Strawberry Blonde all extrand 2nd batch help

[Akneebreeated]

I am new to home brewing and this will be my second batch so I basically have no clue if I am doing this right. This is the brew to hook my fiance so I want to make a good beer for her!

Recipe is as follows
4lbs light dry extract
4lbs amber dry extract
3lbs local honey

1oz cascade pellet for last 15 of boil
1oz cascade pellet dry hopped

Wyeast american ale 1056

4oz strawberry extract added to bottling bucket at bottling time.

Figure on primary for 12 days at 68, secondary about 14 days at 70 and bottling for 2 weeks room temp.

Can anyone tell me if this will be ok or possibly improve my noobish recipe?

Edit: I apparently typo'd in title, meant to be ALL EXTRACT! Stupid smart phone...

 

[Brew-Jay]

This will be a high gravity beer, and that can be tricky when it comes to fermentation. Do you plan to make a yeast starter? You can do a rough calculation to get expected OG but DME is typically, what, 45 points per pound per gallon? I'm too lazy to do the math. Also you didn't mention any bittering hops. Usually you would want a high alpha hop in the beginning of the boil for some bitterness to balance the malt.

 

[Akneebreeated]

I have an estimated OG of 1.083 finishing around 1.021 at 70% efficiency. Wasn't gonna do a starter for yeast. Had planned on using dry yeast, american ale wyeast labs 1056. I suppose I could trim back a pound or so on the extracts to get the OG down a tad?

As for hops, I have an estimated IBU of 7.3, she doesn't like a really hoppy beer. Should I add a bit more for bittering for a better balance?

 

[dneubeck85]

Three lbs is a lot of honey in five gallons. I would cut it back to two. U can add one in the boil and one at secondary to add more honey flavor as most is lost during initial fermentation. If u have access to fresh fruit I would use three pounds of strawberries, and purée them. Then rack beer on top of it. Let it set for two weeks then bottle. No need to dry hop a blonde ale. Push the 15 minute hop addition back to 60 and your all set. IMHO

 

[Akneebreeated]

Three lbs is a lot of honey in five gallons. I would cut it back to two. U can add one in the boil and one at secondary to add more honey flavor as most is lost during initial fermentation. If u have access to fresh fruit I would use three pounds of strawberries, and purée them. Then rack beer on top of it. Let it set for two weeks then bottle. No need to dry hop a blonde ale. Push the 15 minute hop addition back to 60 and your all set. IMHO

I've read that using real strawberries doesn't provide a strong lasting flavor. Cutting back one pound of honey drops my estimated OG down to 1.077, is this still too high? I was also wondering if I could use liquid extract instead of dry, I'm not real sure on the differences between the two...

 

[dneubeck85]

It depends on what your going for. If u want an easy drinking blonde that's enjoyable u don't want to go too strong. I used three pounds of strawberries and puréed them. It had a nice aroma and strawberry flavor. I just opened my last bottle and after three months it still tasted like the day I bottled it. Using flavor extract can be iffy. I am not a fan of using it. I prefer the real thing. Personal preference I guess. I have had numerous requests to make it again, as its been my most popular brew. Mine was lower abv. Around 5-5.5%.

 

[Akneebreeated]

It depends on what your going for. If u want an easy drinking blonde that's enjoyable u don't want to go too strong. I used three pounds of strawberries and puréed them. It had a nice aroma and strawberry flavor. I just opened my last bottle and after three months it still tasted like the day I bottled it. Using flavor extract can be iffy. I am not a fan of using it. I prefer the real thing. Personal preference I guess. I have had numerous requests to make it again, as its been my most popular brew. Mine was lower abv. Around 5-5.5%.

Thanks, I will definitely be considering going with fresh strawberries. We would prefer something smooth and enjoyable over an aggressive punch!

 

[BayAreaBrew]

If you wanted a honey taste to your brew, may I suggest steeping some honey malt. Simply adding the honey to the wort will only give it a drier finish, but will not give it a honey taste since the honey will be all fermented.

 

[Hop_Hero]

After you purée the strawberries do you boil them to sterilize?

 

[Akneebreeated]

If you wanted a honey taste to your brew, may I suggest steeping some honey malt. Simply adding the honey to the wort will only give it a drier finish, but will not give it a honey taste since the honey will be all fermented.

We're mainly going for a strawberry flavor so using real honey for a drier finish may help bring out the strawberry flavor, AMIRIGHT?

 

[BayAreaBrew]

Yup that should be good. It was my misunderstanding. I see alot of recipes that call for honey to be added during the boil leading to believe that it will yield the honey flavor. But if the strawberry flavor is to stand out then your're correct, don't use the honey malt.