Strawberry Lager??

[MashStirBrew]

I am not the biggest fan of fruit beers or lagers for that matter, but I will have a Pilsner yeast cake coming up and my basement is 55 F. So ale’s are out and I feel like experimenting. Has any one tried it or will I piss off the beer gods for making such a concoction? It seems like a good clean yeast that might show off the strawberry flavor. (czeck pils #2278) Here is what I am thinking:



Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 6.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.044 SG
Estimated Color: 4.3 SRM
Estimated IBU: 12.0 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item
8.00 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM)
0.50 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)
0.25 lb Honey Malt (25.0 SRM)
0.50 oz Tettnang [4.50 %] (60 min)
0.50 oz Tettnang [4.50 %] (10 min)
1 Pkgs Czech Pilsner Lager (Wyeast Labs #2278)


5.00lb Frozen strawberries at flame out
5.00lb frozen strawberries in Primary
A little? Pectic enzyme

I might secondary more Strawberries if it needs it.



Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 8.75 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Mash In Add 2.73 gal of water at 165.9 F 154.0 F

 

[TexLaw]

I barely know the first thing about making fruit beers, so I say go for it.


TL

 

[the_bird]

I wouldn't add them to the boil (even at flameout), or even to the primary. Strawberry's a very subtle flavor, I would imagine you'll lose most of the aromatics if you let them sit through primary (they'll get carried away with the CO2 being outgassed).

Get a can of the Oregon Puree, if they make a strawberry. That's supposed to be the best fruit concentrate out there, and it's already sanitary (I'd just sanitize the outside of the can and the can opener). Add it to the secondary, then you *might* need a tertiary fermentation if it doesn't want to clear up.

If you can't get the puree, pasteurize the strawberries at about 150°-160° for ten minutes, any higher and you risk pectin haze, then add them to the secondary.

From all accounts, you need a LOT of strawberries to get much flavor.

And yeah - the Gods are pissed

 

[MikeFlynn74]

Id add all 10lbs to the secondary stage but not frozen- Thawed.

 

[Rhoobarb]

I think you'll need more berries. I've been planning to brew this strawberry ale for some time now, but never have. Maybe this spring. What advice I can offer is this:

My fiancée brewed an extract w/ grains blueberry ale back when we were first dating. I helped out, of course! She added ~10lbs. of frozen blueberries. We heated them to ~155oF-160oF in glass dishes in the microwave to sanitize them, then added them to the primary. It made for a blue mess everywhere and the fermentation was hellacious due to all the sugar in the berries. She had to construct a blow-off tube it was so vigorous. The ale had a deep purple tint to it and it tasted okay. The blueberry flavor was very, very subtle - not quite what she was looking for.

It was such a mess that she swears she'll never brew a fruit beer again! But if we were to do it over, I'd add the same amount of berries to the secondary. Not the primary. I think we'd get more berry flavor and maybe less of that purple color.

Let us know how your's turns out.

 

[MikeFlynn74]

Yea- Everything Ive read says fruit goes in the secondary- and you only need to wash them not steralize them as the alcohol in the secondary is quite good at keeping infections to nil.

 

[Alamo_Beer]

I made a strawberry ale that was pretty awesome (still have a couple bottles of it). What I did was add the frozen fruit (about 10lb I think) to the secondary and let it hang out for a couple of weeks. Then it went to a tetriary to try and clear the beer. It's a little hazy and I could have let it clear some more but overall I really like it and my fiance keeps asking me to brew it again. I'd say it was a succuss and say go for it!

 

[Rhoobarb]

I made a strawberry ale that was pretty awesome ...

Cool! Secondary, then tertiary to clear. Good idea. I bet crash cooling it might even clear it some more. Hmmmm...(?).

How pronounced is the berry flavor?

 

[Alamo_Beer]

Yup I didn't have means to crash cool then but if I do it again I deffinatly will. I hopped it with cascades so those kinda take the forefront but the berry flavor is deffinatly there as a sort of background sweetness. I like it...

 

[jayhoz]

I made a Strawberry Blond (see recipes). It was a painful process that I probably would not repeat. After a great deal of effort (Clearing Saga) I had a beer with a nice strawberry aroma, but a more tart taste than I would have wanted.

 

[Hopleaf]

I've made a Strawberry Ale by putting 8 lbs pureed strawberry in primary after 24 hour soak with campden.. the ale came out tart and acidic. I would put them in the secondary and rack the beer onto them.

 

[MashStirBrew]

I was wanting to avoid a tertiary but you are all right. The best aroma and flavor comes from the secondary. Looks like a second primary fermenter is in order. Oregon fruit purees do not come in strawberry, but I am curious about the vintners harvest wine bases. A little pricey but they say they are 100% fruit, packed in there own juices.

 

[HBDrinker008]

Agreed that fruit goes in the secondary. From what I have read though is that strawberry flavor fades very fast and you actually wont get too much strawberry flavor as would would with say rasberries even if you add a ton. but what the hell, go for it.

 

[MashStirBrew]

Agreed that fruit goes in the secondary. From what I have read though is that strawberry flavor fades very fast and you actually wont get too much strawberry flavor as would would with say rasberries even if you add a ton. but what the hell, go for it.

Agreed. This one should go over well with the BMC crowd and the ladies so it should go quick.

Thanks for the replies all!!

 

[BlackHat]

I actually just racked a fruit beer to the secondary moments ago. I added the fruit at knockout per a BYO article I read and I added quite a bit more to the secondary. This is my first fruit beer, so I can't say adding at knockout is better than adding to the secondary, but I had a taste of my brew before racking and I can say the flavor is there, but just not very prevalent. I added 3# for the knockout and primary and 7# to the secondary. Not sure if this will work, but next time I'm going to try this recipe with fruit solely in the secondary.