Fruit Beer Wild Strawberry Blonde

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WildGingerBrewing

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Joined
Mar 15, 2010
Messages
17,572
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Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
Safale S-05
Yeast Starter
no
Batch Size (Gallons)
6.5 gal
Original Gravity
1.053
Final Gravity
1.012
Boiling Time (Minutes)
60 min
IBU
25.1
Color
3.2 SRM
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
12 days
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
7 days
Additional Fermentation
14 days
Tasting Notes
AWESOME! Can\'t keep enough on hand through the summer.
7 lbs American Pilsner Malt
1.25 German Wheat Malt
1 lb Cara-Pils
1 lb Flaked Corn

1 oz Cascade 5.0% AA @ 60 min
.5 oz Saaz 6.8% AA @ 20 min
.5 oz Saaz 6.8% AA@ 15 min

1 tsp Irish Moss @ 15 min

S-05 Yeast

Mash 6 gal @ 154F for 60 min
Sparge with 2.5 gal @170F for 10 min
Sparge with 2.5 gal @170 for 10 min
You will want 8 gal into the kettle
Boil for 60 min adding hops as noted

Ferment @ 68F for 12 days and rack ONTO 8 lbs of frozen strawberries. Do not thaw them, do not puree them, dump them into a bucket and rack the beer on top of them.

Secondary on the berries for 7 days and rack into terrtiary for another 7 days. Cold crash for 7 more days, then bottle.

You want to get as much into the primary fermenter as possible. The berries will soak up some beer and you will lose some while racking. If you boil off more than 1 gal/hr, you will want to boil more. A 6.5 gal batch nets me 53 bottles.

This beer is my all grain version of the Succulent Strawberry extract recipe listed on here. It is phenomenal! Great summer beer.

12/11/14 - Edit: After brewing this beer for several years now. I highly recommend FRESH berries. Frozen berries have coloring added to them and sometimes artificial flavors. I have had this beer become pink, and I mean grapefruit juice pink, from certain brands of frozen berries. What I have started doing is buying fresh, storing them in a freezer bag and throwing them in the freezer for a couple of days. I do not know if freezing them is necessary but it makes me feel better. It also helps to put the berries in big muslin bag, as it will help strain out some of the particles from the berries and help clear up the beer.
 
Well it has been a little over a year now. Any further comments on this one? I am excited to get more information as you have surely brewed it a few more times over the past year. =)

Thanks!
 
It gets better everytime I brew it. We can't keep enough of it here at the house. All of my friends want to drink it. I'm down to about 1 case right now. Guess I need to get it in the rotation! The last batches we did, I used S-05 and my buddy used Wyeast 1056. We compared the two after they were done. Taste wise they are almost identical. Mine was clearer however. Probaby due to the fact that I cold crashed mine a few days before bottling and he didn't. When you try it let me know how you liked it.
 
I'm about to add blueberries (dole frozen from supermarket) and I just can't decide if I should heat them first to pasteurize. There are two totally different camps on the subject. I would rather just dump the frozen berries in and rack on top of them. But on the other hand, I would hate to ruin a good batch due to infection from the fruit!

What to do? I've got a week and a half to decide.
 
I would add them frozen. Any bacteria hs been killed by the freezing process. Heating them creates a chance of adding bacteria. Just my 2 cents.
 
It looks like whatever I decide to do will be wrong in someone's eyes. Just trying to determin the best way with least risk.
 
Any bacteria hs been killed by the freezing process.

No, it hasn't. Freezing may kill some bacteria, but what it mainly does is keep bacteria from growing due to the low temperature.


Nevertheless, I do not pasteurize my fruit for fruit beers. I wash and sanitize it, then freeze it in a sanitized container, discarding any pieces that are obviously not fresh. Most of the wild yeasts (and other germs) you get from fruit are sitting around on the outside of the fruit, so washing the fruit thoroughly will usually take care of it. For whatever remains I just trust the alcohol in the beer to help out with.

Pasteurizing the fruit does denature the germs, but it also dramatically changes the flavor and texture. You just don't end up with as "crisp" a flavor IMO.
 
I bought frozen Dole Blueberries, with the idea of thawing, dumping into secondary, then racking my Hefe on top of it.

I think I'll go with that, but keep going back and forth after ready warnings about infection.
 
Mash 6 gal @ 154F for 60 min
Sparge with 2.5 gal @170F for 10 min
Sparge with 2.5 gal @170 for 10 min
You will want 8 gal into the kettle
Boil for 60 min adding hops as noted
QUOTE]


That seems like an awful lot to mash with at first. Is that right, mash with 6 gallons for 10 lbs of grain? Isn't that like over 2qt's a gallon? I normally mash about 1.25 qts/gallon. I am going to brew this tomorrow, and just want to make sure I do it correctly. Thanks for any help.
 
Last 2 times I've tried to brew a Strawberry Wit or Blonde, the strawberry flavor came out a bit sour and lacking the berry sweetness. One of my favorite fruit beers is Abita Strawberry. Even though it's a lager, the strawberry flavor is just right, not sour.
 
Mash 6 gal @ 154F for 60 min
Sparge with 2.5 gal @170F for 10 min
Sparge with 2.5 gal @170 for 10 min
You will want 8 gal into the kettle
Boil for 60 min adding hops as noted
QUOTE]


That seems like an awful lot to mash with at first. Is that right, mash with 6 gallons for 10 lbs of grain? Isn't that like over 2qt's a gallon? I normally mash about 1.25 qts/gallon. I am going to brew this tomorrow, and just want to make sure I do it correctly. Thanks for any help.

I typically mash thin because I know what I am going to lose the the tun. Instead of making it up with the sparges, I make it up with the initial strike water. I calculate 1.25 qts/lb then add what I know I will lose to the grains and tun. You could reduce the strike water, but you will have to make it up in sparge water. It's just the process I've always used and I've never had a problem.
 
I brewed the base beer for this last weekend. After it's done fermenting and I'm racking onto the fruit, do I need to put the fruit in a bag or anything? How do you avoid getting strawberry seeds and chunks in the bottles? Thanks in advance for all the help, I'm excited to see how this one turns out!
 
I have never used a bag, but I have seen people talk about it doing it. It sounds like a good idea to me and I may try it next time. Remember, you are racking out of secondary so you will be able to leave alot of it behind then.
 
Well I brewed this a variation of this up... here is my recipe:

Ingredients:
------------
5.5 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
2.5 lb White Wheat Malt
1.00 lb Corn/Maize, Flaked (1.3 SRM)
1.00 lb Minute Rice (1.0 SRM)

1 oz Cascade 5.0% AA @ 60 min
.5 oz Saaz 6.8% AA @ 20 min
.5 oz Saaz 6.8% AA@ 15 min

WLP-400 Prior Yeast Slurry

I had all these ingredients laying around the house and thought I'd give it a whirl. I just kegged it up and I have to admit it tastes kind of off (it is good but not great; definitly not something I would brag about). I am thinking that the WLP400 isn't a good mix with the strawberries. I will definitely use the S-05 next time; great choice there WildGinger.

Thoughts?
 
Sounds good. I would curious about using the rice. I was going to use Pale 2-Row but I really like Pilsner malts in my lighter beers. Seems to give them a lighter flavor and taste to me. I've never used WLP-400 before but the reason I went with the S-05 is due to it being so neutral in flavor. I usually get a pretty good attenuation out of it as well and hell, it's cheap!
 
A lot of these Strawberry Blondes call for gelatin or lactose. What keeps yours from needing either one???
 
The gelain is used for clearing the beer. I use 1 tsp of irish moss in my boil and cold crash for about a week to clear mine up. This is plenty to make the beer clear. Im not sure why people use lactose. Ive never used it before in any beer. Hope that helps!
 
Do you ferment in the secondary at the same temperature as you did in the primary? I know you said you cold crash after the secondary, but I'm curious at what temperature you're sititng at for the secondary.
 
Yes i do. I dont raise the temp for secondary. I also have started fermenting a little cooler than 68. Usually around 63. I really dont see a big difference but since i have the ability to control my temps i ferment all beers a little cooler.
 
@WGB
On this thread you mash for 60 minutes
On the succulent strawberry thread when you came up with the AG you have 90 minute mash.
Why the change???
Also, I'm brewing this recipe this weekend, someone suggested a 90 minute boil, would like your thoughts please...
One more thing, same ferm temp in the Primary and secondary w/ strawberries???
 
TX, the best answer I can give you on the mash time is that this is one of the first AG recipes I ever created and didn't understand mashing as well as I do now. Not that I am an expert. The biggest thing I found is that a 90 min mash is just not necassary. As far as the temp of secondary, when you add the beer to frozen berries, the temp is going to drop drastically. As the berries thaw the temp will begin to rise. So I secondary in the same chamber, at the same temp, that I primary. So in it's simplest term, I primary at 63-ish, rack onto berries in a bucket and put it back in the fermenting chamber without adjusting the temp, then rack off of the berries into a carboy and back in the fermenting chamber with no temp adjustment UNTIL I cold crash a week or two later..
 
Holy crap!!!
Week 3 and this beer is still blowing up all over the place ;)!!!! Gonna cold crash next week and then force carb, tap on the 10th for the ladies of the family reunion. I know it's rushed as far as tertiary ad all that , buy I got a good feeling about this beer!!!
 
image-2649978167.jpg
 
Can't wait till this weekend, drew a little off when I kegged her yesterday and WOW!! It's right on the money.
We are having this Strawberry Blonde, A Rye Blonde, and a honey orange Blonde , at our family reunion this weekend ;). Should be a good day of craft beer festivities!!
 
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