strawberry harvest clone

[tmurph6]

HEB Strawberries, I think it's the only one they had at the store, 7 lbs, thawed.


Think it dropped clear enough?


Racking to tertiary. I chose to use the bucket for the strawberries so I had enough headspace for another fermentation, and because it's easier to get the berries out afterward.


Sanitized a 5 gallon paint strainer bag and added the strawberries. I'll probably leave them in there 5 days, then take them out and allow the beer to sit for 2 days to drop out any nasties from the strawberries, then go right into the keg.


hehe...like the beer bottle blow off?

Still can't wait! I'll post more pics of it going into the keg, then the side by side!

 

[Chefencore]

Racking to tertiary. I chose to use the bucket for the strawberries so I had enough headspace for another fermentation, and because it's easier to get the berries out afterward.

Are you expecting more fermentation? How much yeast could possibly be left? Did you need to account for berry fermentation when measuring your fg from primary?

 

[tmurph6]

Just being safe, probably a tiny tiny fermentation. I think I'm gonna keep a lot of nice sweet strawberry flavor, which is very abita-like.

No I didn't need to account for anything, my primary reading was 1010, I expect I'll get a little more alcohol and a drier beer after the strawberries, but I'm not too worried about getting any more gravity readings.

 

[jaytizzle]

Definitely following along on this one!!!

 

[Zalf]

For those like me who are still working on their harvest clones and need something to hold them over, I found my first commercial bottles of the season today.

 

[jaytizzle]

For those like me who are still working on their harvest clones and need something to hold them over, I found my first commercial bottles of the season today.

Just got my hands on some. What do you think about it this year?

 

[tmurph6]

I had my first one from this season today. They switched to vanguard hops this year. Pretty good, lacks the strawberry character I remember from last year. Aroma is the same as always though.

 

[Zalf]

Just got my hands on some. What do you think about it this year?

I agree with the above poster, the strawberry flavor is a little lacking. I have had the same problem off and on in previous years a wrote it off to getting late in the batch and possible storage inconsistencies. That shouldn't be an issue this early in the run.

Still a good beer but doesn't live up to how I remember it. Does make me look forward to my homebrew strawberry beers.

 

[jaytizzle]

Agreed fully. Not up to par. Hopefully it gets better as the strawberry season runs on a bit longer and the berries get sweeter. Right now it's just boring and lacking.

 

[Zalf]

Agreed fully. Not up to par. Hopefully it gets better as the strawberry season runs on a bit longer and the berries get sweeter. Right now it's just boring and lacking.

Either this beer is just flat out inconsistent or my taste buds are. First beer of the day out of a new six pack and it is great. Medium(in a good way as opposed to too much or too little) strawberry flavor up front and a nice clean finish. The aroma actually seems more subdued than the ones yesterday but the flavor is much more upfront and natural tasting.

One thing different is it was in the freezer(yes I know I am not a real beer drinker because I like my beer really cold) long enough to have a thin layer of ice form on the pour.

I still wonder if this beer is extremely sensitive to temperature or light during storage. The new six pack design; which I hate because it is pretty much impossible to reuse; should keep light from being a factor. I was spoiled on purple haze when it was only available in kegs so I rarely drink it in bottles but I wonder if it has the same constancy issues.

 

[tmurph6]

It's very inconsistent. The worst ones taste like a normal pilsner, the good ones are really really good. Just varies.

 

[tmurph6]

Just an update, I took the strawberries out of the fermenter yesterday (3/8) so that was 6 days on strawberries. As soon as I opened the bucket lid I was smacked in the face by sweet strawberry aroma, so good. Also, the beer is now pink . I'm going to let it sit for 2 days and settle any floaties out and maybe clear up a little bit before kegging.

 

[jaytizzle]

Lol... pink beer...

 

[tmurph6]

Not sure if it'll keep the color, but if it does...pink lady sounds like a good name for it.

 

[mpenn35]

I'm brewing a Belgian Blonde this weekend that I plan to rack onto 5 or 6 pounds of strawberries after two weeks or so.

I'm seeing so many conflicting opinions on this forum about fruit, and whether you should boil it, freeze it, freeze then boil it, etc. Has anyone done it multiple ways and had better results one way or another?

 

[tmurph6]

You see conflicting opinions because everyone's taste buds are different. Fruit extract is easiest but can lend little fruit flavor and can seem artificial. Fresh fruit lends the best fruit character but needs to be sterilized before use. Blanching in hot water briefly works best I think because it reduces pectin haze. After sterilizing the fruit you have to pulverize it or freeze it to release the fruit flavor. Buying frozen fruit bypasses the limitations of fresh fruit because it's flash frozen and sterile. So you just thaw it and toss it in, easy peasy. I prefer the frozen fruit in combo with a little extract, gives good fruit flavor and aroma. Hope this helps.

 

[mpenn35]

Thanks, tmurph. So with the frozen, do you still need to "crush" them before adding?

 

[tmurph6]

No, freezing breaks down the cell walls so crushing is not necessary.

 

[Zalf]

With freezing I still halve them just to get as much strawberry in contact with the beer as possible. For now, I can verify that frozen/Halved gives a good natural taste. In a couple of weeks I will have an opinion on frozen/halved + 1/2 lb of lactose mix.

Edit: I haven't done a strawberry extract but peach extract isn't impressing me.

 

[tmurph6]

It's in the keg, the strawberry color definitely leached into the beer, not near as clear as it was out of the secondary. The smell turned out more tart as well, which is surprising cause it was quite sweet when I took the berries out 2 days ago. I racked it on top of 1 oz McCormick strawberry extract. I'm gonna let it sit 2 weeks at 12 PSIG and I'll be back for a side by side. After 3 weeks I'll do a second side by side as I imagine 3 week in the keg ought to clear it up. Stay tuned...

 

[agentEhrman]

can't wait to hear how it tastes!

I can speak on experience that extract alone just doesn't cut it. Mine came out a bit "artificial" tasting..

 

[mpenn35]

Has anyone ever added some lactose to a beer like this to sweeten/cancel out the tartness the strawberry taste a bit? Just a thought. I brewed my Belgian Blonde yesterday and will be racking onto some strawberries in a few weeks.

 

[Gregoire]

If you used puree, it's likely that the beer will turn out a bit closer to Covington's Strawberry Cream ale, which has a bit of that fruity sourness that the Abita doesn't.

I've brewed a 5 gallon batch of that recently using Jamil's Cream Ale recipe and 5 pounds of frozen strawberries that I pureed and pasteurized. Just bottled it yesterday, but when flat it tasted damned good. When I do it again, I'll add a touch of maltodextrine to give it a bit more body.

 

[tmurph6]

I used frozen strawberries, but filtered all the yeast out to keep some sweetness. It did smell like covingtons beer though, which I'm not happy about because I think the Covington strawberry is awful.

 

[tmurph6]

Just an update, I know I said I would side by side, and just to keep my word, I promise I'll give side by side comparisons soon with pictures. However, I had this beer yesterday so here are my notes:

A: Pours a hazy yellow orange with small white head (not fully carved yet)
S: Smells like citrus, tart fruit, mostly grapefruity nose, can't really distinguish strawberry
T: Absolutely delicious, fruity, some citric acid from the fruit, resfreshing. Tastes like a mix of grapefruit and strawberry, more grapefruit.
M: Light, easy to drink, dangerous...

All in all I'm calling this beer a successful batch, but absolutely nowhere near cloned to Strawberry harvest. A noble attempt though. I still stand by my original statement that I nailed the base beer. If I was going to do it again I would shrink the grain bill to get 4.2% instead of 5.2%, was a little too efficient. I would lager it with German Lager yeast, as I've come to learn that's pretty close to what Abita uses. Lastly I would juice the strawberries and rack the bright beer into the strawberry juice and leave it cold so the strawberries didn't ferment at all.

On another note, my wife, who absolutely hates beer, really loves this one!

 

[sirgeoph]

Looks like you got pretty close, from what I see. Though, those frozen Dole strawberries will never beat out fresh Louisiana strawberries

 

[tmurph6]

I was half hoping a brewer from abita would see this and jump in and give pointers along the way...you don't fit that bill do you

 

[sirgeoph]

Haha, I only come close in physical proximity to the brewery. Though, considering the total gallons of Abita Strawberry I've ingested over the years, I'd probably be able to give a few pointers in a taste test!

 

[DirtyDachshunds]

I'm planning on trying this recipe with your after-brew adjustments sometime soon. I had my first Abita Strawberry Harvest last week, and I knew I had to try to clone it.

I'll let you know if I can get any closer.

 

[tmurph6]

Post your recipe pre brew. When are you planning on brewing?

 

[Chefencore]

Going to Nola in 2 weeks! Hope they have some
Left. I'll bring back a few to do side by side

 

[tmurph6]

Without further ado, this is what it looks like done and fully carbed. Now I'm a terrible photographer so one picture is without flash and one picture is with flash. I had a crawfish boil yesterday and it was a big hit. When I took this picture I had just put the keg back upstairs so it was a bit shook up when I poured it. It usually has a 1 finger head on it when poured at 12psi on 10' lines.

Tart and refreshing. Nowhere near strawberry harvest though...try again...

 

[D_Nyholm]

Made a strawberry blonde using 8 lbs of frozen kirkland strawberries. The strawberry flavor and aroma was awesome, but the tartness made the beer almost undrinkable. I even backsweetened with a little Splenda.

I think the key is killing all the yeast with campden and sorbate and then using the strawberry juice to backsweeten. Have you ever taken a gravity reading of the original product? I wouldnt be surprised to see it up at 1.015-1.018 if it is a sweet beer. At least you can try to match the F.G. that way and be closer to the recipe.

 

[DirtyDachshunds]

Post your recipe pre brew. When are you planning on brewing?

6 gallon batch post boil
OG - 1.040
Bitterness - 14.4 IBUs
Color - 3 SRM (additional color probably added from Strawberries)


My recipe:

1.78 lbs Wheat Malt
7.1 lbs pilsner malt
WLP830 - German Lager
.75oz Mt. Hood at 60 minutes (6% AA)
7lbs frozen strawberries

Single infusion mash at 150 deg F for a crisp dry finish.

60 minute boil. Single hop addition at 60 minutes.

Primary fermentation: 2-3 weeks at 53 deg F, 2 day diacetal rest at 68 deg F. Rack to secondary
Secondary fermentation: 1 week lagering at 38 deg F. Add 5 camden tablets (to hopefully kill any remaining yeast) and strawberry mix. Lager another 5 days on strawberries. Rack to keg

Carbinate as normal.

I can't decide whether to juice the strawberries or just put the whole strawberries in a food processor with some water to make a strawberry paste. Opinions?
I fear if I use the entire strawberries I could extract tannins and undesired tartiness that I wouldn't from the juice alone. And if I juice, do you think I should use more than 7 lbs of strawberries?

I probably won't be able to make this for another 1-2 months. My lagering fridge is currently occupied for another month.

Ideas? Improvements? Suggestions? I'm all ears!

 

[tmurph6]

Juice. Abita doesn't age on berries. Mix it and keg next day.

Not that it would change the flavor profile, but abita goes 75% pils, 25% wheat. What's the expected gravity doing 6# and 2#?

 

[DirtyDachshunds]

Juice. Abita doesn't age on berries. Mix it and keg next day.

Not that it would change the flavor profile, but abita goes 75% pils, 25% wheat. What's the expected gravity doing 6# and 2#?

6# and 2# for a 6 gallon post boil batch assuming 72% efficiency results in a OG of 1.036 or 3.7% ABV

I'll take your advice and just use the juice. Thanks!

 

[Zalf]

With freezing I still halve them just to get as much strawberry in contact with the beer as possible. For now, I can verify that frozen/Halved gives a good natural taste. In a couple of weeks I will have an opinion on frozen/halved + 1/2 lb of lactose mix.

Edit: I haven't done a strawberry extract but peach extract isn't impressing me.

8 lbs of frozen strawberries under a blonde recipe with 1/2 lb of lactose at the same time as the berries. 3 weeks in the bottle and it is still very tart. I love it but it would still be too tart for anyone not expecting a "real" berry flavor. I will probably go with a full pound of lactose the next time I do a strawberry blonde just to see how much difference that makes.

 

[Chefencore]

You just quoted yourself

 

[agentEhrman]

OK, my base beer will be done soon and I am thinking of juicing the strawberries and simply adding to the keg like suggested here. I have a pretty good juicer (breville) that is very efficient. I am planning to add the juice to the keg and rack on top of it.

My first idea is to sanitize a couple large baggies and put the cleaned strawberries in them and then freeze them. Then thaw in the baggies before juicing them. I would also sanitize the juicer.

Will this be enough to keep the nasties out? Or do I need to do more to pasteurize them?

 

[tmurph6]

Don't pasteurize. It's unnecessary. The alcohol in your beer and the cold temperatures will ward off infection