All-Grain - Wild Strawberry Blonde - Page 2

512Brew · 05-15-2011, 02:29 PM

Last 2 times I've tried to brew a Strawberry Wit or Blonde, the strawberry flavor came out a bit sour and lacking the berry sweetness. One of my favorite fruit beers is Abita Strawberry. Even though it's a lager, the strawberry flavor is just right, not sour.

**WildGingerBrewing** · 05-15-2011, 07:03 PM

[quote=corwin6654;2923004]

Quote:

Originally Posted by WildGingerBrewing

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.

I typically mash thin because I know what I am going to lose the the tun. Instead of making it up with the sparges, I make it up with the initial strike water. I calculate 1.25 qts/lb then add what I know I will lose to the grains and tun. You could reduce the strike water, but you will have to make it up in sparge water. It's just the process I've always used and I've never had a problem.

corwin6654 · 05-22-2011, 04:13 AM

I brewed the base beer for this last weekend. After it's done fermenting and I'm racking onto the fruit, do I need to put the fruit in a bag or anything? How do you avoid getting strawberry seeds and chunks in the bottles? Thanks in advance for all the help, I'm excited to see how this one turns out!

**WildGingerBrewing** · 05-23-2011, 08:58 PM

I have never used a bag, but I have seen people talk about it doing it. It sounds like a good idea to me and I may try it next time. Remember, you are racking out of secondary so you will be able to leave alot of it behind then.

MichaelsBrewing · 07-01-2011, 07:10 PM

Well I brewed this a variation of this up... here is my recipe:

Ingredients:
------------
5.5 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
2.5 lb White Wheat Malt
1.00 lb Corn/Maize, Flaked (1.3 SRM)
1.00 lb Minute Rice (1.0 SRM)

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

WLP-400 Prior Yeast Slurry

I had all these ingredients laying around the house and thought I'd give it a whirl. I just kegged it up and I have to admit it tastes kind of off (it is good but not great; definitly not something I would brag about). I am thinking that the WLP400 isn't a good mix with the strawberries. I will definitely use the S-05 next time; great choice there WildGinger.

Thoughts?

**WildGingerBrewing** · 07-01-2011, 07:37 PM

Sounds good. I would curious about using the rice. I was going to use Pale 2-Row but I really like Pilsner malts in my lighter beers. Seems to give them a lighter flavor and taste to me. I've never used WLP-400 before but the reason I went with the S-05 is due to it being so neutral in flavor. I usually get a pretty good attenuation out of it as well and hell, it's cheap!

**Primevci** · 03-05-2012, 04:07 AM

can i just use normal pale 2 row?

**WildGingerBrewing** · 03-05-2012, 05:03 PM

Absolutely. I just like Pilsner malt as my base for lighter beers so that's what I use.