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Simple Raspberry Ale


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#1 Big Nake

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Posted 11 September 2012 - 06:09 PM

After many attempts, I have put together a nice recipe for a fruit beer and my flavoring method of choice is an extract that anyone can pick up at the grocery store. I have tried using fresh fruit, frozen fruit, fruit purees, etc. and could not get what I wanted from that. I have also used extracts by LD Carslon (cough syrup-like) and Crosby & Baker (a little bit better) and neither one of those was working for me. I don't crave this beer often enough to go through the hassle of crushing/blending fruit, etc., waiting for a secondary fermentation to begin and end, etc. My sister was in from out of town last night and sampled the 4 beers I had on tap and eventually decided to drink this raspberry ale. After a few, she kept saying, This is really, really good! See what you think...


Festival Raspberry Ale

6 lbs Pilsner malt or domestic 2-row pale malt
2 lbs Vienna
1 lbs Wheat Malt
4 ounces Special B
2 ounces British Crystal 70-80L
4.9 AAU of a mild, clean hop for 60 minutes. My batch had a blend of Liberty and Saphir.
Wyeast 1056 or White Labs 001
1 ounce of McCormick Natural Raspberry extract added to secondary w/the beer racked on top.

OG: 1.048, FG: 1.012, IBU: 22, SRM: 10, ABV: 4.6%

I added the Special B and British Crystal (this crystal was Thomas Fawcett & Sons Dark Crystal #1 which has quite a bit ot red in it) to try to get the beer a little red so that it would look like a raspberry ale. The one ounce of extract gives the beer a pleasant, aromatic raspberry character with a noticeable fruit flavor and aroma but not overpowering. The balance is very good. Also, this extract does not taste like the stuff you get at the LHBS... it's much better than that in flavor and aroma. This is the stuff that people might use to make raspberry brownies, etc. This stuff happens to work well in darker beers too so if anyone is looking for a way to fruit up a stout or porter, here you go. Be warned: This extract can run between $6 and $8 an ounce but you should only need one ounce and most grocery stores I go into will carry it.

Posted Image

Edited by KenLenard, 11 September 2012 - 06:11 PM.


#2 Steve Urquell

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Posted 12 September 2012 - 07:55 AM

Sounds good Ken. I've avoided brewing fruit beers just because of the difficulty in getting the fruit flavor into the beer and I destroyed a batch with LD Carlson blueberry flavoring. Glad you did the groundwork and I may brew this one. Is there anything you would change about the body or sweetness level? Wondering if the specialty malts get in the way of the fruit.

#3 Big Nake

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Posted 12 September 2012 - 08:11 AM

I really think it came out nicely and I don't think there is anything I would change. I failed to mention the mash temp... 151°. I mashed slightly lower than I might only because I did not want the specialties plus any perceived sweetness from the extract to make it seem sweet. It is nicely balanced flavor and aroma-wise and the body is right where I would want it. It's not sweet or overly crisp but just where I like it. I know this is a personal thing and many brewers don't like fruit beers let alone all the hassle that goes into making one. This is for anyone who has been asked to make a fruit beer or wanted to make one but couldn't stand the thought of making one. My wife and sister had a few glasses each of this beer and neither one of them asked if there was real fruit in it, which surprised me. If anyone were to ask, I would probably say something like, It's made with all-natural flavors... and leave it at that. Sounds like a Bud Light Lime commercial... Made with 100% natural lime flavoring! :lol:

#4 Brauer

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Posted 12 September 2012 - 05:27 PM

Do you think it would be the same if you added a drop of the extract to the bottom of a glass and poured a beer on top of it?

#5 Big Nake

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Posted 12 September 2012 - 06:53 PM

Do you think it would be the same if you added a drop of the extract to the bottom of a glass and poured a beer on top of it?

That's actually how I went down this path. I had a wimpy wheat beer or malty pale ale on tap and added 1 or 2 drops of the extract to the glass and tapped the beer. That's also how I determined how much of the extract to add. I actually used a 'dropper'. I realize that all droppers are not created equal but you could absolutely try it. If you had a beer that you thought would make a nice base for the fruit extract, give it a try.

#6 Brauer

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Posted 13 September 2012 - 04:09 AM

I realize that all droppers are not created equal but you could absolutely try it. If you had a beer that you thought would make a nice base for the fruit extract, give it a try.

Thanks, I'll give it a try. My brother likes fruit beers, so it would be nice to be able to offer him one, now and then, but I don't know what I'd do with gallons of it.

Edited by Brauer, 13 September 2012 - 04:10 AM.


#7 Big Nake

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Posted 27 May 2013 - 12:29 PM

I made this beer again today.  The hops were one ounce of Liberty at 4.9%.  I tried to come up with some sort of patriotic, Memorial Day angle for this beer like... The beer is red, the foam is white and my nose is blue because it's only 50-something degrees here today...Sorry, that's all I got.  :blush:   I went into the grocery store a few weeks ago and this extract was $5.99 BOGO free so that's a plus.  The last time I made this beer I served half of it on draft and then got sick of it and bottled the rest.  When I had a family gathering in March, my two early-twenties nieces, Carly & Casey drank every bottle I had left of this stuff... about 20 bottles.  Cheers Beerheads.



#8 Hines

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Posted 27 May 2013 - 06:41 PM

I hadn't seen this thread before, but jsut a few days ago when some of us were talking about kombucha, I thought about using extract from the cooking section at the grocery store (although I didn't think of raspberry).

Ken, you are the man!



#9 Big Nake

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Posted 28 May 2013 - 06:20 PM

This beer won't appeal to everyone but it's a solid recipe for a clean, subtle fruit beer.  My goal when making a fruit beer is to make sure the beer-drinker never forgets they're drinking beer.  That said, this tastes like beer with fruit in the background.  The base recipe is solid but it's definitely clean, soft, malty and fruity.  If that sounds like something you'd like or anyone else in your circle, try this.  If not, look away!



#10 BarelyBrews

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Posted 29 May 2013 - 07:27 AM

That looks Great Ken! thanks for doing the ground work on this brew. I would like to try this Raspberry, I hope they also have a Cherry flavor .



#11 Big Nake

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Posted 29 May 2013 - 08:32 AM



That looks Great Ken! thanks for doing the ground work on this brew. I would like to try this Raspberry, I hope they also have a Cherry flavor .

I use the McCormick Raspberry because I like raspberry flavor in beer, the extract is all-natural and it tastes very good... much better than the LHBS stuff.  I don't know if there is a cherry but some of the McCormick extracts are artificial and I chose to stay away from them.  The strawberry would've been nice but it's artificial.  The other option is https://www.olivenat...spx]OliveNation[/url] which carries a boatload of natural fruit extracts (including cherry and also apricot... something I have wanted to try) but the issue with that is that I don't know how potent the stuff is and how much you might use in 5 gallons.  I have the raspberry and also the blackberry from Olivenation but I have not used them yet.  Check out that list of pure, natural flavorings... just about everything you could want to add fruit flavor to beer.  Cheers.


Edited by KenLenard, 29 May 2013 - 08:33 AM.


#12 brewman

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Posted 04 December 2013 - 01:06 PM

Am going to try this for our club's upcoming fruit beer comp.



#13 Big Nake

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Posted 04 December 2013 - 02:44 PM

I don't know if it's my imagination or what, but it seems like this beer is better after it has had the chance to age a little bit. I can't imagine that one little ounce of this stuff would cause that problem but the ones I bottled last year and later sampled in March of 2013 were very smooth and tasty. The one I tried here aged for less time and seemed just a little funny like everything hadn't smoothed out yet. I mention this in case your upcoming fruit beer competition is in 2-3 weeks or something.


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