Advice on Raspberry Wheat Beer

[Keg]

I'm brewing the Raspberry Wheat Beer from Greg Hughes' book 'Home Brew Beer' and am looking for some advice on the raspberry addition.  The recipe calls for 2.5kg raspberries, I'm using frozen as the recipe states that they work just as well. 

The recipe says to add the fruit after 2 days and to leave it for a week, is that a good idea?  I had assumed the best thing to do was to add the raspberries when fermentation had finished.   I never use a secondary but would anyone advise to rack the beer off the fruit after 1 week instead of trying to fish it out?   All feedback welcome! 

If it helps, the recipe is as follows:
Lager Malt 2.7kg
Wheat Malt 2.3kg
Challenger hops 20g
Yeast: Wyeast 1010 American Wheat.

[fishjam45 (Colin)]

I did a raspberry porter recently. I racked from primary onto the raspberries in secondary. You might get some more fermentation from the sugars in the raspberries. I left the porter on the raspberries for 5 days and then batch primed.

[NeillC]

I did a version of Greg Hughes one recently. I used a mixture of fresh and frozen raspberries but I froze them all before adding. I think I let it ferment out a bit longer than 2 days though so there was a bit more alcohol present before adding new them. I did leave them for a week. I added them to primary then racked the beer to a bottling bucket as I always do for bottling. The stones caused all sorts of problems with the bottling cane sticking open. The siphon kept clogging when racking too. Be careful with priming sugar. I was advised to half it. The sugars from the raspberries can take a while to ferment out. Mine is now 6 months old and when I open a bottle the beer starts to leave the bottle quite quickly.

[Keg]

I did a raspberry porter recently. I racked from primary onto the raspberries in secondary. You might get some more fermentation from the sugars in the raspberries. I left the porter on the raspberries for 5 days and then batch primed.

Cheers fishjam, how did the raspberry porter turn out?  I had Acai Stout last year, would like to try something similar here but am undecided on the fruit.

[jackduckworth]

I decided that recipe was a typo as all the other fruit beer recipes in the book add the fruit after 5 days, I think, and raspberries are just another fruit.

I add the raspberries after a week, and bottle after another week.

The other change I made was to double the amount of raspberries. As raspberries are quite expensive, even frozen, I actually put 2kg of raspberries in a smaller fv, top up to 10 litres, and then bottle a wheat beer and a raspberry beer one week later.

[Keg]

I did a version of Greg Hughes one recently. I used a mixture of fresh and frozen raspberries but I froze them all before adding. I think I let it ferment out a bit longer than 2 days though so there was a bit more alcohol present before adding new them. I did leave them for a week. I added them to primary then racked the beer to a bottling bucket as I always do for bottling. The stones caused all sorts of problems with the bottling cane sticking open. The siphon kept clogging when racking too. Be careful with priming sugar. I was advised to half it. The sugars from the raspberries can take a while to ferment out. Mine is now 6 months old and when I open a bottle the beer starts to leave the bottle quite quickly.

Thanks NeillC, I'll watch out for the stones, hopefully can leave as much behind as possible, and will take note of that for priming.
I wonder if adding the fruit earlier would allow the yeast to tackle the sugar better while it's still actively fermenting - if that makes sense!

How did the beer itself turn out?

[Keg]

I decided that recipe was a typo as all the other fruit beer recipes in the book add the fruit after 5 days, I think, and raspberries are just another fruit.

I add the raspberries after a week, and bottle after another week.

The other change I made was to double the amount of raspberries. As raspberries are quite expensive, even frozen, I actually put 2kg of raspberries in a smaller fv, top up to 10 litres, and then bottle a wheat beer and a raspberry beer one week later.

You might be right on that.  It becomes a very pricey brew with the doubled raspberries.  Would you stick with the same amount of fruit if you were doing it again?

[NeillC]

I did a version of Greg Hughes one recently. I used a mixture of fresh and frozen raspberries but I froze them all before adding. I think I let it ferment out a bit longer than 2 days though so there was a bit more alcohol present before adding new them. I did leave them for a week. I added them to primary then racked the beer to a bottling bucket as I always do for bottling. The stones caused all sorts of problems with the bottling cane sticking open. The siphon kept clogging when racking too. Be careful with priming sugar. I was advised to half it. The sugars from the raspberries can take a while to ferment out. Mine is now 6 months old and when I open a bottle the beer starts to leave the bottle quite quickly.

Thanks NeillC, I'll watch out for the stones, hopefully can leave as much behind as possible, and will take note of that for priming.
I wonder if adding the fruit earlier would allow the yeast to tackle the sugar better while it's still actively fermenting - if that makes sense!

How did the beer itself turn out?

I was really pleased with mine. I'm still very much a beginner though. I used a stepped mash and a decoction. 50:50 Pilsner/wheat. I fermented with mangrove jacks Bavarian wheat. Brewed 20 litres and split the batch adding raspberries to only 10l. The raspberries add a nice sourness.

[nigel_c]

Raspberries are going to add a lot of extra sugar that will start fermentation off again. I've done a fair brews with raspberries and have found the method that works best for me is.
Ferment as normal in primary for 7-10 days.
Add frozen fruit to 2nd bucket then rack beer onto it. The frozen fruit will slow down the yeast but as the bucket comes back up to temp activity will kick off again. It will take a few days for the yeast to break down the fruit. I tend to leave on the fruit for about 2 weeks.
If bottling I rack to another bucket for another few days to make sure any extra sugar left from the fruit that may be in solution is gobbled up before bottling. Nobody likes bottle bombs. If kegging you can skip the last step all any extra sugar consume will help carb the keg.

Hope this helps.

[Keg]

Raspberries are going to add a lot of extra sugar that will start fermentation off again. I've done a fair brews with raspberries and have found the method that works best for me is.
Ferment as normal in primary for 7-10 days.
Add frozen fruit to 2nd bucket then rack beer onto it. The frozen fruit will slow down the yeast but as the bucket comes back up to temp activity will kick off again. It will take a few days for the yeast to break down the fruit. I tend to leave on the fruit for about 2 weeks.
If bottling I rack to another bucket for another few days to make sure any extra sugar left from the fruit that may be in solution is gobbled up before bottling. Nobody likes bottle bombs. If kegging you can skip the last step all any extra sugar consume will help carb the keg.

Hope this helps.

Cheers Nigel_c, I think I'll go down that route.  This is an amateur question bit would you still leave behind all the trub and yeast at the bottom when racking to secondary?  Do you think there is enough yeast in suspension to ferment the extra sugar from the raspberries?

[nigel_c]

There would be more then enough left in suspension. Especially with a low flocculating wheat yeast.
It will take a good bit extra time but its better to go the safer rout. You wont be sorry.

[jackduckworth]

I've brewed this a few times as it's the only thing i brew that my wife likes. I've experimented with the base brew, but I always use 1 kg raspberries for 5L of beer.

Having brewed a few insipid fruit beers by following recipes slavishly my philosophy now is
- use raspberries
- loads of them

[Leann ull]

just be careful of where you are getting them
https://www.fsai.ie/faqs/berries_hepatitis_a.html