Fruit Beer Wild Strawberry Blonde

[ire2661]

Damn, I did use the Wal-Mart brand. I wish I knew that earlier. Oh well, I'll let you know how it turns out.

 

[WildGingerBrewing]

Im sure it will be fine. Dont worry. No matter what, you made beer. And it's going to be good. And you're going to enjoy it so much, that you are going to do it again!

 

[WildGingerBrewing]

So at the least minute, i changed my mind. Racked onto 8 lbs of blackberries this morning. Excited to try it!

Also kegged the strawberry on Monday and started drinking it on friday. Its damn good. The fresh berries seemed to work out really well. I will definitely use fresh again!

 

[ire2661]

I bottled mine today. I tasted it again and it definitely has more of a grapefruit flavor than a strawberry flavor. Hopefully it will condition in the bottles and taste better. I'll update you again once I taste it in 2 weeks

 

[Winterpeg]

they only sold strawberries in 3 KG bags here so I have about 13lb of berries now. if you've ever had the Fruli strawberry beer how does this compare in terms of intensity of the strawberryness? is it in your face with 8lbs? think 13 lb would be too much and overwhelm it?

 

[Leukass]

tried my version of this - this weekend came out really - really tart. strong grapefruit finish. Smells amazing, but really tart finish.

 

[nextgenxx]

Just picked my strawberries! I overshot my pick and got 22lbs, when all I needed was 16lbs. All well ate a bunch when cleaning them and canned a few pints for jam. Oregon Hood strawberries are here for only 2 weeks each year and probably the best IMHO out there! Blonde beer has been fermenting for 7 days so probably this weekend will add these babies!! Can't wait!!






Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[WildGingerBrewing]

That is awesome! Wish i could pick my own for this beer. Cant wIt to hear how it turns out!

Blackberry Ale came out a nice purple-ish color. Hahaha sample was pretty good though. Fresh berries, not frozen, from now on!

 

[WildGingerBrewing]

 

[ire2661]

When using fresh instead of frozen, how did you sanitize?

 

[WildGingerBrewing]

I cleaned and cut the stems off, then I vacuum sealed them and froze them. Remember that the beer is fermented by the time you add the berries, so most things won't live in the alcohol. Next time, I won't vacuum seal them. There was really no advantage in that over a freezer bag, as far as I can tell.

 

[sfrisby]

There was a time I did something similar. I would vacuum seal fresh fruit then soak the bag at 180* water for 20 min.

 

[nextgenxx]

I vacuumed sealed all my strawberries yesterday...should I thaw them some before I add to secondary to get optional results?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[WildGingerBrewing]

Nope. I never thaw mine. But I have started putting them in a big muslin bag. It has cut down on the amount of berry "gunk" transferred to tertiary.

 

[Winterpeg]

Does it affect the amount of flavor/colour transfered if you put it in a bag?

 

[WildGingerBrewing]

I honestly cant say. I doubt it. The pink color i always get is from "color added" off-brand frozen berries. The fresh did a great job of keeping the beer "beer colored". But it does reduce the amount of particles you will get when transferring.

 

[ire2661]

Well its been 2 weeks of conditioning in the bottle and the grapefruit flavor is still evident. Lesson learned not to use Wal-Mart brand frozen fruit. Its a bit of a sour beer and not what I expected, but still drinkable.

 

[Leukass]

Mine is the same way and I used dole only difference was they were sliced and not whole.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[sfrisby]

Mine is the same way and I used dole only difference was they were sliced and not whole.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

When you say "same way", do you mean the grapefruit flavor from dole as well?

 

[Leukass]

Yup really strong and tart grapefruit finish...

But it is still good and very drinkable


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[ire2661]

I might just go with the strawberry flavoring the sell at my homebrew shop next time

 

[WildGingerBrewing]

Grapfruit flavor is weird but i would almost guarantee it from the frozen berries. Last version i made not only tasted like grapefruit juice but looked like it too. Theres a pic on here somewhere. I would suggest fresh berries before trying a syrup/extract flavoring. Just my $0.02 though.

 

[frankjones]

I put together a three gallon partial mash of this

four pounds pale ale base
1/2 pound Carapils
One can 1.4 pounds Alexanders pale extract
Safale s-05
Used your hops to scale
Full three gallon boil
Came in O/G 1.052

Going to do three separate secondary / tertiary

One for strawberry
One for Cherry's
One for peaches

I like that I can cold crash the one gallon jugs easily

 

[wit2003]

I made this a couple of weeks ago and racking into tertiary tonight. I have the same pink color as others have described. I didn't use walmart strawberries, but wasn't able to get Dole brand either.

I've got the same pink color as others have described.

I'm hoping it turns out good!!

 

[frankjones]

Yeah my wort is still in primary . I'm getting impatient lol. Waved to know if it has to stay in primary for 10 to 12 days can I put it in secondary after 8 days. I have to go out of town on the 10th day. For three days

 

[WildGingerBrewing]

Yeah my wort is still in primary . I'm getting impatient lol. Waved to know if it has to stay in primary for 10 to 12 days can I put it in secondary after 8 days. I have to go out of town on the 10th day. For three days

As long as fermentation is complete, you can rack to secondary, but it will not hurt anything to leave it in primary until you return.

 

[nextgenxx]

Well I racked onto 8lb and 6lbs of strawberries. I decided to change the lbs up because these berries were so sweet and knew I would be adding more fermentable sugars in the secondaries and wanted to see/taste any differences... Sure enough one of my split batches had a small 2nd fermentation. My FG on the two split batches were 1008 - added the 8lbs on this one, and 1016 - added 6lbs on this one. I have had a couple tastes so far in the last couple days and it is amazing already. My wife even said I should just keg it now because it already tastes so good.





Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[WildGingerBrewing]

Nice!

 

[Winterpeg]

Put 6 gallons into tertiary today after 7 days on 9lb strawberries. Noticed a very tart taste, almost sour. Lots of dry strawberry taste but it's in the background. Does that mellow with time or does it have a strong tartness after carbing/aging?

 

[WildGingerBrewing]

I find that after a couple of weeks, the majority of the tartness dissipates and the beer mellows out quite a bit.