Fruit Beer Succulent Strawberry Blonde

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zdub10 said:
I just brewed this about 3 days ago and I haven't seen any signs of fermentation in my blow off. I'm going to wait it out a couple more days before I start thinking about re-pitching. My question is should I still rack onto the strawberries after 7 days or should I wait longer?

Thanks for the advice in advance
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I would restart the 7 day count from the day you re-pitch. Altho, I would not rely on the blow off tube to guage whether or not fermentation is occurring. Use your hydrometer to verify that there has been no fermentation prior to re-pitching. Good luck!
 
Bluelinebrewer said:
I would not rely on the blow off tube to guage whether or not fermentation is occurring. Use your hydrometer to verify that there has been no fermentation prior to re-pitching. Good luck!
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This^^^^^^^^^^ Quit using your airlock as a sign of fermentation. Don't re-pitch until you have taken three readings on three consecutive days and confirmed that fermentation has not occurred.
 
Awesome recipe, really cant get enough of this beer.

3 weeks after bottling i tasted it and said blah! I really messed something up!! I really really thought It was unsalvagable. 2 weeks later I give my wife a bottle she said "Holy crap babe, this is really good" I said "It is?? Let me taste"

Everyone that has tried it since has loved it.

This is going on full rotation, once every 6 months or so. The strawberries just slap you across the face with their deliciousness!!
 
JRapp said:
Awesome recipe, really cant get enough of this beer.

3 weeks after bottling i tasted it and said blah! I really messed something up!! I really really thought It was unsalvagable. 2 weeks later I give my wife a bottle she said "Holy crap babe, this is really good" I said "It is?? Let me taste"

Everyone that has tried it since has loved it.

This is going on full rotation, once every 6 months or so. The strawberries just slap you across the face with their deliciousness!!
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Thanks!! Glad you like it! It definitely gets a little better as it ages.
 
zdub10 said:
I just brewed this about 3 days ago and I haven't seen any signs of fermentation in my blow off. I'm going to wait it out a couple more days before I start thinking about re-pitching. My question is should I still rack onto the strawberries after 7 days or should I wait longer?

Thanks for the advice in advance
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I assume since you are going off your blowoff tube for signs of fermentation that you are using a bucket? It is pretty easy not to get a good seal on a bucket and not have any activity through your blowoff tube. There may be a healthy krausen in there but since you can't see into the bucket you have a Schrodinger's cat situation on your hands. Like others have said, use your hydrometer and check it. You will likely find a krausen ring when you crack open that bucket to take a sample, if not and the hydrometer reading hasn't gone down you can repitch.
 
I'm supposed to rack the $&^/ I forgot the saaz tonight to tertiary, and should be racking the batch off its cake tonight to secondary...and deal with two other beers. Too damn hot and tired. We'll see what gets done haha.
 
It seems like this is the best thread to ask anything related to using strawberries in a brew so if someone can please help me out, it would be much appreciated.

I have recently made up a Strawberry Blonde, I let it sit in the primary for a little over 2 weeks and then moved the beer onto 6lbs of thawed strawberries that I mashed up a bit and added to a strainer bag for a week in my secondary. Now that I am tasting the sample, I am seeing a lot of tartness that I have concluded is completely normal. Now my question is, what is the best way to add lactose to this 5 gallon batch now that the beer is currently being cold crashed? Could I just add in 1/4 - 1/2 lb of lactose and let it sit in the secondary during the cold crash?

I plan to keg this later in the week but I have some wiggle room if needing to let it sit longer, even though I do not think it would matter if I added the lactose to the secondary or keg.

Please let me know what you think I should do and if you have recommendations on how much lactose to add to counterbalance the tartness of the beer. Thanks!
 
I use a half lb of lactose and rack the beer onto the strawberries and lactose in my secondary. It's nice and sweet, and everyone who has had it enjoys it.
 
SupervisingChildren said:
I use a half lb of lactose and rack the beer onto the strawberries and lactose in my secondary. It's nice and sweet, and everyone who has had it enjoys it.
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Thanks, I think I will plan to add some lactose to my secondary. Anyone know how long lactose will last for? I have some laying around that I plan to use but its a couple years old.
 
So I had an EPIC feck-up with this beer and dumped it...

I had cold crashed, racked onto the berries, kept it cold and hooked it up to the tap. After a few days I went to check the pressure and my CO2 tank was empty! Filled it back up and hooked it up again and listened; found a leak in the gas post. So I took the keg out of the keezer and put it down stairs until I got a replacement poppit (usually the culprit). During this time I had another beer hooked up. Got the replacement poppit and brought the keg of strawberry back upstairs to hook it back up. Keep in mind that the temp where it was stored was 70F (THIS IS WHERE I MESSED UP). I released the pressure valve thinking I got the pressure down. As soon as I took the post off, SPPPPLLLOOOOOOOOSSSSSHHHHH!!! It was goddamned Old Faithful right in my kitchen at 11PM. Blasted me right in the face (I was looking down over the post), hit the ceiling, and got beer EVERYWHERE. I did the only thing I could think of and shut the keezer lid to contain it until it stopped.

My wife came home as I had the mop scrubbing the walls and ceiling. Busted. :eek:

So let this be a lesson to anyone reading: if you choose to cold crash, rack onto the berries while keeping it cold, and then right to the tap (still cold), DON'T let it warm back up!!!

I did hook it back up and taste it.. it tasted like garbage. Not sure if it got infected or always tasted like ass (the hydro sample tasted good), but this beer was the biggest fail of my brewing career.

Maybe next year I'll try it again....
 
MetallHed said:
So I had an EPIC feck-up with this beer and dumped it...

I had cold crashed, racked onto the berries, kept it cold and hooked it up to the tap. After a few days I went to check the pressure and my CO2 tank was empty! Filled it back up and hooked it up again and listened; found a leak in the gas post. So I took the keg out of the keezer and put it down stairs until I got a replacement poppit (usually the culprit). During this time I had another beer hooked up. Got the replacement poppit and brought the keg of strawberry back upstairs to hook it back up. Keep in mind that the temp where it was stored was 70F (THIS IS WHERE I MESSED UP). I released the pressure valve thinking I got the pressure down. As soon as I took the post off, SPPPPLLLOOOOOOOOSSSSSHHHHH!!! It was goddamned Old Faithful right in my kitchen at 11PM. Blasted me right in the face (I was looking down over the post), hit the ceiling, and got beer EVERYWHERE. I did the only thing I could think of and shut the keezer lid to contain it until it stopped.

My wife came home as I had the mop scrubbing the walls and ceiling. Busted. :eek:

So let this be a lesson to anyone reading: if you choose to cold crash, rack onto the berries while keeping it cold, and then right to the tap (still cold), DON'T let it warm back up!!!

I did hook it back up and taste it.. it tasted like garbage. Not sure if it got infected or always tasted like ass (the hydro sample tasted good), but this beer was the biggest fail of my brewing career.

Maybe next year I'll try it again....
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Ugh, that sucks! At least it was a blonde and not an RIS or something equally as dark.
 
Setesh said:
Ugh, that sucks! At least it was a blonde and not an RIS or something equally as dark.
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Yeah, that would've been way worse! I had a pineapple ale ready to be tapped right behind it so no gap in the pipeline. The silver lining is my kitchen got a good scrub down so it's nice and clean.
 
Any other fruit good in this beer? Going to split my batch and do 1/2 strawberries and 1/2 something else possibly? I'm worried I wont' want 5 gallons of strawberry beer plus 8lbs of strawberries now is $30+
 
I've never tried anything else, but I think just about anything would go well. I've thought about doing a blueberry, but just never got around to it! If you do decide to go with something else, let us know.
 
BlueLine-

I enjoyed reading your posts (and the entire thread) and I am going to try your original version this weekend. I am sure it will quickly become a classic in my repertoire.

Thanks for your patience; you deserve a medal!

-Ritalin
 
RitalinIV said:
BlueLine-

I enjoyed reading your posts (and the entire thread) and I am going to try your original version this weekend. I am sure it will quickly become a classic in my repertoire.

Thanks for your patience; you deserve a medal!

-Ritalin
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Thanks!! I hope you enjoy it! Its definitely a classic around my place, everyone asks when I'm brewing it again!
 
I tried making something something similar to this but it ended up tasting like Strawberry Champaign. I like your process for this and I will try it for next spring.
Need to get ready for my winter beers
 
Could not wait any longer! Brewed yesterday, fermenting as we speak. I will keep you all posted.
Thanks again Bluelinebrewer!

-Ritalin
 
RitalinIV said:
Could not wait any longer! Brewed yesterday, fermenting as we speak. I will keep you all posted.
Thanks again Bluelinebrewer!

-Ritalin
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It gets even harder to wait once it hits the secondary!! :) No problem, let me know how it turns out!!
 
Picked up almost everything for the next 2 batches of the adultered version using citra instead of saaz plus lactose. It went over very well. Swmbo loved it! Forgot the damn lactose so gotta go back later in the week
 
SupervisingChildren said:
Picked up almost everything for the next 2 batches of the adultered version using citra instead of saaz plus lactose. It went over very well. Swmbo loved it! Forgot the damn lactose so gotta go back later in the week
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So Citra is a good swap for the Saaz? I've got some extra Citra... Maybe ill try it in my AG version! Glad yours turned out well!!
 
It's definitely a beer to keep in stock, which I'm about to fail at, so I picked up the two . Brewing the frist batch now, and will reuse the yeast for the second batch.
 
SupervisingChildren said:
It's definitely a beer to keep in stock, which I'm about to fail at, so I picked up the two . Brewing the frist batch now, and will reuse the yeast for the second batch.
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Yes it is! Speaking of which, I'm gonna have to brew up a batch of my AG version pretty soon. I'm gonna go with your advice and sub the Citra!
 
I was thinking of adding other fruit too like bananas. Maybe even kiwi and / or some other stuff. Think I'll tamper with the second batch and see what happens. Any thoughts?
 
SupervisingChildren said:
I was thinking of adding other fruit too like bananas. Maybe even kiwi and / or some other stuff. Think I'll tamper with the second batch and see what happens. Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

I've thought long and hard about trying another fruit, just haven't done it yet. I'm not sure about the bananas, but I really think the kiwi would be amazing! If you try it, let me know. Hell, I might just do it myself! :)
 
Banana-flavored beer is something I am familiar with... as an off taste :(
No on the banana for me but a big "hell yes" on the kiwi! Other than the super-small seeds, it sounds like a great and original idea. If I could ever find them fresh, I have always wanted to brew a passion fruit ale myself.

Keep us posted,

-Ritalin
 
I actually made what I called an Island Hopper which was a pretty bold IPA. I used banana and coconut extract in the boil. I had some friend who are major hop heads who lived it and some others that weren't big fans. I feel you should always try things once, I know I will make this brew again. I thought it was a great summer IPA and I'm not against making it for the winter either. Next on my list to brew Pumpkin Lager "Jack-O-Lager and Toasted Coconut Chocolate Stout.
 
I tried this batch the first time last night. It was purely AWESOME! the first thing you smell as you bring the glass to your lips is strawberry. As you go for your first pull, you think, "man, this is going to be ridiculously overpowering with strawberries." It is totally not! It is magic. I could still taste the hops in the background too.

I had to cut my neighbors off in order to save some for later. Great recipe! Thanks again fro sharing!

-Ritalin
 
RitalinIV said:
I tried this batch the first time last night. It was purely AWESOME! the first thing you smell as you bring the glass to your lips is strawberry. As you go for your first pull, you think, "man, this is going to be ridiculously overpowering with strawberries." It is totally not! It is magic. I could still taste the hops in the background too.

I had to cut my neighbors off in order to save some for later. Great recipe! Thanks again fro sharing!

-Ritalin
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Glad you like it!! Its always been a crowd pleaser around here.
 
just brewed this last night, made a big mistake though and pitched at too high of a temp. im at 1.060 as of now, going to keep an eye on it for about 3 days and see what happens. Think it is salvageable? i dont really want to dump, but i dont really want to waste another batch of yeast and the strawberries. i need to be more careful
 
Bluelinebrewer said:
How high was your temp when you pitched?
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honestly, im not sure. the bucket was slightly warm to the touch. Major F-up on my part. I didnt have a thermometer, but i ordered one right away so that this won't happen again. The wort was cooling for a good hour in an ice bath and it had the gallon of cold water added at that point. I didnt realize how warm it was because the cold water threw me off.
 
scrub0bk said:
honestly, im not sure. the bucket was slightly warm to the touch. Major F-up on my part. I didnt have a thermometer, but i ordered one right away so that this won't happen again. The wort was cooling for a good hour in an ice bath and it had the gallon of cold water added at that point. I didnt realize how warm it was because the cold water threw me off.
Click to expand...

Give it another 24 hours and check your SG. If it hasn't dropped at all, I'd say repitch your yeast and see what happens. It could cause some off flavors, but, then again it may not. I definitely wouldnt pitch the wort at this point!
 

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