Fresh Strawberry Kolsh = weird taste

I used a kit to make a honey kolsh, and then decided to add strawberries.

This was my first time adding real fruit. I think I made several mistakes. But this was my process.

1) Make honey kolsh, ferment 1 week in primary
2) rack to secondary
3) cut 1 pound of strawberries in half and remove stem (green bit)
4) boil in 1 cup of water for 10 minutes
5) add to secondary
6) proceed as normal

MY mistakes,
I only added 1 pound of strawberries.
I should have soaked in starsan instead of boil
Now, my beer has a rather odd taste to it that is kind of plastic, tinny.
Is this because of the fact that this is a light extract brew, or could it be related to the strawberries. . And will it get any better? I'm pretty much ready to dump the whole batch.

I have also decided to stop using a ale pale and just stick to glass, in case the taste came from the plastic bucket. Also I am upgrading my plastic auto siphon to a stainless steel rack cane.

I can pretty much gaurantee to you that it's not the plastic causing your problems. I've used (as do a lot of the more experienced brewers on here) plastic for years and never had an issue with off flavors. I only use glass when I'm planning on aging the beer in secondary for more than a few months.

I think your problem is the way you prepared your fruit, but what I'm thinking doesn't describe the tin flavor your getting. Any type of metallic flavor is usually caused by using the wrong metals in the brewing process.

You shouldn't boil fruit. It should be held at about 180F for 10-15 minutes and that's plenty to sanitize it.

Personally, I've never sanitized my fruit other than washing it and freezing it...and I've never had an infection in a fruit beer. All I do is cut and wash my fruit, freeze it for a few weeks, and dump it into the fermentor frozen. By the time it thaws and the bacteria is able to function again, the yeast will already have eaten most of it.

I wouldn't throw the beer out. 1lb of strawberries doesn't add that much flavor, and some of those off flavors will fade as the beer ages.

sicabeer said:

I should have soaked [the strawberries] in starsan instead of boil

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Actually, you would be best to soak them in vodka or some relatively flavorless grain alcohol (everclear) instead of using star san or boiling.

Walker said:

Actually, you would be best to soak them in vodka or some relatively flavorless grain alcohol (everclear) instead of using star san or boiling.

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or, do what we winemakers do. Crush a campden tablet in some water, and pour it over the fruit for 24 hours, then add that fruit to the beer.

sicabeer said:

Also I am upgrading my plastic auto siphon to a stainless steel rack cane.

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Just to play devil's advocate, my kit originally came with a stainless racking cane and I actually switched to 1/2'' plastic for two reasons: I can see through it now to ensure it's properly cleaned, and 1/2" diameter tubing will suck through a fermenter and transfer FAST by comparison.

Just saying, if you're getting concerned with an off-flavor in this beer, I wouldn't want a new piece of equipment to make you more paranoid. In my case, I never felt like I cleaned the stainless racking cane well enough - maybe your method is better...

So much good information in this thread!! Thanks. Yes it was my first time with fruit, I think I will try a different approach next time.

Interesting about the plastic. I just feel I never get it clean enough. I'm kind of the opposite. I figure with stainless, I can run a brush though the racking cane. Right now with my plastic siphon, I only run liquids though it, powder wash, star-san etc. I don't dare scrub. I do use a coarse sponge on my plastic bucket, and a brush on the carboy.
Of course it's going to be 1/2". 3/8 is just to small.. Good point about not seeing it.

sicabeer said:

So much good information in this thread!! Thanks. Yes it was my first time with fruit, I think I will try a different approach next time.

Interesting about the plastic. I just feel I never get it clean enough. I'm kind of the opposite. I figure with stainless, I can run a brush though the racking cane. Right now with my plastic siphon, I only run liquids though it, powder wash, star-san etc. I don't dare scrub. I do use a coarse sponge on my plastic bucket, and a brush on the carboy.
Of course it's going to be 1/2". 3/8 is just to small.. Good point about not seeing it.

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I wouldn't use a coarse sponge on your buckets. It may cause scratches which will eventually lead to infection if you're not careful.

To me, buckets are a lot easier to clean. It's easy to get inside them and scrub everything. You will obviously have stains, and there's nothing that can be done about it...but that won't hurt you. Odors can be taken out by soaking in oxyclean for a few days. At least...that's what I do.