All-Grain - Wild Strawberry Blonde

**WildGingerBrewing** · 04-25-2011, 05:24 PM

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Safale S-05
Yeast Starter: no
Batch Size (Gallons): 6.5 gal
Original Gravity: 1.053
Final Gravity: 1.012
IBU: 25.1
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60 min
Color: 3.2 SRM
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 12 days
Additional Fermentation: 14 days
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 7 days
Tasting Notes: AWESOME! Can't keep enough on hand through the summer.

7 lbs American Pilsner Malt
1.25 German Wheat Malt
1 lb Cara-Pils
1 lb Flaked Corn

1 oz Cascade 5.0% AA @ 60 min
.5 oz Saaz 6.8% AA @ 20 min
.5 oz Saaz 6.8% AA@ 15 min

1 tsp Irish Moss @ 15 min

Mash 6 gal @ 154F for 60 min
Sparge with 2.5 gal @170F for 10 min
Sparge with 2.5 gal @170 for 10 min
You will want 8 gal into the kettle
Boil for 60 min adding hops as noted

Ferment @ 68F for 12 days and rack ONTO 8 lbs of frozen strawberries. Do not thaw them, do not puree them, dump them into a bucket and rack the beer on top of them.

Secondary on the berries for 7 days and rack into terrtiary for another 7 days. Cold crash for 7 more days, then bottle.

You want to get as much into the primary fermenter as possible. The berries will soak up some beer and you will lose some while racking. If you boil off more than 1 gal/hr, you will want to boil more. A 6.5 gal batch nets me 53 bottles.

This beer is my all grain version of the Succulent Strawberry extract recipe listed on here. It is phenomenal! Great summer beer.

MichaelsBrewing · 05-10-2011, 01:26 AM

Well it has been a little over a year now. Any further comments on this one? I am excited to get more information as you have surely brewed it a few more times over the past year. =)

Thanks!

**WildGingerBrewing** · 05-10-2011, 01:55 AM

It gets better everytime I brew it. We can't keep enough of it here at the house. All of my friends want to drink it. I'm down to about 1 case right now. Guess I need to get it in the rotation! The last batches we did, I used S-05 and my buddy used Wyeast 1056. We compared the two after they were done. Taste wise they are almost identical. Mine was clearer however. Probaby due to the fact that I cold crashed mine a few days before bottling and he didn't. When you try it let me know how you liked it.

MichaelsBrewing · 05-10-2011, 09:36 AM

Will do... Thanks for the update!

KCBigDog · 05-11-2011, 02:31 AM

I'm about to add blueberries (dole frozen from supermarket) and I just can't decide if I should heat them first to pasteurize. There are two totally different camps on the subject. I would rather just dump the frozen berries in and rack on top of them. But on the other hand, I would hate to ruin a good batch due to infection from the fruit!

What to do? I've got a week and a half to decide.

**WildGingerBrewing** · 05-11-2011, 02:37 AM

I would add them frozen. Any bacteria hs been killed by the freezing process. Heating them creates a chance of adding bacteria. Just my 2 cents.

KCBigDog · 05-11-2011, 03:36 PM

It looks like whatever I decide to do will be wrong in someone's eyes. Just trying to determin the best way with least risk.

**weirdboy** · 05-11-2011, 03:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WildGingerBrewing

Any bacteria hs been killed by the freezing process.

No, it hasn't. Freezing may kill some bacteria, but what it mainly does is keep bacteria from growing due to the low temperature.

Nevertheless, I do not pasteurize my fruit for fruit beers. I wash and sanitize it, then freeze it in a sanitized container, discarding any pieces that are obviously not fresh. Most of the wild yeasts (and other germs) you get from fruit are sitting around on the outside of the fruit, so washing the fruit thoroughly will usually take care of it. For whatever remains I just trust the alcohol in the beer to help out with.

Pasteurizing the fruit does denature the germs, but it also dramatically changes the flavor and texture. You just don't end up with as "crisp" a flavor IMO.

KCBigDog · 05-11-2011, 08:31 PM

I bought frozen Dole Blueberries, with the idea of thawing, dumping into secondary, then racking my Hefe on top of it.

I think I'll go with that, but keep going back and forth after ready warnings about infection.

corwin6654 · 05-14-2011, 05:20 PM

[QUOTE=WildGingerBrewing;2867396]
Mash 6 gal @ 154F for 60 min
Sparge with 2.5 gal @170F for 10 min
Sparge with 2.5 gal @170 for 10 min
You will want 8 gal into the kettle
Boil for 60 min adding hops as noted
QUOTE]

That seems like an awful lot to mash with at first. Is that right, mash with 6 gallons for 10 lbs of grain? Isn't that like over 2qt's a gallon? I normally mash about 1.25 qts/gallon. I am going to brew this tomorrow, and just want to make sure I do it correctly. Thanks for any help.