Added frozen strawberries, now FG is too low. Watered down taste.

[D_Nyholm]

I added 6 lbs of frozen strawberries to my Texas Blonde Ale that was at 1.010 and was done fermenting as it was at 1.010 for a few days. I let it sit on the strawberries for 1 week and then transferred to another fermenter to allow it to clear up a bit. I checked the gravity (and a taste sample!) and it showed 1.004 and the sample definitely tasted watery compared to the sample I took when i racked to the strawberries. I realized that the frozen strawberries added a decent amount of water, or enough to change the fg somewhat. Is there anything I can add to try to get rid of the watery taste? Would Malto Dextrin work? I have 8 oz of it, but I am not certain that is a good addition to a blonde ale.

This beer was intended to be a nice easy drinking, low alcohol summer brew as it only has about 4% alc, I guess the wateryness isn't the worst thing that could have happened!

 

[onipar]

Yeah, I was going to say it could have been a lot of ice on the strawberries watered it down.

Not sure about the Malto Dextrin, but I will say that when I tasted my beer before bottling, it tasted watery too, but got much better in the bottle.

How's the strawberry flavor? Do you think it'd improve with the addition of a small amount of strawberry extract (or even a different flavor that would go well as a mix)? I know it sort of defeats the purpose of using fresh berries, but it may help.

 

[D_Nyholm]

The strawberry smell is AWESOME, the flavor is currently a little tart, so a little sweetness wouldn't hurt it at all if I could add some. From reading the other threads on the strawberry blondes, it seems that a longer keg/bottle conditioning time is needed to allow the beer to fully mature.

Would strawberry extract add much besides a pungent strawberry flavor? I made a blueberry ale and the extract was VERY artificial tasting.

 

[onipar]

The strawberry smell is AWESOME, the flavor is currently a little tart, so a little sweetness wouldn't hurt it at all if I could add some. From reading the other threads on the strawberry blondes, it seems that a longer keg/bottle conditioning time is needed to allow the beer to fully mature.

Would strawberry extract add much besides a pungent strawberry flavor? I made a blueberry ale and the extract was VERY artificial tasting.

That's the problem with extract, from what I hear, they taste artificial. I wasn't sure if when you said it tasted watered down if you meant the strawberry flavor wasn't coming through.

 

[jbsg02]

carbonation would help with the mouthfeel

 

[lostboysbrew]

the problem with using real fruit is it will always be tart. You cannot expect a sweet flavor from fruit without added sugars. 6 lbs seems like way to much if you ask me, but if it got the profile your looking for, i guess it works.

my guess is the ice watered it down as well. you probably are past saving this batch. next time, try less berries, or perhaps up your grain bill.

Since you will be secondarying for a week, cut the primary short a little bit. add the berries around 1.020-1.025 so that you can pull when it gets to 1.010.

You should still taste the beer anyway. perhaps you mashed to low and got way to much attenuation?!?! just a thought. this happened to a rasberry blonde recently. mashed a little to low, fermented wayyy out. 3 lbs of rasberries gave us the flavor and smell we wanted, but no malt profile. i would try less berries next time, perhaps combine it with a little extract for distinct flavor

when adding extract, little by little.......and taste test after each add.......blueberry wit on tap now, is witty as all hell, but blueberry finish, very natural and very suttle......bit by bit is the key.....

 

[Ell]

The strawberry smell is AWESOME, the flavor is currently a little tart, so a little sweetness wouldn't hurt it at all if I could add some. From reading the other threads on the strawberry blondes, it seems that a longer keg/bottle conditioning time is needed to allow the beer to fully mature.

Would strawberry extract add much besides a pungent strawberry flavor? I made a blueberry ale and the extract was VERY artificial tasting.

Yes - let it mellow. I made a strawberry wheat. It was VERY tart and yeasty on the first tasting. A week+ later in the keg and it was really very good.

 

[Ell]

And one other thought. 6 Lbs of strawberries seems like a lot, but you get a lot less strawberry flavor than you do from other fruits. From what I've read, that's pretty much spot on.

 

[D_Nyholm]

Well, it was an extract kit with no specialty grains so I just boiled for 60 minutes
I went off what others were using in the succulent strawberry thread and actually cut 2 lbs of strawberries as they were using 8 lbs! I think the strawberry flavor is what i wanted, but the beer flavor is lacking a little. This batch still tasted good, just more coors light than blonde ale I'm certain the women will like it!

I think I will keg is and maybe bottle a 12 with 1-2 oz of malto dextrin to play with and maybe experiment a little since this is only my 5th kit and at worst case I mess up a 12 of a mediocre beer.

 

[volsfan5012]

I made a strawberry blonde and used extract at bottling. It did take a while for the taste to settle in, it was too sweet when I bottled it, but it was VERY good after conditioning. Everyone that tried it asked me to make it again. I used 1 oz of extract per gallon and just a little less dextrose for the bottle carb-ing (3.5oz).

 

[paraordnance]

the problem with using real fruit is it will always be tart

I have to disagree with you. I just added 3 lbs of frozen, quartered strawberies to already fermented, gelatined and crash cooled beer with excellent results! I added frozen fruit to Belgian Blonde @ 36F in the keg and removed it 3 days later (I was sampling every day, by day 3 all juices from berries were extracted). There is zero tartness since I did not allowed my fruit to ferment. It has freshest strawberry aroma and real strawberry flavor. I think its a best way to add fruit to beer. This method will not work with bottling

 

[D_Nyholm]

Hmm, I have some extra light dme that I could try adding to give it a little more.