mouthfeel considerably.
I used 2 kilos of raspberries, no kind of sanitation on the fruit and the beer was not infected. I didn't mash the fruit either. The beer seemed to suck out the colour and flavour from the fruit over the course of about 2 weeks. The raspberries were white when I kegged the beer.
I took my advice for treatment of the fruit for this beer from Randy Mosher, a beer author : http://www.radicalbrewing.com/rbauthr.html
The beer turned out fine, however it was less like a beer and more like an alcoholic raspberry cordial, because of the thin mouthfeel and lack of malt character. So when you design your base beer, allow for the effect the sugar from the fruit will have, that is it will thin the mouthfeel considerably.
I used 2 kilos of raspberries, no kind of sanitation on the fruit and the beer was not infected. I didn't mash the fruit either. The beer seemed to suck out the colour and flavour from the fruit over the course of about 2 weeks. The raspberries were white when I kegged the beer.
I took my advice for treatment of the fruit for this beer from Randy Mosher, a beer author : http://www.radicalbrewing.com/rbauthr.html
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bconnery
Re: Raspberry beer
I make fruit beers fairly regularly and I always add to secondary, or more correctly terminology wise, at the end of primary.
I do not treat the fruit other than to freeze and then defrost them.
I then rack to secondary/tertiary for crash chilling and clearing before bottling/kegging.
It is worth considering that the beer will dry out a little more, so you have to ask if you want that. I like the tartness myself...
Do not add to the bottle. I've had beers where a just a little of the fruit pulp made it through my various clearing techniques and ended up in the bottle and they become massively carbonated...
I do not treat the fruit other than to freeze and then defrost them.
I then rack to secondary/tertiary for crash chilling and clearing before bottling/kegging.
It is worth considering that the beer will dry out a little more, so you have to ask if you want that. I like the tartness myself...
Do not add to the bottle. I've had beers where a just a little of the fruit pulp made it through my various clearing techniques and ended up in the bottle and they become massively carbonated...