First Anniversary Raspberry Wheat

On a hot, sunny day a year ago we made our annual trip out of the city to the country side for some berry picking. This was late July, a bit late in the season for the delicious raspberries we sought. In the course of many hours of walking up and down rows of barren plants, under the intense stare of a radiant sun, we managed to pick a modest basketful of berries. Heading home exhausted we debated what our hard-earned berries should become: jam, eaten fresh or frozen for a rainy day. Or maybe become wine.

Another annual trip of ours is to head down to Niagra-on-the-lake for a weekend and tour the wineries. There is a wonderful, small winery there that we never miss because they specialize in an unusual type of wine. They have peach wines, blueberry wines, black and red currant wines, cherry wines, or any wine made out of a typical Ontario fruit. They have a raspberry wine that we love.

We had been talking about creating our own wine for a couple of months and had done a bit of research. We placed an order at a a brew-on-premise store and quizzed them to get a feel for what the operation involved. At the time this was still just idle dreaming. But now we had a basketful of raspberries and the dream seemed tangible. We just needed to take the plunge.

A week later, on another beautiful summer afternoon, we were on the streetcar heading to the east end of the city. We had tracked down a store that sold the necessary equipment for brewing at home, instead of the typical brew-on-premise places that dot the city. Eager with excitement we headed to an unfamiliar part of the city to pickup unfamiliar equipment from an unfamiliar type of store. We were giddy.

We arrived home with our supplies and started to get to work. We washed the raspberries, sterilized them and placed them in our fermenter with yeast. Then we waited. And waited. And waited. Nothing happened and we added more yeast. And waited. Nothing. We declared it a flop, but instead of giving up on our dreams we turned our focus towards mead-making, which we had researched while we waited for the wine to take off. Mead was our next batch, and along with our dreams, it took off with amazing success.

This past weekend we trekked out again to the country side to pick raspberries. We went earlier in the season and our crop was plentiful. To celebrate the first anniversary of our homebrewing experiment we present this raspberry wheat recipe using the freshly picked berries.

Ingredients

• 15 Liters Toronto tap water
• 1/2 pounds Caramel 40L malt 
• 1.5 ounces Czech saaz hop
• 4 pounds Briess Bavarian Wheat Dry Malt Extract (DME)
•  4.5 pounds fresh Ontario raspberries
• 1.5 teaspoons pectin enzyme
• 1 Wyeast Belgian wheat Activator yeast package

Directions

1. In a large stock pot bring 15 liters of Toronto tap water to 70 degrees Celsius.
2. Activate the yeast package and set aside.
3. While the water is coming up to temperature, measure out 1/2 pounds of Caramel 40L malt and crush it using a rolling pin. Place the crushed malt into a hop bag and set aside.
4. Measure out two quantities of Czech saaz hops: 1oz and 0.5oz. Place the hops into a hop bag and set aside.
5. Once the water has reached 70 degrees Celsius add the crush malt and steep for 30 minutes. Carefully monitor the temperature to keep it as close to 70 degrees as possible.
6. While the malt is steeping, measure 1.5 pounds of raspberries. Wash them, place them into a hop bag and set them aside.
7. After 30 minutes of steeping the malt, remove it from the pot and bring the wort to a boil.
8. Once the wort has reach a boil add the hop bag with 1oz of the Czech saaz hops.
9. After 30 minutes add the 4 pounds of DME and mix thoroughly to remove any clumps that form.
10. After 15 minutes add  the hop bag with 0.5 oz of the Czech saaz hops.
11. After 5 minutes add the hop bag with 1.5 pounds of raspberries. Also add 1.5 teaspoons of pectin enzyme.
12. After 10 minutes remove the wort from the heat and place into a cold water bath. Cool the wort down to 30 degrees Celsius while vigorously mixing it to re-oxygenate.
13. Once the wort has reach 30 degrres Celsius, take a hydrometer test and add it to the fermenter. Add the activated yeast package and let it ferment for 2 weeks.
14. After 2 weeks, rack the beer onto 3 pounds of crushed raspberries and let it sit for a week.

Notes

• Original Gravity: 1.050 
• We encountered many warnings about not adding the raspberries to the boil. Aside from pectin haze we were unable to get a reason why this should be avoided. To avoid the pectin problem we added the enzymes along with the berries.
• The 3 pounds of raspberries we will be racking onto have been temporarily placed in the freezer until the appropriate time.