Fruit Beer Succulent Strawberry Blonde

[WildGingerBrewing]

Update...removed from the fridge after 5 days, brought back up to room temp for two days and bottled today. The aroma is still great and it has more strawberry flavor than I expected. I will probably open one or two next weekend because I am impatient, but I'm sure it won't be ready for at least two weeks.

 

[bckyrdkid420]

Did the cold crash really help clear up the beer? If so, what temp did you cc it at?

...I've got this beer in primary right now... gonna be racking it to the strawberries in a few days here... Really stoked to hear how yours turns out!

 

[WildGingerBrewing]

I held it at 46 +/- It seemes to have cleared up a little but with all the strawberries that were in it, I'm not sure this one is ever going to get completely clear. We'll know in 2 weeks! I will say that in the Better Bottle it appeared to be slightly pink but as I was syphoning it off it seems to have a nice golden color too it. I'll keep you posted.

 

[crypt0]

My strawberry never cleared. I may have underpitched or something, but I gave it probably 2-3 months.

 

[WildGingerBrewing]

crypt0...how did you do the strawberries? Did you rack onto fresh or frozen or use a concentrate? If fresh or frozen, how many pounds did you use? What was your ferment schedule?

 

[crypt0]

I used about 6 pounds of strawberries. Racked onto frozen. I did blend them before hand which likely made a difference in terms of clarity, but it didnt wokr very well because some were still frozen

 

[WildGingerBrewing]

That sucks and I bet the blending did have something to do with it. Mine looked very pink and cloudy in the terttiary fermenter but as I was racking it into the bottling bucket it was relatively clear and a nice golden color. So hopefully cold crashing it worked.

 

[crypt0]

Hopefully, good luck

 

[bckyrdkid420]

So I racked onto 8lbs of FROZEN strawberries... But now I'm kinda tripping cause wasn't sure if you guys let the strawberries defrost and get to room temp before racking onto them???? Woke up this morning and the temp was like in the 40's!! I know it's gonna eventually warm back up... but will that hurt anything bringing it down that cold before it's completely fermented? And once it warms back up, is that when I can expect the fermentation to happen again?

Thanks!

 

[WildGingerBrewing]

Wouldn't worry about that at all. It's the same way I did it but fermentation was complete by the time I racked it onto the strawberries, so I never gave it a thought.

Update...Couldn't wait any longer. I put one in the freezer to try it. I knew it was too soon but I've been waiting long enough. DAMN! First thing that hit me was strawberry. It was strong! The color is nice. It's a deep golden, with maybe a slight hint of red. The aroma has subsided and is not overpowering like it was. But the taste! WOW. I really think it is going to mellow out a little, and I kind of hope it does as it's pretty strong right now. After a few sips it didn't seem as strong though. Maybe I shocked my tastebuds! Anyway, it's pretty damn good and is only going to get better! Update again in a week or so.

 

[SurlyBastard]

I figured I might as well throw my 2 cents in on this one because it is one of the beers that constantly goes, and it seems I am brewing a new batch of this every 2 weeks.

First, If you want this beer to completely clear, you will have to go to extremes (and if you puree the fruit it will never clear ^^). Whirflock in the boil, gelatin in the secondary and cold crash at 35-40. Honestly, its a lot of work to get this beer to clear. I went through the steps to clear it once, but most people don't even care about the clarity, just the taste (im the only beer snob out of my friends ^^).

Anyway, onto my process. I never rack onto the strawberries. In order to get the most out of my yeast and let the yeast clear as much of the beer up, I place 4 lbs of frozen strawberries directly into my primary. The longer you leave the strawberries in the bucket, the more flavor will be imparted into the beer. However, I rarely let them sit for more than 2 weeks. At 4 weeks, a thin film usually develops on the top of the beer. Doesn't affect taste, but isn't very nice to look at.

My process is 1 week for primary fermentation. 2 weeks of strawberries in the primary. Then ill rack to a secondary with some gelatin just to clear it a little. Leave it for one week usually due to time constraints and then ill bottle. 4 weeks usually for the conditioning on this one. 2 weeks it is certainly drinkable, but 4 weeks seems to be the best spot to start drinking (and boy do they go fast).

I have yet to get mine exactly like Pete's, but I believe they use flavoring agents, not fresh fruit, and they also Lager it, so they won't be identical no matter how much you try. Besides, im not a real fan of flavoring or lagering. I think that about covers it ^^

 

[Sensei_Oberon]

Great advice everyone. I'm thinking about brewing this soon. Now that you all have gone through it, any other tips you'd suggest?

I'm planning on incorporating all of your recipe and racking tweaks into my plan.

 

[jimmywit]

Great advice everyone. I'm thinking about brewing this soon. Now that you all have gone through it, any other tips you'd suggest?

I'm planning on incorporating all of your recipe and racking tweaks into my plan.

Just make sure that what ever strawberries you use they have no additives. I have done this recipe twice. The first I used frozen strawberries from the store and it tasted like soep from the **** they put on the fruit to preserve it. The second I bought fresh and froze the fruit and it turned out great.

 

[SkylerChaBro]

This looks like a good choice for the Summer! I have a Belgian White I'm brewing on Tuesday, so I may make this next on the list. Any feelings on converting it to an AG recipe? For the grains I'm thinking:

8.5lb Pilsner 2Row
1-1.5lb German Wheat Malt
.5lb Cara-pils

Mark K.

 

[djtoast]

This looks like an excellent brew. I am going to have to give this a shot as my second brew.

 

[sqrl]

I am excited I did this last night Took me until around 4 am since i started at 11 at night but it was worth it... I'll post an update later when i am not at work

 

[ohdannyboy]

This is a great recipe .......I brewed it twice

 

[jj1940]

best beer i brewed all summer

 

[djtoast]

I'm kind of worried about this one. I added my strawberries directly to the primary after five days and then racked to secondary five days later. It smelt amazing when I added the strawberries. When I racked to secondary it had kind of a nasty smell to it. I'll let everyone know how it turns out. I'd like to try this recipe again without the strawberries.

 

[bommarkm]

Just realized that this recipe calls for LME. Is it ok to use DME instead?

Thanks!

 

[Sensei_Oberon]

I did some tweaking and I think this will be a great summer beer. I also think it needs to sit that long to truly be good. I've cracked one per week for a month now and each one is a little smoother, but still pretty tart.

So I'd recommend less than 4 lbs of strawbery, and patience. This seems to be the kind of beer you need to cellar for a few months.

 

[Hoppin_Mad]

I am thinking about taking a shot at this one.

I made a cherry stout recently, and I added cherries to the wort at flameout and left them in the primary for a week and then racked to secondary. I haven't seen anyone mentioning this method for this brew...how come? The stout came out great with a very strong cherry presence. What are the drawbacks of adding the fruit at the end of the boil?

 

[Sensei_Oberon]

None, if you want a "a very strong presence". I was going for a subtle aroma. I'd say less is more, but that's just me.

 

[WildGingerBrewing]

Converted this too an AG recipe and am brewing it today. My tweaked extract version was one of the best beers I've brewed. Can't wait to taste this version.

 

[Amateurhourbrewing]

So I went out and bought a 4 lb bag of frozen blueberries from Costco ($8). I thawed them for a few hours then pureed them and put them through a sift to get the skins off.

I feel like I should have just added the blueberries right to the carboy during secondary fermentation. I go into secondary later this week. Any suggestions, should I use frozen berries or the puree that I made? How many lbs for 5 gallons?

 

[djtoast]

Alright, I bottled a few weeks ago. I popped open one today. I used three pounds of frozen strawberries. I used whirlfloc and gelatin and it cleared nicely. It has a very nice head with a strong strawberry aroma. It is a very clean beer with a decent alcohol content. However, the strawberry aftertaste kills me. I suppose I am just not a fan of strawberry beers. I had never actually tried a commercial strawberry beer before brewing this, it just sounded good at the time. I think I may try to brew this again without the strawberries. Minus the strawberries, this would be a very drinkable session beer with a decent alcohol content to boot. My BMC drinking friends could enjoy the strawberry-free version as a clean tasting, decent abv session beer.

 

[scottgingrasso]

OK brewing this one right now. One quick question, my frozen strawberries are whole, should i cut them up? I plan on putting them in my primary about a week from today. and anybody ever put the strawberries in a muslim bag? Would that keep some of the crap out when I move the beer to my secondary for clearing?:rockin:

 

[WildGingerBrewing]

OK brewing this one right now. One quick question, my frozen strawberries are whole, should i cut them up? I plan on putting them in my primary about a week from today. and anybody ever put the strawberries in a muslim bag? Would that keep some of the crap out when I move the beer to my secondary for clearing?:rockin:

Probably a lilttle late since you were brewing this last night, but I would not add the berries to primary. You need to leave this on ein primary for two weeks, then rack into secondary on top of the berries. After a week in secondary, rack off of the berries into terrtiary for another week or two. Then bottle it. This is a good 5-6 week recipe in my opinion.

 

[scottgingrasso]

Ya I was planning on putting the strawberries into the primary in about a week from now. I was maybe thinking about cutting up the whole berries, just a rough chop, then drop them gently into my primary bucket inside a sanitized muslim bag. Anyone know any negatives about doing it this way?

 

[WildGingerBrewing]

I can't tell you ny negatives, only what I have done. I added 8 lbs of frozen berries to secondary and racked on top of them. The beer was the 2nd best I've ever made. Can't keep in supply. I didn't cut them or anything, just whole frozen berries into secondary.