Succulant Strawberry Blonde Question

[pshankstar]

Be prepared for a newbie question (I've only done four 5 gallon brews so far). So I'm looking to make the brew below for my wife next. I am looking to try to do a full boil if possible but I have a question. I guess this would apply to all extract brews.

When I steep the grains do I keep it at the 2 gallons then top off to 6-6.5 gallons? Or would I steep at the full boil amount 6-6.5 gallons and go from there?

Thanks in advance!!

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Ingredients:


6.5 LB Extra Pale LME

1.5 LB Wheat LME
8 oz Carapils

.5 oz Cacade 7.5% @ 60 min

.5 oz Saaz 5.8% @ 20 min

.5 oz Saaz 5.8% @ 5 min

Whirlfloc @ 15 min

Wyeast American Ale II 1272

8 lbs, yep, 8 lbs, of Dole frozen strawberries

Priming sugar



Directions:

- Bring 2 gallons of water to 160* turn off heat

- Steep Carapils for 20 min with lid on

- Top up to 4 gallons, bring to boil

- Remove from heat, add LME

- Return to heat, bring to boil, start hops additions as listed

- Cool, transfer to fermenter

- Top up to 5 gallons

- Add yeast



Fermentation:

Fermented for 1 week at 68*.* Then racked onto all 8 lbs of strawberries and let it set for 6 days at 68*, then racked back off of the thawed strawberries into a tertiary.* I kinda got busy and it ended up staying in the tertiary for 4 weeks, that wasn't planned and I don't know that it's necessary. * Then bottled.*

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showpost.php?p=1489973

 

[TheMcAnally]

I steep the grains with the 2-3 gallons of water and then use the remaining water to rinse the grains until the water running off of them is clear. I've only done a dozen batches or so though, so I'm not an expert.

 

[pshankstar]

I steep the grains with the 2-3 gallons of water and then use the remaining water to rinse the grains until the water running off of them is clear. I've only done a dozen batches or so though, so I'm not an expert.

Oh that's a great idea!! Thanks I think I will give that a try when I brew this batch! Thanks!! [emoji482][emoji106]

 

[TheMcAnally]

That recipe makes some damn good beer. I made a batch for my wife last Mother's Day and it didn't last long at all.

 

[arnobg]

Will you be doing late extract additions?

 

[pshankstar]

Will you be doing late extract additions?

Sorry for the newbie response, but what do you mean? I was going to follow the instructions to the "T" as best as I can.

 

[m00ps]

generally you want to add most of the extract very late in the boil. Give enough time so it mixes and dissolves evenly, but not so early to scorch it

 

[pshankstar]

generally you want to add most of the extract very late in the boil. Give enough time so it mixes and dissolves evenly, but not so early to scorch it

Maybe I'll add half of the LME in the beginning and the other half towards the later half of the boil. Do you or anyone else see this as an issue? Or do you feel it would be ok?

 

[arnobg]

Check out my recent post for info on this. It helped me a lot and hope it helps you too! I liked my results.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=543758

 

[pshankstar]

Check out my recent post for info on this. It helped me a lot and hope it helps you too! I liked my results.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=543758

Funny you bring this up. I was reading this thread last night thinking to myself this answers a lot of questions!!! Thanks arnobg & the HBT forum community for all of the help & suggestions!!!

 

[pshankstar]

Ok, I have another question regarding this brew and the fruit. I know the instructions say to let the wort sit on the frozen strawberries for six days (instructions posted below for quick reference, but the recipe is in the original post). I was hoping to brew this beer and get it bottled before our family vacation, but that is not going to happen. So I was wondering if I could leave the wort on the strawberries for more than six days? It would be at least 11 days or maybe 12 days (so double the time).

With that being said, with using frozen fruit to add flavor is there a point that is "too long" to let the wort sit on the strawberries? I'm afraid of spoilage, infection, or anything else that would ruin the batch. If that is the case, then I will just wait till we return to get it started. Otherwise I will try to get it started this weekend so that I can let it sit in the secondary with the fruit while we are away.

Thank in advance everyone!

Fermentation:

Fermented for 1 week at 68*.* Then racked onto all 8 lbs of strawberries and let it set for 6 days at 68*, then racked back off of the thawed strawberries into a tertiary.* I kinda got busy and it ended up staying in the tertiary for 4 weeks, that wasn't planned and I don't know that it's necessary. * Then bottled.*

 

[pshankstar]

Ok, so I kegged the Strawberry Blonde Ale last week (on 11/23/15). The beer has a very strong strawberry smell, which I am not surprised about. But the beer is very fruity and tart , too much tartness for my taste. If I let the beer age some, will the tartness mellow out? This is my first time doing a fruity beer, I typically do IPAs which the hoppiness will diminish over time which is not good for IPAs. So I would assume the tartness will diminish too, is that correct?

Thanks in advance everyone!

 

[pshankstar]

I wanted to post an update for anyone who may be interested. I had since bottled the Strawberry Blonde Ale using the Last Straw from Northern Brewer. I cracked open a bottle right around Christmas, so the beer had sat for about 4 weeks. The beer was good and the tartness I experienced had diminished to give it what I will call a more balanced taste. So I would say this brew was a success!