I need input on a recipe

I'm thinking of adding some strawberry syrup to my brown ale. Do you guys/gals think it will turn out disgusting on pretty good?

joepezHB said:

I'm thinking of adding some strawberry syrup to my brown ale. Do you guys/gals think it will turn out disgusting on pretty good?

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I'm thinking it'll taste amazing. I'm currently brewing a raspberry chocolate beer with brown sugar addition

IMO, it won't be good. As a test, measure out a small amount and add it to a pint/measure of the brew when it's done fermenting and ready for keg/bottle. Figure out how much you plan to add, and use the same percentage/ratio in the smaller volume. But, I can't see this as a good thing for a brown ale.

I don't think this is a great combo. As golddiggie suggested, try small scale first but I'm thinking this is a bad idea with a brown.

How would you add it? I would be afraid that any of the sweet you might hope to gain would ferment out and you would be left with this sharp tart 'funk'. Which, might be a little strange in a brown.

Definitely go with testing on a sample. Also, you might want to try and find some strawberry extract to work with.

jiggs_casey said:

How would you add it? I would be afraid that any of the sweet you might hope to gain would ferment out and you would be left with this sharp tart 'funk'. Which, might be a little strange in a brown.

Definitely go with testing on a sample. Also, you might want to try and find some strawberry extract to work with.

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Def. go with an extract... A syrup will kick off another fermentation round which (as posted) can result in even less desirable results. Unless the syrup is made with a sugar type that will NOT ferment (highly unlikely).

(Gag). Strawberry syrup is tricky, and I wouldn't use it. It'd be even worse in a brown ale when there is a bit of roast malt in it, but not enough to be chocolate flavored. It sounds absolutely terrible to me. But I'm not the one drinking it, so if it sounds good to you, I guess that's the important thing.

It seems like strawberry is a flavor that doesn't often work very in beers anyway. The idea is doubtful.

Strawberry works fine in beers but in a heavy beer not so much. It is a delicate flavor and gets absobed and lost quickly even in lighter beers such as Blondes and Hefes so I would think with all the other flavors going on it wouldn't blend as expected.

I would do the test GD mentioned of dropping some into a pint to test it then add if you like it, just remember the flavor of strawberry fades rather quickly so what you taste today may not be anywhere near the same in a week from now.

If you were brewing a blonde ale I would say go for it, a brown ale I'm not sure. I'm not saying don't do it, haha, just saying your mileage may vary.

I died a little considering this. :smack:

But uh, don't let me stop ya. Do you not like normal beer, or did this just sound good?

Rick

I did a very mild, lightly hopped brown ale (really almost an English mild), then racked it onto several lbs of frozen raspberries for another week or so. It's really tasty, but has almost no "brown ale" or roast flavor -- loads and loads of tart fruit taste & aroma.

I wouldn't think the syrup would work as well as a basic secondary with whole or puréed fruit.

Strawberry (and other berries) really are tricky. In fresh fruit, the sugars ferment out leaving a tartness behind without all that much fruit flavor. Think of a strawberry, and why you like it. Then picture it with the sweetness gone. It's tart, unpleasantly so, usually. Raspberries are even worse, as they are more acidic and so when fermented out they can be very tart. Many brewers then add lactose to help bring back some of the sweetness.

Strawberries can be good in light, tart-ish beers. Picture a strawberry wheat or a cream ale with some strawberries. Extract is sometimes better than fruit in beer as it has the sweetness and flavor, both, in it. Of course, some extracts aren't very good and a fake fruit taste is worse than the tartness.

That's why I said it's tricky. I've only done a few fruit beers (best was watermelon wheat), but I'm a winemaker and go through this with many fruit wines.

Yooper said:

Many brewers then add lactose to help bring back some of the sweetness.

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If I had thought about this before I brewed my last vanilla stout it would have turned out stellar...instead it was very mediocre IMO

Ill def hold off on this strawberry idea, good thing i asked before I took the dive.

What was you intentional goal to use strawberry syrup? Like most people have said, most of the sugars will ferment out. I would use strawberry extract if your looking for the strawberry taste, or boil 1 lbs of strawberry/ gallon of beer. Strawberries do not put out a lot of flavor as is.

How about some molasses?

joepezHB said:

How about some molasses?

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Another dangerous addition in that the flavor given can easily go too far and become something nasty. IMO, you're better off going for a flavor that can be done with more normal additions.