Rainy Day Porter Beer Recipe

Category Porter
Recipe Type Extract

Fermentables
 2 lbs Alexander extract syrup (pale)
4 lbs Yellow Dog extract syrup (amber)
1-1/4 lbs Brown Sugar
.5 lbs Black Patent
.25 lbs Roasted Barley
.5 lbs Crystal (60 degree L)
.5 lbs Crystal (40 degree L)
.25 lbs Chocolate Malt
 
Hops
 22 AAU 60 minutes boil
1 oz Cascade
 
Other
 3 oz Fresh Grated Ginger; 10 minutes boil
 
Yeast Ale yeast (see comments) 
Procedure Steep grains at 150 degrees for 40 minutes before boil. Add malt and brown sugar. Boil for 60 minutes. Add Nugget hops at begining of boil. Add ginger last 10 minutes of boil. Turn off heat and add Cascade hops. Allow to steep for 10 minutes. Cool wort with chiller. Rack off trub. Add water to make total about 5.3 gallons

Rasberry Pilsner  

Category Fruit Beers
Recipe Type Extract
.. 
Fermentables
 2 cans Ironmaster european pilsner
3-5 lbs raspberries (fresh or frozen, be sure to sterilize*)
2-4 lbs blackberries (")
 DME to bring OG to 1.048
 
Yeast 1 tsp yeast nutrient 
Procedure That's the basic recipe.. experiment with it a bit... I throw the berries on top of the wort in primary,and let the primary go until they have leeched all their color out. At that point, I rack to secondary and let it all settle (use finings if you feel the need, I didn't). By the time it's done, you have a beautiful red brew that is then kegged, conditioned, and aged for 3 months in the fridge. If you sterilised the berries right, there's not a trace of haze or cloudiness. It's almost like a raspberry champagne, and a great dessert beer. The initial taste is beery, and then a lingering fruity aftertaste. I used the pilsner kit for its relatively low hop content, allowing the fruitiness to come out a little more.
(*) Sterilising the berries Because the berries are susceptible to wild yeast on the canes, it is advisable to sterilise the berries by heating them in water to a point a little below 85 degrees centigrade. (adding some dextrose to the water will start leeching out the flavor and color). Any higer, and you will release some pectin into the solution, which will cloud the beer (not critical, it just doens't look as cool as it does when it's crystal clear and bubbling).
 

Raspberry Ale  

Category Fruit Beers
Recipe Type Extract
.
 
Fermentables
 5 lbs Munton & Fison light malt extract
.5 lbs crystal malt
48 oz frozen raspberries
 
Hops
 1.5 oz Cascade hops (boiling)
.5 oz Cascade (finish)
 
Yeast yeast 
Procedure Added crystal to water, removed prior to boiling.
Boiled wort. Added 24 ounces of raspberries right after turning off stove. Chilled, pitched. Primary ferment about 1 week. Rack to secondary and add another 24 ounces of raspberries. Let sit 2 weeks in secondary.
 

Raspberry Ale  

Category Fruit Beers
Recipe Type Extract
 
Fermentables
 2 cans Alexanders pale malt extract
2 lbs rice extract syrup
8 lbs frozen raspberries
 
Hops
 1 oz Cascades hops
 
Yeast Edme ale yeast 
Procedure I used about 8 lbs (11 12oz pkgs) and it turned out wonderfully, not at all overly raspberry-like. I blended them with just enough water to make a slurry and added it to the cooled wort (seeds, skins and all). I also added 2 campden tablets to ward off infection. It seems to have worked. No pectin haze at all. I racked into a secondary and left most of the raspberry sludge behind.