Razzmatazz Raspbeery Wheat Ale

Tuesday on a sunny mid-October 86-degree day off in North Carolina, and what better time to brew? This time in the brewpot it was a lighter style that will be augmented with fruity flavor, color, and character in a week's time: Razzmatazz Raspbeery Wheat Ale. Yes, it's "raspbeery". A minimally hopped wheat ale so that the raspberry character, and not an excessive hop profile, shines. An American hefe yeast instead of a prototypical German one because the heavy clove and banana character of the German yeast is not required. A toned down American version is used so that, again, the raspberry dominates.

I know you're dying for the secret, so here's the recipe:

1 lb Pilsner Malt
1 lb Vienna Malt
1/2 lb 60L Crystal Malt

7 lb Wheat Dry Extract

1 oz Liberty hops, 3.7% AA at 90 minutes
1 oz Liberty hops, 3.7% AA at 20 minutes
1 tsp Irish Moss at 10 minutes

WLP320 American Hefeweizen yeast

Then the kicker: after primary fermentation is completed in one week (and as you can see in the above photo we did not get the violent fermentations of batches past), six 12-oz packages of thawed frozen raspberries will be placed in the secondary fermenter. Then the beer will be racked onto the fruit for two weeks to pick up all the delicious raspberry character it can. The end result should be a pinkish wheat ale with plenty of sweet fruit zing.

Hopefully this experiment will be a successful one. And that's half the fun of homebrewing: experimentation. Want to make a particular style or flavor or just try something crazy? Brew your own!

And of course, for brewday there was plenty of meat smoking. Stop it. Chris may be a left-winger, but that's not code for anything. Ribs and turkey thighs were smoked and basted with sauce during the festivities. The ribs were a touch tough and took some gnawing to get off the bone, but the thighs were succulent and delicious. Any tips on preparing ribs so the meat melts off the bone would be appreciated.