Fruit Beer Succulent Strawberry Blonde

[Bluelinebrewer]

I just brewed this about 3 days ago and I haven't seen any signs of fermentation in my blow off. I'm going to wait it out a couple more days before I start thinking about re-pitching. My question is should I still rack onto the strawberries after 7 days or should I wait longer?

Thanks for the advice in advance

I would restart the 7 day count from the day you re-pitch. Altho, I would not rely on the blow off tube to guage whether or not fermentation is occurring. Use your hydrometer to verify that there has been no fermentation prior to re-pitching. Good luck!

 

[WildGingerBrewing]

I would not rely on the blow off tube to guage whether or not fermentation is occurring. Use your hydrometer to verify that there has been no fermentation prior to re-pitching. Good luck!

This^^^^^^^^^^ Quit using your airlock as a sign of fermentation. Don't re-pitch until you have taken three readings on three consecutive days and confirmed that fermentation has not occurred.

 

[JRapp]

Awesome recipe, really cant get enough of this beer.

3 weeks after bottling i tasted it and said blah! I really messed something up!! I really really thought It was unsalvagable. 2 weeks later I give my wife a bottle she said "Holy crap babe, this is really good" I said "It is?? Let me taste"

Everyone that has tried it since has loved it.

This is going on full rotation, once every 6 months or so. The strawberries just slap you across the face with their deliciousness!!

 

[Bluelinebrewer]

Awesome recipe, really cant get enough of this beer.

3 weeks after bottling i tasted it and said blah! I really messed something up!! I really really thought It was unsalvagable. 2 weeks later I give my wife a bottle she said "Holy crap babe, this is really good" I said "It is?? Let me taste"

Everyone that has tried it since has loved it.

This is going on full rotation, once every 6 months or so. The strawberries just slap you across the face with their deliciousness!!

Thanks!! Glad you like it! It definitely gets a little better as it ages.

 

[Setesh]

I just brewed this about 3 days ago and I haven't seen any signs of fermentation in my blow off. I'm going to wait it out a couple more days before I start thinking about re-pitching. My question is should I still rack onto the strawberries after 7 days or should I wait longer?

Thanks for the advice in advance

I assume since you are going off your blowoff tube for signs of fermentation that you are using a bucket? It is pretty easy not to get a good seal on a bucket and not have any activity through your blowoff tube. There may be a healthy krausen in there but since you can't see into the bucket you have a Schrodinger's cat situation on your hands. Like others have said, use your hydrometer and check it. You will likely find a krausen ring when you crack open that bucket to take a sample, if not and the hydrometer reading hasn't gone down you can repitch.

 

[SupervisingChildren]

I'm supposed to rack the $&^/ I forgot the saaz tonight to tertiary, and should be racking the batch off its cake tonight to secondary...and deal with two other beers. Too damn hot and tired. We'll see what gets done haha.

 

[barhoc11]

It seems like this is the best thread to ask anything related to using strawberries in a brew so if someone can please help me out, it would be much appreciated.

I have recently made up a Strawberry Blonde, I let it sit in the primary for a little over 2 weeks and then moved the beer onto 6lbs of thawed strawberries that I mashed up a bit and added to a strainer bag for a week in my secondary. Now that I am tasting the sample, I am seeing a lot of tartness that I have concluded is completely normal. Now my question is, what is the best way to add lactose to this 5 gallon batch now that the beer is currently being cold crashed? Could I just add in 1/4 - 1/2 lb of lactose and let it sit in the secondary during the cold crash?

I plan to keg this later in the week but I have some wiggle room if needing to let it sit longer, even though I do not think it would matter if I added the lactose to the secondary or keg.

Please let me know what you think I should do and if you have recommendations on how much lactose to add to counterbalance the tartness of the beer. Thanks!

 

[SupervisingChildren]

I use a half lb of lactose and rack the beer onto the strawberries and lactose in my secondary. It's nice and sweet, and everyone who has had it enjoys it.

 

[barhoc11]

I use a half lb of lactose and rack the beer onto the strawberries and lactose in my secondary. It's nice and sweet, and everyone who has had it enjoys it.

Thanks, I think I will plan to add some lactose to my secondary. Anyone know how long lactose will last for? I have some laying around that I plan to use but its a couple years old.

 

[MetallHed]

So I had an EPIC feck-up with this beer and dumped it...

I had cold crashed, racked onto the berries, kept it cold and hooked it up to the tap. After a few days I went to check the pressure and my CO2 tank was empty! Filled it back up and hooked it up again and listened; found a leak in the gas post. So I took the keg out of the keezer and put it down stairs until I got a replacement poppit (usually the culprit). During this time I had another beer hooked up. Got the replacement poppit and brought the keg of strawberry back upstairs to hook it back up. Keep in mind that the temp where it was stored was 70F (THIS IS WHERE I MESSED UP). I released the pressure valve thinking I got the pressure down. As soon as I took the post off, SPPPPLLLOOOOOOOOSSSSSHHHHH!!! It was goddamned Old Faithful right in my kitchen at 11PM. Blasted me right in the face (I was looking down over the post), hit the ceiling, and got beer EVERYWHERE. I did the only thing I could think of and shut the keezer lid to contain it until it stopped.

My wife came home as I had the mop scrubbing the walls and ceiling. Busted.

So let this be a lesson to anyone reading: if you choose to cold crash, rack onto the berries while keeping it cold, and then right to the tap (still cold), DON'T let it warm back up!!!

I did hook it back up and taste it.. it tasted like garbage. Not sure if it got infected or always tasted like ass (the hydro sample tasted good), but this beer was the biggest fail of my brewing career.

Maybe next year I'll try it again....

 

[Setesh]

So I had an EPIC feck-up with this beer and dumped it...

I had cold crashed, racked onto the berries, kept it cold and hooked it up to the tap. After a few days I went to check the pressure and my CO2 tank was empty! Filled it back up and hooked it up again and listened; found a leak in the gas post. So I took the keg out of the keezer and put it down stairs until I got a replacement poppit (usually the culprit). During this time I had another beer hooked up. Got the replacement poppit and brought the keg of strawberry back upstairs to hook it back up. Keep in mind that the temp where it was stored was 70F (THIS IS WHERE I MESSED UP). I released the pressure valve thinking I got the pressure down. As soon as I took the post off, SPPPPLLLOOOOOOOOSSSSSHHHHH!!! It was goddamned Old Faithful right in my kitchen at 11PM. Blasted me right in the face (I was looking down over the post), hit the ceiling, and got beer EVERYWHERE. I did the only thing I could think of and shut the keezer lid to contain it until it stopped.

My wife came home as I had the mop scrubbing the walls and ceiling. Busted.

So let this be a lesson to anyone reading: if you choose to cold crash, rack onto the berries while keeping it cold, and then right to the tap (still cold), DON'T let it warm back up!!!

I did hook it back up and taste it.. it tasted like garbage. Not sure if it got infected or always tasted like ass (the hydro sample tasted good), but this beer was the biggest fail of my brewing career.

Maybe next year I'll try it again....

Ugh, that sucks! At least it was a blonde and not an RIS or something equally as dark.

 

[MetallHed]

Ugh, that sucks! At least it was a blonde and not an RIS or something equally as dark.

Yeah, that would've been way worse! I had a pineapple ale ready to be tapped right behind it so no gap in the pipeline. The silver lining is my kitchen got a good scrub down so it's nice and clean.

 

[cbehr]

Any other fruit good in this beer? Going to split my batch and do 1/2 strawberries and 1/2 something else possibly? I'm worried I wont' want 5 gallons of strawberry beer plus 8lbs of strawberries now is $30+

 

[Bluelinebrewer]

I've never tried anything else, but I think just about anything would go well. I've thought about doing a blueberry, but just never got around to it! If you do decide to go with something else, let us know.

 

[RitalinIV]

BlueLine-

I enjoyed reading your posts (and the entire thread) and I am going to try your original version this weekend. I am sure it will quickly become a classic in my repertoire.

Thanks for your patience; you deserve a medal!

-Ritalin

 

[Bluelinebrewer]

BlueLine-

I enjoyed reading your posts (and the entire thread) and I am going to try your original version this weekend. I am sure it will quickly become a classic in my repertoire.

Thanks for your patience; you deserve a medal!

-Ritalin

Thanks!! I hope you enjoy it! Its definitely a classic around my place, everyone asks when I'm brewing it again!

 

[WildGingerBrewing]

Thats cause you wait years in between brews! Hahahahaha

 

[Bluelinebrewer]

Thats cause you wait years in between brews! Hahahahaha

And there's the peanut gallery... hey I'm on a roll now!! Been brewin like a sum bitch!

 

[WildGingerBrewing]

Hahaha i couldnt resist! Glad you're brewing again!

 

[Bluelinebrewer]

Hahaha i couldnt resist! Glad you're brewing again!

Me too! I still need to get you some samples of my all grain version! I'm bout out, I'm gonna have to brew it again soon!

 

[WildGingerBrewing]

I ran out too, before I could get any bottled. I will get you some of mine at some point, I promise!

 

[Bluelinebrewer]

I ran out too, before I could get any bottled. I will get you some of mine at some point, I promise!

Lol, no worries! Mine musta been good, the masses demand it!

 

[DixonBeer75]

I tried making something something similar to this but it ended up tasting like Strawberry Champaign. I like your process for this and I will try it for next spring.
Need to get ready for my winter beers

 

[RitalinIV]

Could not wait any longer! Brewed yesterday, fermenting as we speak. I will keep you all posted.
Thanks again Bluelinebrewer!

-Ritalin

 

[Bluelinebrewer]

Could not wait any longer! Brewed yesterday, fermenting as we speak. I will keep you all posted.
Thanks again Bluelinebrewer!

-Ritalin

It gets even harder to wait once it hits the secondary!! No problem, let me know how it turns out!!

 

[SupervisingChildren]

Picked up almost everything for the next 2 batches of the adultered version using citra instead of saaz plus lactose. It went over very well. Swmbo loved it! Forgot the damn lactose so gotta go back later in the week

 

[Bluelinebrewer]

Picked up almost everything for the next 2 batches of the adultered version using citra instead of saaz plus lactose. It went over very well. Swmbo loved it! Forgot the damn lactose so gotta go back later in the week

So Citra is a good swap for the Saaz? I've got some extra Citra... Maybe ill try it in my AG version! Glad yours turned out well!!

 

[SupervisingChildren]

Yeah, the citra version came out real good. My fiancee thought the taste was more her style, and I enjoyed it too.

 

[SupervisingChildren]

It's definitely a beer to keep in stock, which I'm about to fail at, so I picked up the two . Brewing the frist batch now, and will reuse the yeast for the second batch.

 

[Bluelinebrewer]

It's definitely a beer to keep in stock, which I'm about to fail at, so I picked up the two . Brewing the frist batch now, and will reuse the yeast for the second batch.

Yes it is! Speaking of which, I'm gonna have to brew up a batch of my AG version pretty soon. I'm gonna go with your advice and sub the Citra!