Fruit Beer Strawberry Alarm Clock v3.0 (Strawberry Blonde)

[weirdboy]

I have a batch that is about 10 months old that still tastes great. We just cracked a couple yesterday for a BBQ.

 

[chrislehr]

Going to be trying this one real soon for the SWMBO...

Psyched to see how it comes out. Do the strawberries affect the color much?

 

[mustafakidd]

I didn't notice much of a difference in color but the strawberries were totally drained of their color so I'm sure it was at least slightly affected.

 

[chrislehr]

Made this today with two small mods:
- added 1oz willamette @ 45 minutes. I wanted a higher IBU
- added .5lb of raw agave after wort chilled to 100F

Should mean a 30ish IBU and a 6.1% ABV or so. Was about a 1.060 post boild with the agave in there.

 

[weirdboy]

Hey so just an update I still had some bottles from a batch I made about a year and a half ago and brought some to share with my local homebrew club.

One of our club members is a BJCP master judge. He liked it so much he asked me for the recipe. Personally, I think it has gone downhill a bit over such a long time, but it's still pretty damn tasty.

 

[dm2bfree]

Maybe an odd question. When the beer is racked over the strawberries from the primary, do you rack everything on top? Both the beer and the yeast cake/trub?

I racked over strawberries in my secondary yesterday, but only racked the clean beer leaving the yeast cake on the bottom. Activity has picked up, but is there enough yeast in suspension to handle 4# of strawberries?

 

[mustafakidd]

That's exactly what I did and it worked out just fine, should be plenty of yeast available.

 

[dm2bfree]

Great, thanks.. I started to get kind of worried after the fact! I guess even if it was a little short on yeast it sits so long it would eventually get consumed anyway??

 

[chrislehr]

I didnt rack the trub - just liquid. Still plenty of yeast suspended for both fructose fermentation and carbonation once primed.

I think I have ONE bottle of this left. Will miss it dearly... Next year, I want to make a sucrose/fructose mix to mash in with in addition to the fresh berries in the fermenter.

Loved this beer. Might remove some of the wheat next time.

 

[newguy07]

Hello I brewed this beer a few weeks ago and I have now racked the beer onto the strawberries but I have taken the stopper off of my bucket and smelled the beer just to see what its like and my beer smells very strong like it sort of burns my nose when I smell it!! I was just wondering if anyone knows if this is normal or not? It still has at least a week or 2 until it should be ready to go to the keg. Any input would be appreciated! Thanks!

 

[weirdboy]

That's normal. Pretty much any beer will do that when you first crack open the fermenter like that.

 

[Dane]

I made this a few months ago, it came out fantastic. I fermented for 7 days, aged for 1 month in strawberry's. However, I did not use a strainer bag in the secondary so I got a lot of particles in the brew. Thanks for the recipe!

 

[dm2bfree]

I'm drinking one that I made at the moment.. I fermented for a week, then racked on 4# of frozen then pasteurized strawberries for 1 week.. I tasted it after 7 days and liked the light strawberry taste that it had, so I racked off the strawberries, let it sit another week to make sure it was fully fermented (from the strawberries), then bottled.. It's been about 6 weeks since I brewed it, it's one of my favorites so far.. Very tasty and easy to drink w/ a light stawberry tart.

 

[Apoxbrew]

probably a stupid newb question, but how do/did you pasteurize your frozen strawberries?

 

[weirdboy]

probably a stupid newb question, but how do/did you pasteurize your frozen strawberries?

I don't. I wash them really well and store them in a sealed, sanitized container in the freezer.

 

[midfielder5]

I am so making this with AHB's blonde kit!
edit- brew day tonite.

edit2- I used Windsor instead of S-04 (ran out.. oops!). Huge krausen.

 

[toadfuller]

I brewed this yesterday.. it is sitting in the primary as I type. I will let you guys know how it turns out!

 

[njschmidt]

I brewed this 2 weeks ago, and just racked over to secondary on top of 4 pounds of frozen strawberries today. I undershot my OG (1046), but I'm fine with that given I was trying to make a nice summer session beer.

I have a question, though, about the taste of the blonde ale prior to racking on top of the strawberries ... I tasted my hydrometer sample after taking the FG (which was 1010), and noticed that it tasted quite tart. Not undrinkable, but much more tart than I was expecting considering I hadn't even begun the strawberry stage. Has anybody noticed this, or can anybody see something in the OP's recipe that might explain this? The only reasons I'm concerned is because I expect even more tartness to be added after the brew has been on the strawberries for 3 weeks, and I'm also concerned about the possibility that it's an infection (although I've never had one before, and the sample I drank certainly wasn't "undrinkable" ... just a more tart than any of my other beers).

Any input is greatly appreciated, and I'll keep this thread updated as the brew progresses.

 

[mustafakidd]

I can't remember if there was any tartness prior to racking into the secondary with the strawberries, but I do remember that this was tart after fermentation and bottling - certainly the strawberries contributed, but it could be that the base recipe had some of its own.

Sorry I can't be of much more help than that.

 

[midfielder5]

My berries got some Brett, which I think is awesome. I kegged it and it is delicious. I just had to hide the secondary container so gf wouldn't see it & get grossed out. ha ha.

I didn't sanitize the berries real well (on purpose).. that and/or my siphon hose is contaminated from a prior Brett beer.
It also looks weird because some berries are in a bag & some are not.

 

[njschmidt]

My berries got some Brett, which I think is awesome. I kegged it and it is delicious. I just had to hide the secondary container so gf wouldn't see it & get grossed out. ha ha.

I didn't sanitize the berries real well (on purpose).. that and/or my siphon hose is contaminated from a prior Brett beer.
It also looks weird because some berries are in a bag & some are not.

Did you happen to taste it before you racked onto the strawberries? I'm wondering if this recipe has any tartness in and of itself, before the berries. Although, I see that you used a different yeast than the S-04 so yours might be a bit different anyways...

 

[midfielder5]

Did you happen to taste it before you racked onto the strawberries? I'm wondering if this recipe has any tartness in and of itself, before the berries. Although, I see that you used a different yeast than the S-04 so yours might be a bit different anyways...

I saw your question above my post but I had nothing to add. Anyways, yes I did taste the hydro samples... nothing unusual/ just a regular blonde.

 

[njschmidt]

Just in case anybody else might be wondering about this in the future, I found an informative thread about S-04 yeast and sourness/tartness:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/s-04-sourness-228758/

I'm thinking I might try to make this with an S-05 if I attempt it again.

 

[ahaagis]

I am looking to order the ingredients to this soon and was wondering what form of hops were used if it matters? thanks!

 

[njschmidt]

I am looking to order the ingredients to this soon and was wondering what form of hops were used if it matters? thanks!

It's all in the OP ("original post") ... You can see it by going to the first page of this thread, or look below (I've copied and pasted it for your convenience):

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: S-04
Yeast Starter: 1 packet
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Original Gravity: 1.050
Final Gravity: 1.010
IBU: 17.1
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: 4.9 SRM
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 10 days @ 65F
Additional Fermentation: Cold Crash 3 days
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 21 days @ 70F
Tasting Notes: Smooth light body with a tiny bit of tartness that gives the beer a crisp finish.

EDIT: This recipe won a gold medal at Pacific Brewer's Cup 2009.

I ended up with 4.8 gallons of beer in bottles after this process, although on previous batches where I had pureed the strawberries I ended up spot-on 5 gallons. So, maybe the strawberries soaked up some of the volume? I probably will try to get another .25 gallons boil volume next time to account for this.

Recipe: Strawberry Alarm Clock v3.0
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
------------
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 6.41 gal
Estimated OG: 1.054 SG
Estimated Color: 4.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 17.1 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item
5.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
4.00 lb White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM)
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 15L (15.0 SRM)
0.50 lb Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM)
0.25 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)
1.00 oz Willamette [4.80 %] (60 min)
0.50 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min)
4.00 lb Strawberries (Secondary 3.0 weeks)
1 Pkgs SafAle English Ale (DCL Yeast #S-04) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body
Total Grain Weight: 10.25 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Light Body
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
75 min Mash In Add 12.81 qt of water at 163.7 F 152.0 F
10 min Mash Out Add 8.20 qt of water at 196.6 F 168.0 F

Sparge with 2.64 gallons 168.0 F water.

Notes:
------
Base Style Blonde Ale 6B.

2009/06/27:
Brew day.

2009/07/07:
Transferred Strawberry Alarm Clock brewed on 6/27/2009 to secondary. Added 4 pounds of washed, halved, and frozen strawberries in a paint strainer bag to secondary, and racked on top of that.

Hydrometer reading: 1.012
Refractometer: 6.4 Brix
Estimated FG 1.012


2009/07/28:
Removed halved strawberries (in paint strainer bag) from secondary, and added 1 packet of gelatin dissolved in 1 cup water, stirring gently with whisk.

Hydrometer reading: 1.010


2009/07/29
Started cold crash from room temp (~72F). Used frozen PET water bottles and ~1LB ice blocks from tupperware to bring cooler temp down, swapping out when ice is depleted.

2009/07/30:
morning temp is 41F, added 4 ice blocks + 8 PET bottles, by afternoon temp was at 35F and held steady.

2009/07/31:
morning temp went back up to 40F overnight, but quickly cooled to 35.

2009/08/01:
temp still at 35F, pulled out of cold bath and transferred to bottling bucket at 3:30pm.

There was a very thin white layer of what looked like possible lactobacillus floating on surface of fermenter, but no off flavors whatsoever.

Dissolved/boiled 4.0oz of cane sugar in 1 cup water to prime about 4.8 gallons of beer.

Sample read 1.010 @60F
Sample clarity is very good although not crystal clear.
Strong strawberry aroma, with excellent smooth blonde ale flavor and only a hint of strawberry.


2009/08/12:
I pulled out a few bottles of this and put them in the fridge to bring to a homebrew club meeting this evening. Good clarity, great head and lacing. The initial aroma smells intensely of strawberries. The flavor is smooth with just a tiny bit of tartness from the strawberries that gives the beer a crisp finish.

*EDIT* Sorry, thought you were asking the type of hops, not the form... I used pellets just because that's all AHS had, but like Midfielder mentions, I think any would be fine as long as you get the IBUs right.

 

[midfielder5]

i think he was just asking: pellets or whole hops.
Answer: depends on what you like. Just try to hit the ibus stated in OP (4th or 5th line from top).

 

[ahaagis]

i think he was just asking: pellets or whole hops.
Answer: depends on what you like. Just try to hit the ibus stated in OP (4th or 5th line from top).

Sorry i should have been more specific on pellets vs whole hops. thanks for the quick replies!

 

[skelrad]

My bad - wrong thread. Can't delete the post for some reason. Sorry.

 

[toadfuller]

Just tasted the first bottle. Its only been in the bottle one month at this point. I don't really taste strawberries, but it is pretty good.. yeasty, and a little sour from the berries. Does that sound right?

 

[mustafakidd]

I'd say that the aroma is definitely strawberry but the flavor is more fruity and tart than sweet.