Ruby Ale
This is probably the easiest recipe I have ever done. Ruby ale is from Mcmenamins, a restaurant brewery chain throughout Oregon and Washington. One of their most popular is ruby, a light raspberry ale that is fairly hazy and is just awesome.
8# 2 row
4-6 pounds of raspberries (depending on how much raspberry flavor you want)
Any low AA hop for bittering and aroma (they don't specify, they just mention "various")
I generally mash in between 147-150 for an hour. Boil all the wort as usual. I try to go with hops that are between 3-5% AA, generally Mt Hood, Hallateur, Tettnanger, Saaz, or the like.
Here is the trick and what is not told on the web site. The signature is the haze. Before adding the raspberries to the secondary, BOIL THEM for 5 minutes. This releases a pectic haze which does not affect the taste. Cool down, add to fermenter, rack beer on top.
If you keg, BE SURE you rack between a secondary and another vessel a few times to get rid of the sediment, or you will plug your keg.
Original Gravity: 1.038; Terminal Gravity: 1.005; ABV: 4.3%
Simple and easy recipe.
What are the amounts on the hops?
1oz for 30 min plus 1oz for 15 min or what?
I was intentionally vague on the hops because so is their recipe. The original recipe only says "various" for hops, no amount, no times, nothing.
Just be creative is all I can say. This is not a hoppy beer.
Thanks
I am thinking about trying a fruit beer. I might just cut it in half and do a 2.5 gallon brew and bottle it all instead of kegging. I have been trying to bottle a 12 pack off of each 5 gallon batch and keg the rest for earlier consumption. I priced raspberries last night and found between $14 -$18 for 3lbs. So it may be a little less pricey in a half batch. Raspberries right now are running between $5.00-$8.00/lb. Thanks for the recipe. I will let you know if I make it over the next several weeks. I am gettting ready for an Irish Red Ale right now. And I want to work on perfecting a Belgian Blonde/White over the next couple of months for a good spring brew to do in double batches and fill a quarter barrel.
$5 to $8 a pound? Good god!! Where are you buying these?
The Winco grocery stores in my area sell small tubs of frozen raspberries for about $1.50 on average. I never use fresh fruit in mine.
I am in southern Ohio and happened to be in a grocery store last night. The frozen were on sale for $2.25 per 8oz bag. So 6 bags would equal 3lbs and $13.50. I'm not too worried about the price. I will probably cut the recipe in half because I don't know if I will drink 5 gallons of it. This would be more of a specialty beer to share with people. I already have an IPA and a Stout on tap as well as a half barrel of Budweiser right now. And I am working on brewing the Irish Red Ale within the next few days to have ready for St. Patricks Day. Then I am going to work on a Belgian Blonde and this Ruby Ale.
Wow that is pretty high. When I used to make 5 gallon batches I used 6 pounds. The tubs Winco sells are 10 oz between $1.50 and $1.60, or at least the last time I looked. I haven't brewed this beer since last summer.
You could probably get away with 4 pounds in a 5 gallon recipe. I just like the fruit.
I never tried to make less than 5 gallons myself. Once I went all grain, doubling my recipe only added an extra hour or two, so I figured, I might as well get more beer.
$2.25 for 8 oz seems kinda high, but they are out of season anyway. Around here Safeway and Albertsons are about the most expensive for fruit. I had to get marionberries once to make Purple Haze beer and 6 pounds cost me over $20.
BTW, Purple Haze is the same recipe, just swap the fruit. I first had it at the same bar around 2001 and myself and my ex fell in love with it. Marionberries are only grown in Oregon to my knowledge.
I picked up my ingredients over the weekend for an Irish Red Ale and talked to one of the guys about helping me put together a recipe for the Ruby Ale. He said the easiest way would be to buy one of thier kits and do the fruit however I was planning to. So my girlfriend says she wants a lighter beer, like a Wheat instead of an Ale. And I told her that some Wheat beers can be just a full bodied as an Ale. So she got a Belgian Whit. So I brewed the Irish Red yesterday and next weekend when I rack the Irish Ale to my secondary I am gong to brew the Belgian. When I rack it to secondary I am going to add the raspberries. So I will have a Belgian Raspberry Whit.
Uhhh.... a wheat beer IS an ale. There are only two major styles, ale and lager.
You can make the recipe however you want. The recipe I wrote is vastly different than a Belgian Wit (white) beer. If you want a light beer, then you need to mash in at a lower temperature. However, I have a feeling you are using extract. A pale kit should work fine.
Wheat beers can have any type of body. Mine are usually full bodied.
Ha, I was just about to point out the same thing Cubx did about style.
A Belgian Raspberry Wit should be good. I'm planning on doing the same thing with Strawberry. I'm planning on killing two birds with one stone by disproving - 1) that strawberry isn't a good fruit to use in beer, and 2) that extract isn't as good as all grain. If you want a REALLY good example of a Raspberry Belgian Wit, try and find Celis Raspberry, all the flavors of a Belgian Wit with nice strong raspberry flavor/aroma, it works really well!
Now if you don't want to comingle the raspberry with the Belgian flavors, you should be able to find a nice clean wheat beer yeast to use, like an American hefe yeast. That would really allow the raspberry to shine, but what's the fun in that, haha.
DT