Raspberry Puree and ABV

[Dextolen]

How much effect on alcohol content will adding a 49 oz can of raspberry puree to secondary have on an average American Wheat beer?

[xian 1g]

Is there a sugar content, i.e. grams per serving, on the back?

I know I used 8lbs of malt, 2lbs of freshly picked blackberry's and 2 lb of store bought strawberries and sawy about 12% alc by volume.

[Dextolen]

I tossed the can long ago....doh. Searching internet for nutritional info on oregon purees.

[Dextolen]

Found the sugar content of the 49oz can of puree - 108 grams sugar.

[Dextolen]

Hey, the raspberry wheat is done, it's been a about 4-5 weeks in the bottle and I got into it. It's a bit tart, but I find it's mellowing with chilling and each week that goes by. It's strong alcohol wise but not "hot" or overwhelming in alcohol taste. The raspberry taste remains as the tartness is leaving. I'm pretty happy with this first attempt at a fruity beer.

[Derekt2]

Originally posted by Dextolen
Found the sugar content of the 49oz can of puree - 108 grams sugar.

How does that correspond to gravity in terms of points per gallon. Too early in the AM for advanced math for me.

I'm going to use some Raspberry puree too in a few weeks so I'd like to know it's potential strength before going overboard.

[Dextolen]

I was asking the same thing here.

I know the beertools calculator came out at around 5.3% for the wheat beer all by itself. Another guy who did the same thing said the puree added about 6% to his brew, I don't think that I'm sitting on 11%. I think more like 8-9%.

I just wish the beer was a bit sweeter. The ferment took all the sweet away, leaving the tartness of the fruit.

[HogieWan]

generally (from what I've heard from others) the sweetness of any fruit used will ferment out. You'll have to make a sweeter beer base to compensate.

[Derekt2]

generally (from what I've heard from others) the sweetness of any fruit used will ferment out. You'll have to make a sweeter beer base to compensate.

Or sweeten it with Splenda afterwards, much like how modern Lambic & Geuze blenders use sacharin to sweeten their products.

BTW, I do want to resolve the matter of gravity yields from those purees. Let's make that a project for this thread, okay? I'll start with my contribution as soon as I get some work backlog off my desk (i.e., tomorrow).

[Derekt2]

Okay, this was nagging me so I'm back...

Based on what was posted earlier, each can contains ~108 grams of sugar. Assuming 5 gallons of beer and ignoring the modest added volume (less than 1/2 a gallon) the puree would add, each can contributes ~about 21 grams of sugar per gallon or roughly 3/4 of a pound of sucrose (1 pound = 28.7 grams). If sucrose yields ~35 point/lb/gal then 3/4 of that would be about 25 points total or roughly 5 gravity units per gallon. This means that adding one can to five gallons of OG 50 beer would result in a potential gravity of 1.055. Additionally, since the sucrose would reduce further than maltose, you would assume an 80 - 85% reduction to reach final gravity or a finished beer of: 1.008 - 1.011.

Anyone else?

[HogieWan]

everything sounds good except you are leaving out everything besides the sucrose in your equation. You are getting color and flavor from the puree so you are adding to the SG and FG.

Your calculations would be all that is needed to determine the ABV in a beer made with these, but you couldn't use the actual FG in the calculations.

[Derekt2]

everything sounds good except you are leaving out everything besides the sucrose in your equation. You are getting color and flavor from the puree so you are adding to the SG and FG.

I don't consider color a substantial factor becuase most, such as the raspberry puree, contibute little (unlike bluebery, for example). In any event, I seldom make light fruit beers so color is a matter of perhaps 1 color unit in addition which is trivial. And, since we are not talking about hops subject to IBU calculations, the flavor of the puree is not a factor in this equation either. We are most interested in volume and potential extract and therefore it's effect on the final gravity... or did I misunderstand your response?

[Derekt2]

For giggles I went to www.hbd.org/recipator and plugged in:

- 5 gallons of beer
- 49 oz. of "sugar" at ~35 pts/lb/gal

and it returned abiut 4 gravity points per gallon additional OG so I was close anyway. The only real difference is I was local at larger units to avoid smaller fractions.

[YamahaXS]

IMO, 49 fluid ounces of raspberry puree would contain many more fermentables than 105 grams of sucrose.

is that a per serving amount? e.g., 105 / 8 ounce serving?

[HogieWan]

I meant that, if something added color (and flavor), there is something unfermentable added, raising OG and FG.

[Derekt2]

Originally posted by HogieWan
I meant that, if something added color (and flavor), there is something unfermentable added, raising OG and FG.

Right, which is why I used 80 - 85% fermentable extract. Otherwise, I would have used 100% and you would have an even lower gravity.

I went to the OFP website and it says a can of Sour Cherry puree is equal to 13 Brix which is almost the same as OG = 52 or ten units per gallon (which seems awfully high.) Problem is it isn't clear whether than means the density of the 49 oz. can is 13 Brix (i.e., potential extract) or if it is based on pts/gal which I suspect it is *not* because that would result in a very high density.

[Dextolen]

My Raspberry wheat has a hazy pink/reddish tinge to it, in terms of the puree's effect on color.

as far as the sugar content of the can, I got the info over the phone, I will be in store later this week and can verify the sugar content again.

[Derekt2]

as far as the sugar content of the can, I got the info over the phone, I will be in store later this week and can verify the sugar content again.

Unless the labels have changed recently there is no sugar info on the can. I bought one a few months back and it said: Raspberry, water.

[I'mRocketMan]

Based on what was posted earlier, each can contains ~108 grams of sugar. Assuming 5 gallons of beer and ignoring the modest added volume (less than 1/2 a gallon) the puree would add, each can contributes ~about 21 grams of sugar per gallon or roughly 3/4 of a pound of sucrose (1 pound = 28.7 grams). If sucrose yields ~35 point/lb/gal then 3/4 of that would be about 25 points total or roughly 5 gravity units per gallon. This means that adding one can to five gallons of OG 50 beer would result in a potential gravity of 1.055. Additionally, since the sucrose would reduce further than maltose, you would assume an 80 - 85% reduction to reach final gravity or a finished beer of: 1.008 - 1.011.

That would be 3/4 OUNCE *not* pound, right? (1 oz = 28.35 grams, 1 pound = 453.6 grams)

[Dextolen]

Originally posted by Derekt2
Unless the labels have changed recently there is no sugar info on the can. I bought one a few months back and it said: Raspberry, water.

He read it to me...So perhaps they've added Nutritional Info.

Maybe somebody should email Oregon Fruit Products.

[Derekt2]

Originally posted by Dextolen
He read it to me...So perhaps they've added Nutritional Info.

Maybe somebody should email Oregon Fruit Products.

Err, right. I told you I'm dangerous with math before I'm fully caffeinated. I just wanted to illustrate the point to see who was paying attention. :eek:

[unkle bik]

Originally posted by Dextolen
Hey, the raspberry wheat is done, it's been a about 4-5 weeks in the bottle and I got into it. It's a bit tart, but I find it's mellowing with chilling and each week that goes by. It's strong alcohol wise but not "hot" or overwhelming in alcohol taste. The raspberry taste remains as the tartness is leaving. I'm pretty happy with this first attempt at a fruity beer.

I put the puree in the PRIMARY of my raspberry wheat a couple of months ago. I was surprised that it was low in alcohol (4.3%). I thought all the sugars would have fermented out with a higher ABV. My final SG was over 1.020.

[Derekt2]

Originally posted by unkle bik
I put the puree in the PRIMARY of my raspberry wheat a couple of months ago. I was surprised that it was low in alcohol (4.3%). I thought all the sugars would have fermented out with a higher ABV. My final SG was over 1.020.

Float your hydrometer in room temp water and see if it measures around 1.000 (use 60F if you want to be exact). My guess is it's out of whack. The last guy I suggested this to found his was off .06 which is quite significant.

[YamahaXS]

Originally posted by Derekt2
Float your hydrometer in room temp water and see if it measures around 1.000 (use 60F if you want to be exact). My guess is it's out of whack. The last guy I suggested this to found his was off .06 which is quite significant.

this is a whole nother thread... but to calibrate you have to test at both ends of the scale... for both distilled water and a liquid of known density (e.g., a 1.045 wort).

[unkle bik]

I used Wyeast American Ale #1056 liquid yeast.
Could this have had anything to do with a high final SG?

[Derekt2]

I used Wyeast American Ale #1056 liquid yeast.

1056 is a high attenuator meaning lower final gravities.

[unkle bik]

Originally posted by Derekt2
1056 is a high attenuator meaning lower final gravities.
If that's the case, can you tell me why I had such a high final SG (1.020)?

[HogieWan]

a high FG means there were sugars (or other compounds) that the yeast couldn't convert. Sometimes an unusually high FG means the yeast didn't get proper care for fermentation - not enough oxygen in the wort, not enough yeast, improper temps, etc.