I want to do a Raspberry Wheat but use Raspberry Puree vs. the extract at bottling time.
All the recipes I see say to use 3# of Raspberry Puree in the secondary fermenter but I have never used secondary fermenter. I typically just keep it in the primary fermenter for 3 to 4 weeks.
So can I just add the puree in the primary after fermentation is done?
I have two 6.5 BMB, I could use one as a secondary but from what I read that may be too much head room for it?
Thanks, Ron
Yep, that works fine. Just try not to splash it too much, but right at the end of primary fermentation there shouldn’t be too much harm from introducing a bit of oxygen.
You can add your purée to the primary but with the trub, yeast cake, and purée you are going to lose quite a bit of beer. It is safe to add it to a secondary with bigger headspace as the purée will restart fermentation and fill the headspace with CO2. I would use the secondary.
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How long are you planning on letting it sit on the puree?
I was thinking about a couple of weeks with the puree.
Is there a better recommendation?
Thanks.
Yes, if you have enough headspace, you can add the puree to your primary. It will kick in fermentation again. Let it go two weeks, and then cold crash and hit it with gelatin to compact the sludge to the bottom. And be extra careful on racking to your final packaging system. The raspberry seeds LOVE to clog up a siphon.
As most everyone here knows I brew alot of fruit beers and thought I would add my experience here. I recommend adding raspberries to secondary. I found for clarity this works the best by racking the beer into the puree in the secondary. If adding it to the primary your going to lose a good amount of beer to the turb and yeast cake and fight to get clear beer when is time to bottle or keg… Another thing I would like to address is that raspberries tend to be tart and bitter. So move your hop addition to 40 minutes will help not to over bitter and doesn’t take away from the raspberries and have a overly bitter beer
Thanks for everyone’s input, very helpful.
I think I will try the secondary option for this batch and see how it goes.
I will look at my hops schedule and look a changing that as well.
Any input on the Big Mouth Bubbler Depth Charge for this?
Sounds like a good way to keep the beer clear but didn’t know if it is worth the cost.
Thanks.
It’ll work just fantastic… If that woulda been around when I started… I would be stuck right there… Holy crap, looks like it’ll hold the mothership load of hops… Er, fruit! No seeds… That jam stick looks great too! But, be very quiet using it… O2 injector. Sneezles61
That should be perfect.
Update on my Raspberry Wheat.
I did get the Big Mouth Bubbler Depth Charge and did not do a secondary.
After 10 days fermenting I put in the sanitized Depth Charge and a 3 lb can of of Vintners Harvest Raspberry Puree for my 5 gallon batch. I let it sit for another 10 days before I bottled. I did gently use the jam stick a few times.
I tried a bottle early, two weeks after bottling, and it had a little tart taste to it. Now a few weeks more in the bottles it has mellowed out and is quite nice. I think next time I may cut the raspberries back a little.
I am starting to think what else I can use the Depth Charge for.
The next time I do the Raspberry Wheat I would like to try frozen raspberries. I can get them at a local grocery store for about half the cost of a Vintners can.
Question, I assume I need to puree them first in a sanitized blender? Should I dip them in Star San first?
Thanks,
Dry hopping. You should try the frozen if you are thinking about cutting back but the amount of frozen you need to equal the canned brewers grade is deceptive.
