Raspberry Wheat

This particular batch is dedicated to my good friend Kendra who will be welcoming her first child to the world shortly.  Kendra requested a batch of Raspberry Wheat beer be ready once she is ready to drink again (don't worry, consumption will begin after she gives birth).  This batch is inspired by a Raspberry Wheat beer brewed in Durango, CO by Carver Brewing Co.  I haven't tasted the original so we'll let Kendra be the judge when we tap this batch in a few weeks.  Also, we didn't quite use a pound of raspberries per gallon, but we got close!

As part of this batch I brewed 7 gallons of the base recipe.  From there I split the batch into two separate 3.5 gallon batches.  One carboy received American Wheat yeast from Wyeast and the other received Lalvin EC-1118 Champagne yeast

Here is the recipe and a few photos from transferring the beer to the secondary fermenter.

Brew Day: July 6, 2013

Batch Size: 7 gallons

Grains:

5.6 lbs US 2 row pale malt
7.0 lbs German wheat malt
1.40 lbs rice flakes
6.0 oz honey malt

Hops:

1.75 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker @ 60 minutes remaining

Yeast:

Wyeast American Wheat Ale (for 3.5 gallons)

Lalvin EC-1118 Champagne (for 3.5 gallons)

Other Additions:

1.5 tsp coriander seed @ 15 minutes remaining

3/8 oz bitter orange peel @ 15 minutes remaining

1.5 tsp coriander seed @ 1 minute remaining

3/8 oz bitter orange peel @ 1 minutes remaining

2 lbs 2 oz of Vintners Harvest Red Raspberry Puree per 3.5 gallons (When racking to secondary fermenter rack beer on top of the puree)

Mash & Sparge:

Mash 4.3 gallons of water at 150 degree F for 60 minutes (strike temperature of 167 degrees F).  My actual mash temp was about 156 degree F.

Sparge 5.8 gallons of water at 170 degree F for 60 minutes.

OG = 1.043

FG (American Wheat Yeast) = 1.012
FG (Champagne Yeast) = 1.020

Here are a couple photos from the transfer between primary and secondary fermenters.  The left photo here is of the Champagne yeast batch.  The right photo is the wheat year batch.  The interesting part about this is the color difference between the champagne batch and the wheat yeast batch.

Raspberry Wheat - Champagne Yeast

Raspberry Wheat - American Wheat Yeast