Well strawberry ale on its way!!

After I clean up I'm gonna add a blowoff hose. I just know the thing is gonna explode if I don't. First fruit beer so far so good.

How much strawberries did you use? Frozen? Im making a strawberry blonde ale here in the next few weeks so I was curious.

Did you put the strawberries in before or after the primary fermentation had completed?

I steeped 5 lbs of strawberry at 155 for 30 min. I bought frozen ones and let them thaw because all the fresh ones at the market tasted sour. After I steeped them I cooled them down to 80 degrees. And then added them straight to the secondary juice and all. Then I racked the beer from primary on top of the strawberrys. The strawberrys and the juice smelt great when I put it in. I had about 3 beers left over in primary I just bottled them with carb drops. I didn't want to fill the secondary up to much.

And yes I added after primary fermentation completed. I the beer was in primary for 13 days. I hit OG at day 5 I left it in there for another week to let the yeast clean up a bit.

You are going to have crazy krausen and you need to watch out even with a blow-off tube on there, as it can get clogged pretty easily with strawberry goop. I have had two strawberry explosions in the past before I finally switched to using buckets for fruit additions.

EPS said:

And yes I added after primary fermentation completed. I the beer was in primary for 13 days. I hit OG at day 5 I left it in there for another week to let the yeast clean up a bit.

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I meant i hit FG at day 5 not OG lol

weirdboy said:

You are going to have crazy krausen and you need to watch out even with a blow-off tube on there, as it can get clogged pretty easily with strawberry goop. I have had two strawberry explosions in the past before I finally switched to using buckets for fruit additions.

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Update I decided to add the big blow off hose instead ad the small one that attaches to the 3 piece airlock.

EPS said:

Update I decided to add the big blow off hose instead ad the small one that attaches to the 3 piece airlock.

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18 or so Hrs into secondary

Umm...are you sure your primary fermentation was over? I brewed a blueberry kolsch that sat on 9 lbs of frozen blueberries for a week in a cool freezer (60 F) and didn't have any visible activity. I'd be concerned that your beer is going to finish very dry...

Darwin18 said:

Umm...are you sure your primary fermentation was over? I brewed a blueberry kolsch that sat on 9 lbs of frozen blueberries for a week in a cool freezer (60 F) and didn't have any visible activity. I'd be concerned that your beer is going to finish very dry...

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Ya i took a gravity reading at day 5 when krausen dropped. Went from 1.050 to 1.014. Took another reading on day 10 and it was the same. Then before i racked to secondary on day 13 i checked again no change.

Darwin18 said:

Umm...are you sure your primary fermentation was over? I brewed a blueberry kolsch that sat on 9 lbs of frozen blueberries for a week in a cool freezer (60 F) and didn't have any visible activity. I'd be concerned that your beer is going to finish very dry...

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My beer always referments when racking onto strawberries. It will definitely finish drier than it finished primary, but that's mostly due to the increased apparent attenuation from the additional sugars in the fruit. Mine usually drops another 2-3 points.

weirdboy said:

My beer always referments when racking onto strawberries. It will definitely finish drier than it finished primary, but that's mostly due to the increased apparent attenuation from the additional sugars in the fruit. Mine usually drops another 2-3 points.

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Ya i figured it was going to ferment when i added the strawberrys to secondary. Even though the strawberrys i bought didn't have any added sugars to them. There is still sugars in the strawberry it self. I had to unclog the blowoff hose three times during the first 24 hrs. I think i filled it up to much i didn't account for the starwberrys with 5 gallons of beer LOL. This is my first fruit beer and the bathroom smells so great like a strawberry field kind of. The secondary fermentation has slowed down now. If i had to do it again i would use a 6gal carboy as a secondary instead of the five. But things seem to be going great and i think this will be a great spring/summer beer.

As long as you don't get this you'll be fine

I'm telling you from experience, it's way easier to secondary the strawberries in an ale pail, especially when you put all the strawberries in a mesh bag and tie it up good and tight. Makes the whole process go a lot smoother. And, the main reason that you'd want to secondary in a carboy is due to potential oxygenation, which isn't an issue since it will referment and blow off a bunch of CO2 into the headspace anyway. No reason NOT to use a bucket unless you like extra work.

weirdboy said:

I'm telling you from experience, it's way easier to secondary the strawberries in an ale pail, especially when you put all the strawberries in a mesh bag and tie it up good and tight. Makes the whole process go a lot smoother. And, the main reason that you'd want to secondary in a carboy is due to potential oxygenation, which isn't an issue since it will referment and blow off a bunch of CO2 into the headspace anyway. No reason NOT to use a bucket unless you like extra work.

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Or you don't like plastic... But that's another discussion.