Brewing with raisins

[Zucker Bee]

Thinking about brewing a beer with whole raisins. I would first pasturize them and rehydrate them at the same time and add them in the fermenter at the end of primary (along with soaking water)

I wonder if sugars will be release that way.

Anyone tried something similar?

Zb

[beertje46]

I would call Andy T. @ Dog Fish Head

[gitchegumee]

Raisins give great flavor! I chopped them up in a blender before adding and they contributed a bit to the gravity (sorry, no data). Most raisins are sulphited, so I wouldn't worry about pasteurizing. Would go well in a brown ale or dark Belgian. Good luck!

[Zucker Bee]

Thanks!
At what point do you add them?

Zb

[liammckenna]

You need to crush the raisins first.

I would recommend a quick blanch in boiling water, then crushing (blending/chopping etc). They are usually sulphited but...


Pax.

Liam

[gitchegumee]

I would add finely chopped, sulphited raisins directly to the fermenter at knockout, or in a hopback, if you have one. If you add to the whirlpool, you risk clogging the heat exchanger. Good luck!

[CDangerBrew]

Hi everyone,

Did a search for raisins, and thought I should revive an old thread. We are planning to age our Brown Ale in oak for a few months with raisins added into the barrel. We will run them through a food processor, and put them into a weighted bag. Does anyone have any suggested usage rate on the raisins? These are 53 gal. barrels, the beer itself is 7% ABV. I am not worried about unfermented sugars, I think any sugars left in the beer will a nice addition. Will the fruit absorb any significant portion of alcohol?

Thanks for any input!

[ponysaurusbrew]

I do a beer with figs, probably similar sugar/weight ratios. Nutrition info on store-bought figs says they are 50% sugar by weight, and gravity readings back that up. I halve them (whole is NO good, tried that once). I found with figs that leaving them in longer got me more complex flavors; 2-3 days I just got sugar & some fruit flavors, but longer and I got more out of them, sometimes vinous, definitely more interesting.

I don't think sulfite will do anything to spores that may be living on the skins, so I make sure to harvest yeast before I add the fruit. I don't mind some extras floating around the beer, and it's unavoidable I'm pretty sure, but there's no reason to re-pitch those extra friends back into the next batch.

[dwollner]

Done this beer several times. Added 15lbs of raisins in a mesh bag to kettle 20 minutes before knockout. Pulled the bag and added to fV prior to knockout. Got a great vinous flavor and aroma.

[liammckenna]

Done this beer several times. Added 15lbs of raisins in a mesh bag to kettle 20 minutes before knockout. Pulled the bag and added to fV prior to knockout. Got a great vinous flavor and aroma.

Sounds yummy.

Pax.

Liam