Strawberry dubbel

Strawberry dubbel
Style: Belgian Dubbel
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Volume: 5.72 gal Boil Time: 60 min
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.0 %
Actual Efficiency: 74.9 %

Ingredients Amount Item Type % or IBU
11.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) Bel (3.0 SRM) Grain 84.6 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 7.7 %
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50%] (60 min) Hops 16.7 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50%] (10 min) Hops 6.1 IBU
0.25 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
4.00 lb Strawberrys (Secondary 2.0 weeks) Misc
1.00 lb Candi Sugar, Amber (75.0 SRM) Sugar 7.7 %
1 Pkgs Belgian Golden Ale (White Labs #WLP570) [Starter 1000 ml] Yeast-Ale

Beer Profile Estimated
Original Gravity: 1.073 SG (1.062-1.075 SG)
Estimated Final Gravity: 1.016 SG (1.010-1.018 SG)
Estimated Color: 13.0 SRM (10.0-14.0 SRM)
Bitterness: 22.8 IBU (15.0-25.0 IBU)
Alpha Acid Units: 1.1 AAU
Estimated Alcohol by Volume: 7.5 % (6.0-7.5 %)

Local market had cheap strawberries, so I stocked up a bit. Any idea how this would taste? I didn't want it to be too bitter, with the bitterness of the hops being just enough to balance the candi sugar and strawberries. Any and all advice would be appreciated.

Sounds good to me!

I keep putting off beers with fruit in them. This one makes me want to do one right away. Good luck.

Sounds awesome! Made my mouth water reading it. GL!

I currently have 12.2lbs of strawberries from my plants this year and will be putting in about 4-5 of them in an Imperial Strawberry Blonde this weekend. This will be my first strawberry beer. If it is good I am immediately making another.

You will want a longer contact time. I have found that 14 days will give me a lot of berry and a lot of sweetness, but 28 days will give me all that with some tartness to balance the sweet.

Looks good. But I would suggest two things. First, I would save some money and replace the 1lb of candi sugar with just regular table sugar. The candi sugar isn't going to do much for you. I would also consider adding a small amount, maybe 4oz, of special B malt to the grains. It will give you the color you will lose from dropping the candi sugar and will give you some dark fruit notes to go along with the strawberries.

make sure you add the recipe to the database if it turns out good.

I made my own Belgian candi sugar, with the cost/lb being around 50 cents. I'll see if I can fit in Special B without going out of my color profile.

Brewster2256 said:

I made my own Belgian candi sugar, with the cost/lb being around 50 cents. I'll see if I can fit in Special B without going out of my color profile.

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Got it, good job!

That's a very Americanized dubbel.

For a Belgian style dubbel I'd want to add a small bit of Special B as well as some Munich or Aromatic. Scrap the Crystal and replace with Caramunich.

Drop the cascades and replace with a Stryian/Fuggle/Golding variety.

PseudoChef said:

That's a very Americanized dubbel.

For a Belgian style dubbel I'd want to add a small bit of Special B as well as some Munich or Aromatic. Scrap the Crystal and replace with Caramunich.

Drop the cascades and replace with a Stryian/Fuggle/Golding variety.

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My thoughts exactly. This looks more like an American pale to amber ale recipe. Which is fine if that's what you want, of course!

I just made a straberry cider using 4# of straberries, strained, apple juice and 1.5# of honey. Appx. 6%ABV. I have a "Mister Squeezo" brand strainer that separates the bitter pulp (white stuff) and seeds from the juice and some flesh. It's usually used for canning, so the pectin carries over (so don't boil!), but otherwise it works great for most soft fruits.

If you don't have a strainer or something, use two bowls or a collander and spoon or something to crush the fruit. I also brought the fruit, with enough juice/wort to thin it a bit, up to 140*F and held for 20 minutes. That'll pasteurize it to knock out any wild beasties in the fruit, but it won't set the pectin.

On initial taste, 4# of strawberries, added at primary and using an English yeast, it imparts only a slight, tart strawberry flavor to the finished product. It's good, but it's not smack-you-in-the-face strawberry. My brewing partner and wife calls it a "sweettart" (like the candy) flavor. I think that's pretty accurate. It works excellent in a crisp brew or cider but it would be completely lost in something really aggressive. The strawberries are mostly fermentable and even adding them in secondary is going to give you good attenuation on the added sugar if you get a good crush on them. You'll get only a fraction of strawberry "flavor" out the back end as most of it will ferment out. Note that the flesh will take up a lot of room in your carboy, so budget the extra space.

I also recommend using a cheesecloth or other coarse filtering device when racking off the berries, as you will inevitably pick up some large flesh and protein clumps from the berries. There's no issue with flavor, but the texture can be a little off-putting. Two layers of cheesecloth (offset 45*) will grab them easily.


If you're hard set to put strawberries in beer and let them ferment at all, I'd suggest using a paler recipe with lower gravity and a more neutral yeast if you want the berries to shine through. In the recipe as written, I'd think that you'd lose the strawberry character between the high grain bill, very phenolic yeast and the very assertive hops.

Of course, you could also try condensing it into a syrup to be added for bottling purposes, but then you're on your own to deal with the pectin you're going to set with a boiling reduction. Maybe whirlfloc/IM that as well (use a double dose) and see if most of the pectin drops out prior to setting?


In any case, good luck!
It sounds like a great beer, but I just think it's too big for the berries to really show themselves to the fullest.

Then again, how will you know for sure until you try?

PseudoChef said:

That's a very Americanized dubbel.

For a Belgian style dubbel I'd want to add a small bit of Special B as well as some Munich or Aromatic. Scrap the Crystal and replace with Caramunich.

Drop the cascades and replace with a Stryian/Fuggle/Golding variety.

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+1 NOT near a true dubbel style, maybe just call it an Experimental brew. If it turns out great and you share it, many traditionalists will be thrown off by the "dubbel" moniker once seeing the recipe. Not Knockin' on you, bro experimentation is THE reason to brew... Have fun and good luck!

I'll be the first to attest to my inexperience, and I appreciate all the awesome feedback.

Amount Item Type % or IBU
11.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) Bel (3.0 SRM) Grain 84.6 %
0.50 lb Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 3.8 %
0.25 lb Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) Grain 1.9 %
0.25 lb Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 1.9 %
1.00 oz Styrian Goldings [5.40%] (60 min) Hops 16.4 IBU
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00%] (10 min) Hops 5.5 IBU
0.25 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
4.00 lb Strawberrys (Secondary 3.0 weeks) Misc
1.00 lb Candi Sugar, Amber (75.0 SRM) Sugar 7.7 %
1 Pkgs Belgian Golden Ale (White Labs #WLP570) [Starter 1000 ml] Yeast-Ale

Estimated Original Gravity: 1.073 SG (1.062-1.075 SG)
Estimated Final Gravity: 1.016 SG (1.010-1.018 SG)
Estimated Color: 16.4 SRM (10.0-14.0 SRM) Color [Color]
Bitterness: 21.9 IBU (15.0-25.0 IBU)
Alpha Acid Units: 1.1 AAU
Estimated Alcohol by Volume: 7.5 % (6.0-7.5 %)

How about a Trappist yeast vs. the Belgian golden?

I always assumed (perhaps wrongly) that the higher alcohol content allows more attention to the additional flavors and will bring out more and more strawberry flavor as it ages. How do you guys feel about the change in hops?

I've used White Labs WLP 500 (trappist Ale) in a dubble, and the fruit flavor was very strong (although some of it may have come from the Special B and D2 candi syrup I used). So, I would probably not use that strain. I think WLP550 may be a better choice. Wyeast 1762 Abby II ale might be even better.

As for the Hops, a belgian dubble should not have much hop flavor, if any at all. So, I would scale the 10 minute addition back to .25oz or drop it completely.

Ingredients Amount Item Type % or IBU
11.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) Bel (3.0 SRM) Grain 84.6 %
0.50 lb Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 3.8 %
0.25 lb Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) Grain 1.9 %
0.25 lb Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 1.9 %
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.00%] (60 min) Hops 12.2 IBU
0.25 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
4.00 lb Strawberrys (Secondary 3.0 weeks) Misc
1.00 lb Candi Sugar, Amber (75.0 SRM) Sugar 7.7 %
1 Pkgs Belgian Golden Ale (White Labs #WLP570) [Starter 1000 ml] Yeast-Ale

My final recipe and its been sitting in primary for a week. Whats the best way to add the strawberries to secondary? Is it necessary to disinfect it (heat?), or anything and if so, what process would be most proficient?

I think I would have gone with the Fuggles as well. They will lower the IBU's slightly more than the origional cascade's and they have good flavor when mixed with fruits.

Looks like a good recipe, you'll have to post your results.

Just bottled today, and I must say that its quite good. The strawberries came through in flavor and with a degree of tartness, but very distinctly strawberry. I took the gravity reading after I had already put in the primer sugar, and it showed up around 1.01, which is well below the 1.016 I expected. It makes sense, as I tend to mash around 147-149 for higher attenuation.

I'm not sure how much the strawberries contributed to the amount of alcohol; at roughly just below 4 lbs of strawberry fruit, how much fermentable sugar would it contribute? My calculated alv is 8.1%, would it bump it up to as much as 9%?

The beer is for my sisters wedding on August 1st. I'll let you guys know the general response to this recipe, and if its good I'll post it under recipes.

Brewster2256 said:

Just bottled today, and I must say that its quite good. The strawberries came through in flavor and with a degree of tartness, but very distinctly strawberry. I took the gravity reading after I had already put in the primer sugar, and it showed up around 1.01, which is well below the 1.016 I expected. It makes sense, as I tend to mash around 147-149 for higher attenuation.

I'm not sure how much the strawberries contributed to the amount of alcohol; at roughly just below 4 lbs of strawberry fruit, how much fermentable sugar would it contribute? My calculated alv is 8.1%, would it bump it up to as much as 9%?

The beer is for my sisters wedding on August 1st. I'll let you guys know the general response to this recipe, and if its good I'll post it under recipes.

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Strawberries contain roughly 7% sugar by weight. So if you added 4 pounds of strawberries you can count it like you added 4.48 ounces of sugar. not too much really, so it shouldn't have added very much gravity at all.

Brewster2256 said:

Just bottled today, and I must say that its quite good. The strawberries came through in flavor and with a degree of tartness, but very distinctly strawberry. I took the gravity reading after I had already put in the primer sugar, and it showed up around 1.01, which is well below the 1.016 I expected. It makes sense, as I tend to mash around 147-149 for higher attenuation.

I'm not sure how much the strawberries contributed to the amount of alcohol; at roughly just below 4 lbs of strawberry fruit, how much fermentable sugar would it contribute? My calculated alv is 8.1%, would it bump it up to as much as 9%?

The beer is for my sisters wedding on August 1st. I'll let you guys know the general response to this recipe, and if its good I'll post it under recipes.

Click to expand...

With that much ooomph, 2 weeks might not do it's justice for flavor. I kegged a 7.5-8% Strawberry Blonde almost 2 weeks ago and was planning on aging for at least 2-3 months.

Brewster2256 said:

Ingredients Amount Item Type % or IBU
11.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) Bel (3.0 SRM) Grain 84.6 %
0.50 lb Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 3.8 %
0.25 lb Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) Grain 1.9 %
0.25 lb Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 1.9 %
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.00%] (60 min) Hops 12.2 IBU
0.25 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
4.00 lb Strawberrys (Secondary 3.0 weeks) Misc
1.00 lb Candi Sugar, Amber (75.0 SRM) Sugar 7.7 %
1 Pkgs Belgian Golden Ale (White Labs #WLP570) [Starter 1000 ml] Yeast-Ale

My final recipe and its been sitting in primary for a week. Whats the best way to add the strawberries to secondary? Is it necessary to disinfect it (heat?), or anything and if so, what process would be most proficient?

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Subscribed. Can't wait to hear the outcome of this.

The wedding was a huge success, as was the Strawberry dubbel "wedding ale". Only problem was that I didn't make enough. By the time the wedding party was done having their pictures taken, 4 gallons had been had, with only 7 or so beers left. From the half a bottle I had, it was by far my best beer yet. The strawberries came through beautifully, with a slight tart taste and plenty of berry and strawberry flavors. At 8%, it had quite a kick to it, but subtly hidden by the munich/specialB and of course the strawberries; a few people came up to me afterwords asking the alcohol content, because they were feeling too good after one beer.

Sadly, its all gone. I'll put up some pictures once I get my hands on them.

I have a Black Butte Porter semi-clone in primary and wife wants a strawberry porter, so question is, did you just add the 4.0lbs. of strawberry to secondary with candi-sugar? My brew shop mentioned that I should add a 2nd round of yeast with the berries? What about contamination? Also I'm thinkin those berries will suck up alot of beer! This is my 1st fruit beer, so I'm a little stumped.

I added the strawberries to secondary, after sanitizing them in water at around 170 F and smashing them up a bit for greater surface area. I didn't bother adding more yeast and it seemed there was plenty still in suspension, as the sugars found in the strawberries started up another fermentation. I lost about half a gallon to the strawberries.

TommyBoy said:

With that much ooomph, 2 weeks might not do it's justice for flavor. I kegged a 7.5-8% Strawberry Blonde almost 2 weeks ago and was planning on aging for at least 2-3 months.

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Can you share your Strawberry Blonde recipe?

dsmith1279 said:

Can you share your Strawberry Blonde recipe?

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Imperial Strawberry Blonde

5 gallons

7lb German Pilsner
4.5lb Wheat
1.5lb Munich
.8oz Hallertauer Mitt. 5.2% - 60min
.3oz Cascade - 20min
White Lab California Ale WLP001
5lb strawberries - secondary
Mash at 155 for 90min

I simmered the strawberries at 150 and filtered the liquid then added berries and liquid to fermenter. After the secondary, pull the strawberries and ferment in tertiary for another week. Age 2-4 months.

Note: This is my first run at this recipe. A taste prior to secondary has me extremely excited. Super smooth with an aftermath of heat in your chest.

Enjoy.

I brewed this a month ago today and put the strawberries in two weeks ago. I think it's time to rack it off of the strawberries and into secondary to clear. Smells tasty so we'll see how it turns out!

Auspice said:

I brewed this a month ago today and put the strawberries in two weeks ago. I think it's time to rack it off of the strawberries and into secondary to clear. Smells tasty so we'll see how it turns out!

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Let me know how it turns out. I have one bottle left, and thinking of making another batch.