Strawberry Rhubarb Gose

[Rob2010SS]

Brewing a strawberry rhubarb gose this weekend or next weekend. Here's my recipe below. I have some questions for people who may have used some of these ingredients. See the very last section titled, "Questions for the Smart People". Open to thoughts and suggestions but my initial questions are below.

SPECIFICATIONS:
OG 1.043
FG 1.010
IBU's 12.7
SRM 3.56
ABV 4.3%

GRAIN BILL:
60% White Wheat
25% Pilsner
13.6% 2 Row
1.4% Acid Malt

60 minute mash @ 150*F

KETTLE SOURING:
Omega OYL-605 to drop pH to 3.5

HOPS/BOIL ADDITIONS:
60 Min. = 1.0oz Saaz
10 Min. = .50oz Coriander
10 Min. = 1.0oz Pink Himalayan Sea Salt

PRIMARY FERMENTATION
Yeast - WY1007 German Ale.
58*F for the first 4-5 days then start ramp up

SECONDARY FERMENTATION
7lbs fresh, frozen strawberries
2lbs fresh, frozen rhubarb

QUESTIONS FOR THE SMART PEOPLE:
1. Is 2 lbs enough rhubarb? I want the rhubarb to be obvious in the finished product but I also don't want it to get vegetal, which I heard can happen with rhubarb.

2. Is 7 lbs enough strawberries? I've heard that in order to really pick up anything from strawberries you need to use A LOT of them. Is this enough?

3. I've never used coriander. I do not want the coriander really noticeable at all. Is .50oz a good amount to be barely noticed, if at all?

4. I've never used sea salt. I want the salt to be more noticeable than the coriander. Is 1.0oz a good amount to be noticed in the finished product?

 

[cactusgarrett]

Can't answer to the first two, but I've used coriander and salt in a margarita gose. In that (6.5gal boil) I used 2oz cracked coriander and 14g (0.5oz) salt. I think it's a great balance between the two. I worried it would be too spicy or salty by going too heavy one way or the other, but these flavors are well-balanced since there's also a lactic punch involved.

 

[Rob2010SS]

Can't answer to the first two, but I've used coriander and salt in a margarita gose. In that (6.5gal boil) I used 2oz cracked coriander and 14g (0.5oz) salt. I think it's a great balance between the two. I worried it would be too spicy or salty by going too heavy one way or the other, but these flavors are well-balanced since there's also a lactic punch involved.

So here's my thing with coriander. Usually when I've had it in commercial examples, it's overpowering. I'm not a huge fan of coriander but I think a very, VERY minimal coriander in this might be nice. Plus it sticks to the style a bit more. Was 2oz coriander in yours pretty heavy on the coriander?

In regards to the salt, I want the salt to be a bit more noticeable. Typical numbers appear to be .5oz to 1.0oz. I just know I want the salt to be noticeable.

 

[RPh_Guy]

I can't help with the quantities beyond what you already know (I like the Reinheitsgebot). However I have some general advice:

You can always add more ...stuff... after fermentation, based on your taste. No reason it needs to all be added up front. Starting low might be a good idea if you're worried about it.

Small batches or split batches are a great way to tune recipes to your taste.

Flavors that are barely noticeable to one person might be overpowering to another person. Advice from others can only go so far.
I think you're off to a good start with the method you used to pick those amounts.

Cheers!

 

[jtratcliff]

I make a rhubarb rye ale where I've used 5, 3, 2.5, and 1.5 lbs of rhubarb in a 5 the various 5gal batches. The 1.5lb batch is fermenting right now so I can't speak to the rhubarb flavor in there, yet...

My 1st try was 5lb (1lb of fruit / gallon) and chopped, frozen, thawed, and then added to secondary. This is the one that had the vegetal flavor. It had very good rhubarb flavor too, just a slightly of hint vegetal aftertaste. Took a month or two for that aftertaste age out.

In the 3lbs/5 gallon & 2.5lbs/5 gal, I still had plenty of dominant rhubarb flavor without the vegetal aftertaste. I can't say for sure if the difference was due to the lesser amount, but I suspect it to be the case.

The rhubarb really dominates in my recipe, even at 2.5lbs/5 gal. You get a hint of the spiciness of the rye, but rhubarb is smacking you upside the head. So 2 lb. should probably give you plenty of rhubarb flavor.

Good Luck!

 

[Rob2010SS]

I make a rhubarb rye ale where I've used 5, 3, 2.5, and 1.5 lbs of rhubarb in a 5 the various 5gal batches. The 1.5lb batch is fermenting right now so I can't speak to the rhubarb flavor in there, yet...

My 1st try was 5lb (1lb of fruit / gallon) and chopped, frozen, thawed, and then added to secondary. This is the one that had the vegetal flavor. It had very good rhubarb flavor too, just a slightly of hint vegetal aftertaste. Took a month or two for that aftertaste age out.

In the 3lbs/5 gallon & 2.5lbs/5 gal, I still had plenty of dominant rhubarb flavor without the vegetal aftertaste. I can't say for sure if the difference was due to the lesser amount, but I suspect it to be the case.

The rhubarb really dominates in my recipe, even at 2.5lbs/5 gal. You get a hint of the spiciness of the rye, but rhubarb is smacking you upside the head. So 2 lb. should probably give you plenty of rhubarb flavor.

Good Luck!

Thank you for this. I actually did a search while I was waiting for responses to this thread and stumbled across a thread where you discussed this beer and the results at different amounts. Vegetal was something that I wanted to avoid. That's how I decided on 2.5 lbs. So thanks!

 

[Rob2010SS]

Follow up on this one...

Brewed this beer to the recipe above with 2 changes...
1. I let pH go down to 3.2 instead of 3.5 as stated in the initial post
2. I only used 3.5 lbs of strawberries as opposed to 7 in the initial post

The beer came out AWESOME! If I enter another competition, this one is going in.

The strawberry and rhubarb flavor is not overpowering, but it's there. Rhubarb is more evident than the stawberries in the initial flavor. The aftertaste is where you get the salt. Again, not overpowering but you definitely can't miss the salt. The coriander isn't even noticeable, which is how I wanted it. I honestly can't say I would change ANYTHING about this beer. If anyone is interested in a nice easy, refreshing sour, throw this on your brew list.

Picture of the finished product...

 

[Angus MacDonald]

Interesting colour on that, may have to attempt this myself at some point. Damn, another recipe to add to the todo list.

 

[Rob2010SS]

Interesting colour on that, may have to attempt this myself at some point. Damn, another recipe to add to the todo list.

The picture doesn't do it justice. It's actually quite a bit brighter than that, but still almost an orange hue. You could add more strawberries to maybe get more of a red hue I suppose.

 

[50calshooter]

Back off on the coriander. Half an ounce is good for a five gallon wit. Make it .25 of an ounce-cut it in half. I wouldn't use fresh strawberries- they don't do so well in the brew process. Last time I used rhubarb and strawberries I wish I would of used strawberry extract from the brew store. Rhubarb in the secondary and when it's done add the brewers extract to taste. That's just me though.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Back off on the coriander. Half an ounce is good for a five gallon wit. Make it .25 of an ounce-cut it in half. I wouldn't use fresh strawberries- they don't do so well in the brew process. Last time I used rhubarb and strawberries I wish I would of used strawberry extract from the brew store. Rhubarb in the secondary and when it's done add the brewers extract to taste. That's just me though.

Whew! Just in the nick of time. Saved his batch for sure.

 

[Rob2010SS]

Back off on the coriander. Half an ounce is good for a five gallon wit. Make it .25 of an ounce-cut it in half. I wouldn't use fresh strawberries- they don't do so well in the brew process. Last time I used rhubarb and strawberries I wish I would of used strawberry extract from the brew store. Rhubarb in the secondary and when it's done add the brewers extract to taste. That's just me though.

Actually, the .50oz coriander isn't even noticeable in the finished product. If i wasn't the one that made this, I'd never believe it was in there. I don't like extract flavors. I used them once and just not a huge fan. Perhaps i didn't use a high end one, i don't know.

 

[aray23]

Speaking of questions for smart people - Any thoughts on converting this recipe to an extract version? Not sure if converting something like this to an extract would lose a lot of the original flavors but I'd love to make this!

 

[cactusgarrett]

Speaking of questions for smart people - Any thoughts on converting this recipe to an extract version? Not sure if converting something like this to an extract would lose a lot of the original flavors but I'd love to make this!

Should be easy enough - just swap out the grains for pils, wheat, and two-row extract of choice.