Strawberry Double White Ale!?!? Don't judge me.

Anubis · Aug 18, 2010

Seriously. My wife doesn't like beer. I'm not proud of it but she is such an amazing woman in so many other ways, I guess it makes up for it... So, on a whim two of the guys at the LHBS and I threw together something that she might like. We just did what any homebrewer would do. We asked, "what do you like?"
The answer was.. Strawberry Lambic, Kasteel Rouge, Ciders, Bluemoon with extra extra orange (or a strawberry) and something with higher ABV than the aforementioned beverages.

So we threw this together.

Original Gravity: 1.070 (1.063 to 1.073)
Final Gravity: 1.015 (1.013 to 1.017
SRM: 6
IBU: 14.1 IBU / 6 HBU
ABV: 7.3%
YEAST: Fermentis US-05

6# Pale Liquid Extract
2# Briess DME Golden Light
12oz Corn Sugar
12oz Crystal 40L

60 mins 1.5oz Hallertauer 3.8
5 mins 1.0oz Cascade 8.5

Ferment 2 weeks. Strawberry Extract to taste before racking into secondary for another week.

I am going to brew this in the morning so I don't think I'll change much this batch but I would love any suggestions. I have now idea what it's going to be like but hey if she's happy, I'm happy.
Any thoughts?

Anubis · Aug 19, 2010

So anything? Anyone?

ericd · Aug 19, 2010

I've found the reason most women hate beer is the bitterness from the hops and off-flavors from the yeast. I'd do only .5 oz of EKG at 60 mins if you want to do a woman pleaser, and ferment cold.

I'd use real strawberries over extract to, 2-3 lbs per gallon.

Anubis · Aug 19, 2010

We debated over extract or fresh but the pros and cons from flavor control, reliability of flavor and risk of infection drops back down to zip. I have read a lot of different horror stories with real strawberries. Freezer burn, infection, absorbtion and not getting the same flavor from batch to batch. I know I am being paranoid but I just want to make sure it goes well.

HiGravShawn · Aug 19, 2010

Anubis said:
We debated over extract or fresh but the pros and cons from flavor control, reliability of flavor and risk of infection drops back down to zip. I have read a lot of different horror stories with real strawberries. Freezer burn, infection, absorbtion and not getting the same flavor from batch to batch. I know I am being paranoid but I just want to make sure it goes well.

For me it's the lesser of two evils. When I used fresh Louisiana ones from the farmers market they absorbed more than I thought the juicy fruit could and at 1/2# per gallon it was not near enough. Then I got this strange dry erase marker flavor although I could find no sign of infection and the strawberry flavor disappeared very quickly. When I tried again I used a common strawberry extract found at online brew shops and whether it tasted like strawberry is debatable. It was more like cheap strawberry candy and was not very pleasant at high levels. At low levels we got the apricot flavor many speak of. I would use real ones, but probably frozen bags or if you can find it maybe Oregon puree. I plan to try again with frozen bags of strawberries from the supermarket and then either boil it for 3-5 minutes or maybe use Campden tabs (Potassium Metabisulphite) and use AT LEAST a # per gallon.