Raspberry beer?

[DylanI]

Hi all.

 

Long time reader, first time poster...

 

Has anyone's made a beer with raspberries?

I'm interested in making something a little different in the summer time.

 

I've made a wheat beer with apricots in the past, which was pretty good. I've been looking around and I've seen a recipe for a similar version of my apricot wheat beer, but with raspberries.

 

The question is, does it have to be a wheat beer?

 

I'm an extract + specialty grain brewer, and have noticed that I can buy cara pils.

 

Could I do something like:

2 x 1.5 kg Coopers LME

250-500g of cara pils

Hops to get up to ~25 IBU

up to 21L.

 

Ferment out the beer, and rack into a secondary fermentor with the raspberries and let sit for a week or so?

 

Or perhaps base the beer around a Coopers Canadian Blonde, or Euro Lager.

 

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Cheers guys,

-Dylan

[Guest]

Hi Dylan and welcome to the forum

 

I have this recipe I found somewhere (can't remember where) that I have been meaning to try for sometime now:

 

1x Coopers Heritage Wheat

1x Coopers Wheat Liquid malt

1x Safbrew SB-06 Wheat yeast

1kg of Coles frozen raspberries

 

rack partially defrosted raspberries into second fermenter, then siphon wheat beer on top of berries.

================

I know it is recommended to use frozen berries over fresh as they are less likely to cause infection.

 

To answer your question, Does it have to be a wheat beer?... then no, you are the brewer so you can use anything you want.

 

The recipe you listed may be ok and if I were to use it I would start with 300g cara and not use too many hops so not to override the raspberries. 25 IBU should be fine though.

[NewtownClown]

I love a wheat with berries[love]

Bill's recipe sounds nice and easy and I agree with his method, frozen berries make things simpler.

 

Dylan, you could follow the recipe here Blushing Blonde

 

[DylanI]

Thanks for the tips guys.

 

I love to experiment, so I think I was just 'testing the water' to see if I was pushing things a little too far.

 

Yeah, not sure if I will just go for the wheat+berries approach, or to have a crack at making a lighter beer with some cara pils, or to base around a Coopers kit.

 

I do like the idea of the the Blushing Blonde, but perhaps with a LME can instead of the Brew Enhancer. It sounds stupid when I think about I put it like this, but I don't want to put sugar in beer any more, as sugar's not a 'real' ingredient in beer. But neither are raspberries.

 

Oh well. Good food for thought.

Thanks again.

-Dylan

[Hairy]

Don't write off 'sugar' completely. Dextrose still has its place in beer if used in moderation.

 

I often add 200-300g of dextrose to beer. It helps increase the alcohol content without going overboard with malt and it also gives it a 'slightly' drier finish.

 

But I know where you are coming from and agree. A beer made only with the kit and dextrose can be a bit cidery.

[Muddy Waters]

I've never tried rasberries in a beer but I have made the blushing blonde recipe and used blueberries - horrible stuff [pinched] ...I'm sure it would suit some peoples taste but I can't even give the stuff away. It would possibly suit the tastes of someone who likes white wine.

 

Also, I agree with hairy...dextrose definitely has a place in beer when used in moderation.