Strawberries

[ineednfnname]

So I'm planning on doing a strawberry beer in prep for summer. I've read all sorts of opinions online about how to do this, and how not to, ranging from using fresh or frozen fruit to extracts to fruit at the end of the boil, to racking on top of fruit in secondary etc.

I was wondering if anyone on here has experience with it and see if I can finally get steered in the right direction before I take it on.

I've heard that with fresh fruit it's about 2 lbs per gallon of wort, so right now I'm considering doing it this way:

Brew and pitch yeast as normal, wait a week in primary. Then rack on top of fresh fruit, 7 or 8 lbs of strawberries (cut, cleaned, sterilized) and wait a couple more weeks. Then before bottling adding 1 or 2 oz of strawberry extract. Most extract recipes I've seen call for 4 oz per 5 gallon batches, but since I'd be using fruit and extract, it'd be cut down.

Any thoughts?

 

[myerstyson]

I read quite a while back a thread entitled Succulent Strawberry Blonde in the recipes section. It's an extract brew. It looks great, and I plan on doing it later in the winter.

 

[eadavis80]

Never done strawberries, but I would assume the same idea would hold true for the raspberries I did last summer for a raspberry wheat. Most of what I read suggested FROZEN berries because the freezing process did something the cell walls, which was good. I can't remember what, but I'm sure if you search, you'll find something. Take the frozen berries (I think I did 3 pound of raspberries for a 5-gallon batch) and was pleased with the flavor/aroma it gave me. I racked fermented wheat on top of the previously frozen, but fully thawed by the time I racked, fruit. I put the fruit through a sanitized funnel to get it into my carboy. I let it sit in the secondary for 2-3 weeks. Bottling required a paint strainer bag over the racking cane because fruit seeds would clog the bottling wand otherwise. I plan on doing something similar again this spring for my summer fruit beer. Good luck! I've read mixed reviews on the extracts people add at bottling time. Some say they taste like Jolly Ranchers, others cough syrup, while others liked them. Some say fresh fruit that they sterilized. Others boast about using purees. Try a couple things and see what works for you. I liked what I did last summer, so I'll stick with that. Plus, those puree cans are like $20. I can buy a lot of frozen fruit for $20!

 

[ineednfnname]

Thanks already for the help. Found that Succulent Strawberry recipe, I think it looks like something to mimic.

One of my first batches back when I started out, I tried blueberry extract and it came out cough syrupy, but I also know what I did wrong with it. As I said, I was just a beginner who thought I knew everything and I'm pretty sure I added it to the fermenter. Either way, it was terrible, which is why I'm skeptical about extracts but at the same time, curious.

 

[TheHappyHopper]

It sounds like in that Succulent Strawberry recipe he racks right onto the frozen strawberries and doesn't do anything else to sanitize them?

I did a strawberry blonde last summer and it tasted pretty good, but I put my frozen strawberries into near boiling water in an attempt to somewhat sanitize them - I think it may have stripped out some of the flavor that I would have otherwise gotten.

I also ended up with some weird looking white floaties in my bottles...so I think that may have had something to do with the strawberries + hot water...it still tasted alright, it wasn't an infection, it just didn't look the most appetizing.

 

[frettfreak]

I have used strawberries several times and tried secondary, fresh, frozen, in the boil, and whirlpool. Here is what i have noticed so far:

You get more color contribution when they go in the boil at some point. I didnt necessary notice more flavor though. Although i only put in 2 lbs the one time i tried them in the boil.

If you do put them in the boil, you will want to use some pectic enzyme or the pectin that the boiling wort releases from the fruit will cloud your beer (still tastes great, but it took me a couple fruit batches to figure this out)

I liked using frozen strawberries in secondary the most so far. I have done 5lbs in a 5 gallon batch (thawed and then racked to secondary on top of the berries) and the flavor was there for sure. You could smell and taste the strawberry. It wasnt super intense, but it was there for sure. Did this for both a cream ale and an ipa and both were well received by everyone who drank them. Freezing also should pasteurize them so you would have no bacteria problems. I havent had an issue with them yet. Thought i did at one point but ended up being the base beer that was the issue not the berries.

I am actually doing this in a pale next. Still likely only gonna do berries in secondary, using the frozen berries i get from costco. but i might up the amount a little.

 

[ineednfnname]

Yeah, I brewd the cream ale as normal a couple days ago, and I plan to secondary rack onto the frozen berries, probably 8 - 10 lbs and go from there.

I've read all sorts of different methods, but this seems to be the way to go. I'll post results when I get them.