Strawberry blonde

I'm working on this recipe in my brewtarget program and wanted to see what people thought. I plan on putting frozen strawberries in during the secondary as well as the citra. I'll probably boil them, mash them up, and then put them in a grain bag in the bucket. I think the grain bill is pretty much standard Blonde stuff. Any suggestions?


B2B Kara Beara Strawberry Ale - Blonde Ale
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Batch Size: 5.000 gal
Boil Size: 5.750 gal
Boil Time: 1.000 hr
Efficiency: 70%%
OG: 1.048
FG: 1.012
ABV: 4.7%%
Bitterness: 24.4 IBUs (Tinseth)
Color: 4 SRM (Morey)

Fermentables
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Name Type Amount Mashed Late Yield Color
Pale Malt (2 Row) US Grain 8.000 lb Yes No 79%% 2 L
Cara-Pils/Dextrine Grain 16.000 oz Yes No 72%% 2 L
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L Grain 8.000 oz Yes No 75%% 10 L
Total grain: 9.500 lb

Hops
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Name Alpha Amount Use Time Form IBU
Willamette 5.0%% 1.000 oz Boil 1.000 hr Pellet 18.1
Citra 12.0%% 1.000 oz Boil 0.000 s Pellet 0.0
Fuggles 4.5%% 0.500 oz Boil 30.000 min Pellet 6.3

Misc
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Name Type Use Amount Time
Whirlfloc Fining Boil 1.280 tbsp 15.000 min

Yeast
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Name Type Form Amount Stage
Safale S-04 Ale Dry 0.388 oz Primary

I have very little experience with fruit but seem to remember that when you boil fruit you loose lots of the flavor and aroma. If they are frozen strawberries sealed in a bag from the grocery freezer they should be fairly sanitary. I would let them thaw in the refrigerator and add them straight to secondary.

Ok, thanks. I've read about both and wasn't sure which way to go. I'll try to just thaw them then. At the secondary point of fermentation there shouldn't be much chance of contamination anymore anyway.

How did this turn out?

Oh my god! It was delicious. I don't even like fruit beers and was doing it for a friend and it just turned out amazing. We just bought 5 lbs of frozen strawberries and let them thaw for a bit before adding them in a grainbag to the secondary fermenter. Looked nasty when we took them out but the beer was delicious.