Thoughts on this strawberry recipie?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
T

Todd

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 16, 2006
Messages
587
Reaction score
2
Location
Mechanicsburg PA
4.5 lbs DME
1 oz (aroma) Cascade
1 oz (bitter) EKG
9 lbs Frozen Strawberry
16 oz Crystal 20L
1 Yeast Belgian Ale


OG should be 1.035 Not sure how to estimate FG?

I'm looking for something light and fruity.
 
I've only tried a fruit beer once--it's bottle conditioning at the moment.

9 lbs sounds like a huge amount of strawberries. I'd be concerned about not having much beer character. If that's what you're going for, then rock on :rockin:
 
cweston said:
I've only tried a fruit beer once--it's bottle conditioning at the moment.

9 lbs sounds like a huge amount of strawberries. I'd be concerned about not having much beer character. If that's what you're going for, then rock on :rockin:
Click to expand...

I'm looking for something lightly malty but mostly fruity. It is for swmbo and me for hot summer days. We still have a couple months of that here. LOL.

I looked at some other recipies and 9lbs seemed average. I'm open to suggestions though.
 
When I did a Raspberry Hellesbock the thing to know is it takes much longer in second and third carboys. Anticipate a few more weeks or more with the amount of fruit your adding. Be patient until it's ready to bottle. My first batch were gushers cause I really wanted to drink it asap and bottled too soon. Also, after racking three times there were noticeable amounts of raspberry floaties in the beer. They add to the beer but some aren't used to tiny chunks of fruit in a beer. It turned our to be a great beer and yours will be fantastic. Good luck.
 
I'd swap the hops. Cascades would tend to dominate the strawberry.
If you can find it, you might try Honey Malt in place of the C20L.
Assume all of the sugar in the strawberries will ferment out.
 
david_42 said:
I'd swap the hops. Cascades would tend to dominate the strawberry.
If you can find it, you might try Honey Malt in place of the C20L.
Assume all of the sugar in the strawberries will ferment out.
Click to expand...

I actually picked cascade for the flavor, (not that I actually know how it would turn out) you think it would be too much? Should I just use all Goldings? I'll check into the Honey malt, the hbs is fairly well stocked so I will see.

Thanks
 
the_bird said:
I'm probably completely insane, but I thought I read last night that honey malt needed to be mashed. Am I wrong again?
Click to expand...
I thought about just adding some honey? Another question, how much volume do you think the berries will ad? I was thinking about doing a 3-3.5 gallon wort and then add in all the berries.
 
Honey malt does need to mashed, but it can convert itself, so the steeping process would be enough if done at 155F.

Honey doesn't give you the same flavors.

I'd say 4-5 quarts based on my berry experiences.

The strong grapefruit aroma of Cascades just doesn't seem right for strawberries, maybe something fruity like Progress or floral like Fuggles?
 
david_42 said:
Honey malt does need to mashed, but it can convert itself, so the steeping process would be enough if done at 155F.

Honey doesn't give you the same flavors.

I'd say 4-5 quarts based on my berry experiences.

The strong grapefruit aroma of Cascades just doesn't seem right for strawberries, maybe something fruity like Progress or floral like Fuggles?
Click to expand...

Thanks.

Does honey malt even need to convert? I thought will alot of the specialty grains we are not converting but draining the flavor out of them? I know that some of them will contribute to fermentables to a small degree. If I do find honey malt can I just to the 155 degree for 20 minutes like a normal steep?
 
Give honey malt 45 minutes to convert. It's not like caramel, there are starches in honey malt and it has enough enzymes to do the conversion.
 
9 lbs. for the strawberries doesn't sound that crazy, though I've never brewed with strawberries myself...A friend of mine tried modifying a light honey ale kit by adding fresh blueberries (I think it was only a couple pounds...not quite sure). Anyway, he thought he was adding a lot of blueberries to his brew, but in the end, the beer really only got colouring and (maybe) a little aroma from the blueberries, no flavour. So if strawberries act anything like blueberries, you'll need a lot to get much flavor. Best of luck on the brew, it sounds like it should be good!

Cheers!
-Rick

Primary: Honey Amber Ale
Secondary #1: Oatmeal Stout
Secondary #2: empty
Bottled/Aging: Octane IPA
Bottled/Drinking: American Amber Ale
 
I did a strawberry brew a few months ago and used 8 lbs of strawberries. I would not recommend it. I love strawberries and it was too much. There was not very much beer flavor left, kind of a carbonated strawberry drink. Now dont get me wrong I drank it all with no problems but I would go a little less next time.

I made a 5 gallon batch. Put it in the primary. Let it do its thing. Moved 4 gallons to 1 secondary and 1 gallon to another secondary. The 4 gallons got the strawberries added and it blew my top off with a very active fermentation. I then had to rack to a third carboy for another 2 weeks to help it clarify. It was a pretty cloudy beer.

Any other questions feel free to ask. There was a fruit beer thread a few months ago that keeps popping up. It had most of the questions answered in there along with other experiences.
 
kevy_kev said:
I did a strawberry brew a few months ago and used 8 lbs of strawberries. I would not recommend it. I love strawberries and it was too much. There was not very much beer flavor left, kind of a carbonated strawberry drink. Now dont get me wrong I drank it all with no problems but I would go a little less next time.

I made a 5 gallon batch. Put it in the primary. Let it do its thing. Moved 4 gallons to 1 secondary and 1 gallon to another secondary. The 4 gallons got the strawberries added and it blew my top off with a very active fermentation. I then had to rack to a third carboy for another 2 weeks to help it clarify. It was a pretty cloudy beer.

Any other questions feel free to ask. There was a fruit beer thread a few months ago that keeps popping up. It had most of the questions answered in there along with other experiences.
Click to expand...


My plan was to add them to the primary and let it sit two weeks, I was thinking go to secondary for a couple days then bottle. I know it will be a fruity beer and not clear so why worry about it??

It is for SWMBO and the fruitier the better, I'm not too worried about beer taste in fact the less it tastes like beer the more she will like it. Thanks for the input.

Do you think a 5 gallon batch with berries will be asking for trouble in a 6 gallon primary?

Any thoughts on temps for the belgian yeast?
 
I would say yes you will be in trouble. I had 4 gallons in a 5 gallon carboy and it was flowing out of the top after the cap had blown off. Also if your adding to the primary you will have all the fruit in there during the main fermentation. Which rises up pretty far on its own.
One other thing is the volume of the fruit added. 8 lbs was a lot of fruit, even when it was turned into slop after heating up.

I would look into using a blowoff tube. You would not ahve any problems then.
 
kevy_kev said:
I would say yes you will be in trouble. I had 4 gallons in a 5 gallon carboy and it was flowing out of the top after the cap had blown off. Also if your adding to the primary you will have all the fruit in there during the main fermentation. Which rises up pretty far on its own.
One other thing is the volume of the fruit added. 8 lbs was a lot of fruit, even when it was turned into slop after heating up.

I would look into using a blowoff tube. You would not ahve any problems then.
Click to expand...


How do you add a blow off tube to a bucket? Maybe I'll pick up a 7 gallon bucket while I'm getting supplies??

Is there any reason that just 2 weeks in the primary with the fruit would not turn out good?
 
If your bucket lid has a rubber grommet that the airlock goes into, just pull it out and insert whatever size tubing fits very tightly into the hole (probably 1/2 or 5/8 inch OD).
 
cweston said:
If your bucket lid has a rubber grommet that the airlock goes into, just pull it out and insert whatever size tubing fits very tightly into the hole (probably 1/2 or 5/8 inch OD).
Click to expand...


I hadn't thought of that, great idea.

Here is another thought, could I split the batch up between 2, 6 gallon buckets? I should have roughly 3 gallons in each one till I add the fruit. maybe a little more. It should ferment fast so is there any problem with the extra head space? If so I might just brew a bit smaller batch.
 
You can split them up but I would purge the beer for a min. with co2. I soak my co2 hose in sanatizer and put into bottom of bucket and turn on slowly until you see bubbles. This will put a blanket on top of beer and you should be ok. If you dont have a co2 system then I am not sure if the risk is worth it.
 
Another way to do a blowoff is to use the main piece of a three-piece airlock, and shove a hose over the "stem" (the spot where the small upside-down plastic thimble-like piece would normally go).

If the small end of the airlock stem has little plastic cross-hatches, cut them out so that that blowoff material can easily get through without clogging.
 
cweston said:
Another way to do a blowoff is to use the main piece of a three-piece airlock, and shove a hose over the "stem" (the spot where the small upside-down plastic thimble-like piece would normally go).

If the small end of the airlock stem has little plastic cross-hatches, cut them out so that that blowoff material can easily get through without clogging.
Click to expand...


You guys are just full of good ideas.. Thanks
 

Similar threads

G
Kolsch recipe - need help
Replies
31
Views
2K
superiorsat
S
W
English Bitter - Partial Mash - finally got back into brewing
Replies
1
Views
511
mbauer013
M
R
Pliny the Elder to an APA
Replies
14
Views
1K
redrocker652002
R
Gadjobrinus
Russian Imperial Stout -
Replies
7
Views
760
duncan_disorderly
D
Zippy123
Feedback on recipe to split mash for two different beers
Replies
2
Views
420
Zippy123
Zippy123
Yakima 300

Latest posts

Back
Top