strawberry harvest clone

So while shopping for Camden tabs, I noticed there are sodium metabisulfite and potassium meta... Is there a difference?n

I do t know but I think you want potassium

I don't claim to be an expert on this, but I think it's the metabisulfite that you care about. don't think sodium vs potassium matters.

Camden tabs coming Wednesday, juicer coming Thursday, let ya know Friday how it turns out!

Can't wait to see your final product! When are u adding the juice?

It seems the juicer will be arriving today! If all the packages show up in time, I'll rack onto the juice today or tomorrow. How long do the cam tabs take to work? Do I need to rack after I add them, or will the remaining yeast settle out and get pumped out?

Might as well rack after adding it I think, assuming you can let it sit for a day before racking to let the campden do it's job.

I thought you were going to lager for 6 weeks?

Chefencore said:

lager til i can’t take it anymore (6 weeks?)

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Cant take it anymore! Besides, my lager fridge is also my serving fridge. Need to make room. I can fit two kegs and a carboy or 4 kegs.

Alright. I want to give this beer the best shot possible. A few things. I have the strawberries, and the juicer. Can I juice the berries and freeze the juice? If these go in the trash swmbo just might kill me. (yes, over strawberries. You don't wanna mess with this woman!) should I dip them in boiled water first, freeze the first, or just use the juice?

Second. If I transfer to a keg to lager, should I wait to add the Camden?

Make sure to add campden first. Juice and add, you can freeze if you want, but not necessary.

I meant for long term storage. That way I could lager longer.

You could probably freeze the juice to store it. Why not just wait and buy the strawberries when ur ready to add tho?

I brewed my recipe 2 weeks ago. The beer is now going through its diacetal rest and will start lagering tonight. The beer should be done in another 2 weeks. What's the best guess on the strawberry addition? I'm thinking 5 lbs juiced added to keg with Camden tablets

For the sake of experimenting, see what chef encore is adding and add something different. He may be doing 3# so 5 would be good.

DirtyDachshunds said:

I brewed my recipe 2 weeks ago. The beer is now going through its diacetal rest and will start lagering tonight. The beer should be done in another 2 weeks. What's the best guess on the strawberry addition? I'm thinking 5 lbs juiced added to keg with Camden tablets

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Perfect, please post the results. And let strawberries get as ripe as possible. Use a good juicer if you can.

Let us know how it comes out!!

I used 3 lbs. they were very ripe. I put them thru my juicer 3 times - its not super efficient, but it was jut mashing them. I got almost 5 cups of juice. I transferred to a keg and will continue to lager until the 30th.. I'll add the Camden then, and the juice on the 31st (because it's my birthday). I'll post pictures and thoughts!

Can't wait to see results!

Today is the day! Had to renew the plates and stuff, having lunch with the kids then it's racking time. I added 5 Camden tabs two days ago. Beer is mostly clear, jut a bit of haze.

Pics soon?

racking, filling, first 'pint'

so, unfortunately, it's a swing and a miss. there was a slight imperfection in the beer. couldnt quite put my finger on it - a slight paper taste. i hoped the strawberry juice would cover it. i think it had something to do with ferm temps. other than that, the strawberries were quite tart. i thought it would add some sweetness, but no.

what a birthday disappointment

Ohh man, well I think I may try it next time with a back sweetener. I bet your beer will get better with age.

Chefencore said:

so, unfortunately, it's a swing and a miss. there was a slight imperfection in the beer. couldnt quite put my finger on it - a slight paper taste. i hoped the strawberry juice would cover it. i think it had something to do with ferm temps. other than that, the strawberries were quite tart. i thought it would add some sweetness, but no.

what a birthday disappointment

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Sounds like the juice fermented out? If fermentation stopped, the juice should have added sweetness to the beer, not tart. When I racked onto 8 lbs of frozen berries, I had strawberry flavor and aroma, it was just very tart as the strawberry sugars were fermented out. The next time I make something, I was going to use juice and stop fermentation prior to adding it.

Wait, did you add the juice then campden? The campden should have been added prior to adding juice as to kill the yeast and prevent fermentation of the sugars in the juice.

hmmm. is barilla "the choice of italy" pasta your secret ingredient?

Campdem went in on 28th. Juice went in on 31st.

Also, campden alone will not stop fermentation, just stop reproduction from what I understand

D_Nyholm said:

Also, campden alone will not stop fermentation, just stop reproduction from what I understand

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Just did some reading on this, and potassium sorbate along with the campden is the trick it sounds like! And cold crash first!

Thanks, D Nyholm

I'm not sure when I will brew this again, but I will be using both for sure.

So after 6 weeks of lagering, I finally transferred into the keg and added 5 campden tablets. I will add the strawberry juice in 2 days.

Whats the best guess on amount of strawberries from everyone who has already brewed this? 5# pretty close?

I will provide pics when it is all done.

Based on the above results, may want to consider potassium sorbets to kill the yeast.