Strawberry Wheat - Homemade Strawberry Extract

[TanMan15]

I whipped up an American Wheat Beer Extract recipe a few days ago and, while I've got it in the primary for the next two weeks or so, I decided to make some homemade strawberry extract.

I bought 2 lbs of fresh organic strawberries from Costco, and to my frustration, two days later they started to mold. I threw out the moldy ones and cut up about a pound of fresh ones, put them in a jar, and filled it up with just enough rum to cover the top of them. I know that Strawberry flavoring is finicky, so in addition, I'm planning on adding 8 lbs of frozen strawberries to the secondary.

Two part question:

1) Can mold grow in 80+ proof alcohol? I wouldn't think so, but it makes me nervous that some of the other strawberries in the same package were already moldy. I'd hate to ruin a perfectly good 5 gallon batch because of some mold that I wasn't able to see with the naked eye.

2) I'll probably end up ordering some good strawberry extract from OliveNation as backup. If the 8 lbs of frozen strawberries doesn't yield the strawberry taste that I'm after, I'll add that or my homemade extract in during bottling. Has anyone had any luck using a mix of real fruit and extract? I've heard that strawberries leave more tartness than sweetness, but I'd like just a little bit of sweetness and thought about 1 oz of extract in addition to frozen strawberries might balance out the strawberry sweetness and tartness.

This is my first brew with fruit, so thanks for any insight!

 

[enkamania]

For my strawberry cream ale, I do a combination of strawberry puree (added to the primary after 4 or so days) and extract in the keg. I've done a pineapple wheat with puree and extract and that came out nice

 

[TanMan15]

About how much extract do you typically use?

 

[enkamania]

1.25 tbsp, just enough to enhance the natural fruit.

 

[peanasky]

For my strawberry cream ale, I do a combination of strawberry puree (added to the primary after 4 or so days) and extract in the keg. I've done a pineapple wheat with puree and extract and that came out nice

This is what I've heard as well.

The hard part about strawberries is that by themselves they'll ferment out and just leave some tartness, but the extract should give you that fruity aroma that everyone associates with strawberries. Just don't go overboard!