This time around, I really wanted to brew a Raspberry Wheat ale. I’m not necessarily fond of fruit beers, but the idea fascinates me. Besides, I wanted something for the warm weather. Since I don’t drink many fruit beers, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try a couple of things. First, I wanted to brew a small batch using the Mr. Beer keg. 5 gallons of fruit beer is too much, but 2 gallons is easily doable. Second, I wanted to try the Brew In A Bag (BIAB) method.
I believe I modified a recipe from Brewing Classic Styles, but I don’t remember for sure. I wanted a bit of a honey flavor, so I added honey malt (something I recently discovered). For the hops, I just used whatever was in my freezer, which was Northern Brewer and Kent Goldings. I figured since it was a light tasting beer, hop choice isn’t going to be a major factor in the flavor.
I went to the brew store to get my supplies. I asked the guy to double-crush my grains. He gave me a lot of grief for it, even though I explained what I was doing. He’s never heard of BIAB. He was skeptical at best. But in the end, after confirming three times that I really wanted my grains double-crushed, he got me my ingredients.
I brewed up the ale on my stove-top. I used a 5 gallon paint strainer from Home Depot to put my grains in. I used a steamer basket at the bottom of the kettle to keep the bag from the bottom of the pot. I raised my temp to strike temperature and added my grains. Then I wrapped the pot with a towel and let it rest for 60 minutes. Unfortunately, the temperature dropped close to 10° over that hour. Next time, I’ll put the pot in the oven at the right temp for the rest to maintain proper temperature. Oh well.
After 60 minutes, I raised the temp to 168° and pulled the bag and drained the excess wort which I added back to the pot. Then I brewed as normal.
The whole brew day was a bit sloppy. The sanitation wasn’t top notch. I spilled the wort when transferring to the Mr. Beer keg, so I topped it off with tap water. I added frozen raspberries that were 1 year old to the secondary. Probably not the best idea. But in the end, this was an experiment with new processes. Since it cost me about $12 to brew, I wasn’t overly concerned. But you know what? It still made beer. How’s it taste? Pretty good, if you’re into fruit beers.
Freezer Burn Honey Raspberry Wheat6-D American Wheat or Rye Beer
Size: 2 gal
Calories: 148.81 kcal per 12.0 fl oz
Original Gravity: 1.045 (1.040 – 1.055)
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Terminal Gravity: 1.011 (1.008 – 1.013)
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Color: 5.63 (3.0 – 6.0)
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Alcohol: 4.4% (4.0% – 5.5%)
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Bitterness: 24.8 (15.0 – 30.0)
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Ingredients:
- 1.25 lb American 2-row
- 2 lb Midwest Wheat Malt
- .2 lb Honey Malt
- .25 oz Northern Brewer (8.0%) – added during boil, boiled 60 min
- .5 oz East Kent Goldings (6.5%) – added during boil, boiled 5 min
- 1.0 ea Fermentis US-05 Safale US-05
- 1 lb Frozen Raspberries
Schedule:
- Ambient Air: 70.0 °F
- Source Water: 60.0 °F
- Elevation: 0.0 m
- 00:03:00 Mash – Liquor: 2.83 gal; Strike: 158.91 °F; Target: 154 °F
- 01:03:00 rest – Rest: 60 min; Final: 154.0 °F
Notes:
- Based on a recipe found in Brewing Classic Styles.
- My final temp for the rest was 153°F. I wrapped the pot with a towel. Over the 60 minute rest, the temp dropped to 144° F.
- After the rest, I raised the temp to 168°F, then pulled the bag and drained. I finished my brewing as normal
- I guess I’m not a very good pour-er, because I spilled a bunch of wort during my transfer to primary (I used a Mr. Beer keg). So I used tap water to top it off to 2 gallons. I used an aeration stone to pump pure O2 into the wort for 50 seconds. Then I pitched my dry yeast. Fermented at 63° F.
- 3/2/2011 – I racked to 2nd Mr Beer Keg and added 1lbs of raspberries I had in the freezer. After talking to my wife, I discovered the raspberries were in the freezer since last summer. Hence the brew name, Freezer Burn.
- 3/17/2011 – I used Cooper’s carbonation drops to prime my bottles. Between loss to trub and the raspberries, I yielded 19 bottles.
Travis,
How did this Beer turn out? I’ve had some Rasberry Beer at my Sisters Wedding in one of them BIG Bottles like Wine and it was Pretty damn Tasty.
I may be interested in brewing this one myself if you got the Profound Flavor in there.
Handi
I’m not huge on fruit beers, but I thought it turned out pretty good. I was fairly happy with the results.