BeerBorg

I just brewed up cowboy golden Lager from an old Mr. Beer kit, and I want to add raspberries and a little honey. When is best to add the berries to get a good raspberry flavor without it overpowering the beer?

We're glad you found us! Adding fruit and/or honey can be tricky and it really depends on what your trying to accomplish by adding those things. If this your first brew I would really suggest keeping it as is so you can get a good idea of what the base beer will taste like. Also know that fruit and honey have natural bacteria in them that contaminate your beer if no pasteurized first.

If you haven't read it already I would really suggest reading the blog post on the main part of the website by FedoraDave http://www.beerborg.com/index/2013/09/d ... i-presume/

Cheers, good luck and again welcome!

Hey there, Just my 2 centavos,but I have brewed 2 batches(both 5er's) in which I used McCormick's liquid flavorings and have had sucess with both. Both were wheat beers ,one I used an ounce bottle of lemon and the other an ounce of orange.Both were de-lish. I also brewed a Nut Brown ale with hazelnut flavoring which was a regular Mr. Beer sized (2.13 gal.)batch and it turned out great. I add the flavorings via the airlock hole after the 1st week of fermenting.Maybe you could try that route instead of fooling with the real fruit. Good luck either way........ ps. as a matter of fact I checked and McCormick's has raspberry extract.

Good advice already given, so I will just say...

Welcome to the Borg!

Agree with what's been said. IF you're going to add fruit, Mr. Beer recipes use Oregon fruit, which you can usually find in your supermarket. One week into fermentation, blend in a sanitized blender and GENTLY pour into the LBK, trying to stir up things as little as possible. Open the lid, gently pour, close the lid. Raspberries seem to be the best fruit addition I've tried, better flavor than cherries or blueberries.

As to honey - it won't add honey flavor. It thins the beer and raises ABV. Explore steeping honey malt next time to add that flavor, unless you are trying to thin the beer and add ABV.

Thanks for replying, everybody!

I'm brand new to the borg, but I have been lurking on the (kinda terrible...) Mr. Beer forums for a couple months. I have brewed the West Coast Pale Ale, Canadian High Country Draft, Bewitched Red Ale, Whispering Wheat, and I have the American blond ale that is currently conditioning. Thanks for pointing me to Fedora Dave's post! I will say that I am all for sticking to the recipe until I have an idea of what the base beer tastes like, but I'm really interested in branching out and I figured fruit would be a cheap place to start. I may look into the McCormick flavors, but would those impact color at all? Anyway, if you all think it's a bad idea, I'll hold off on it.

If you read Dave's post, what he says is don't get crazy to start with. Brew "by the recipe". Well, Mr. Beer recipes start with a can of HME, then you add "STUFF". The problem is, when you don't like it, is it the "STUFF" or is it the base? So his point is make the base. Decide if you like it. Then, start altering it.

If you look at the recipe section on the Mr. Beer site, some of the bases have lots of recipes, but many are similar. Add cherries. Then another is add cherries and honey. Then another is add cherries, honey, and booster. If you do the last one, and the beer is what you thought, is it because of the cherries, the honey, or the booster?

Now, some flavors you add TO THE BOTTLE at bottling time. So, you COULD put flavor in 1/2 the bottles and nothing in the other 1/2. Then compare.

Or, you can brew a batch of XYZ, then XYZ with honey and compare them. Or XYZ with fruit and compare them. Now you know what the change did to it.

Adding Oregon Fruit raspberries will turn the beer darker since you're adding red. Adding honey won't change the color. And won't taste like honey.