Fruit Beer Succulent Strawberry Blonde

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Bluelinebrewer said:
I don't see any issue with it in that case. Not sure if it would have any effect on the taste or not. I cant imagine it would. Yeah, 8 lbs definitely gives it some tartness!

I've not heard of any issues. I'm sure you'll get them out, one way or another. Might be a slow and tedious process getting them in though!
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Heh, yeah. I'll give it a shot and see what happens. This is a really cheap beer to make so I won't mind if I have to re-do it again.

I'll post back with results.

:mug:
 
WildGingerBrewing said:
FWIW, I always make a starter, for every beer. Even when I am using S-05. Mostly, because I can. It will help the yeast start quicker with the less strain, but I have made this beer many times by just dumping a packet of non-rehydrated S-05 into it, or just smacking a pack of 1056, with great results. I enjoy making starters, so I do, but it is not required to make a good beer.
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I ended up just pitching the WLP001 without a starter. Some minor activity noticable in the airlock after 4 hours, and it was off and running within 24 hours. A little longer than usual for me, but I attribute this to the fact that it's a 2 gal batch in my 7.9 gal primary bucket. Lots of head space.

If I use fresh strawberries (given they're in abundance locally right now and pretty sweet), should I expect any issues with the strawberry seeds? Will their density and or the whirlfloc cause them to settle out or will I need to worry about filtering?
 
MetallHed said:
Didn't read the entire thread..

I'm making a strawberry wheat and have 5 lbs of frozen strawberries to add. Has anyone cold crashed their beer, added the strawberries, and kept it at about 40-42F to prevent the yeast from fermenting the fruit's sugars?
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Just a heads up in case you haven't already racked on the berries. I also like a lighter amount of strawberry flavor and used 5 lbs instead of 8. The result was a level of flavor so light I could barely tasted it. I DID use fresh instead of frozen though, so that may have had something to do with it. Just a thought.
 
jwolf99 said:
I ended up just pitching the WLP001 without a starter. Some minor activity noticable in the airlock after 4 hours, and it was off and running within 24 hours. A little longer than usual for me, but I attribute this to the fact that it's a 2 gal batch in my 7.9 gal primary bucket. Lots of head space.

If I use fresh strawberries (given they're in abundance locally right now and pretty sweet), should I expect any issues with the strawberry seeds? Will their density and or the whirlfloc cause them to settle out or will I need to worry about filtering?
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've never had a problem with seeds, but I would be concerned about bacteria from fresh berries. How do you intend to "sanitize" them? The beauty of frozen, is that you just open the bag and pour them in!
 
vhanley said:
Just a heads up in case you haven't already racked on the berries. I also like a lighter amount of strawberry flavor and used 5 lbs instead of 8. The result was a level of flavor so light I could barely tasted it. I DID use fresh instead of frozen though, so that may have had something to do with it. Just a thought.
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Thanks for the tip! I'm definitely going to get some more berries now. I haven't brewed it yet, but I do have all of the ingredients (minus a few extra lbs of berries).

I wonder how much the flavor is impacted in regards to fresh v. frozen..?
 
WildGingerBrewing said:
've never had a problem with seeds, but I would be concerned about bacteria from fresh berries. How do you intend to "sanitize" them? The beauty of frozen, is that you just open the bag and pour them in!
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I've never sanitized them per se. I do wash them thouroughly, cut the tops, then cut them into 8ths....ie. half, half then half again. Haven't had a problem w/ seeds either. After they've been cleaned and cut I just pop them into a freezer bag, stick them in the freezer and dump them straight from there when it's time.
 
MetallHed said:
I wonder how much the flavor is impacted in regards to fresh v. frozen..?
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I'm not entirely sure. My understanding is that there is a stronger flavor from frozen, probably from whatever processing they go through prior to packaging, but don't quote me on that.

On the sanitizing part, one thing I didn't mention is that I'm extremely picky with my fresh berries. If there's even a hint of bruising or "nastiness" on them, I dump that berry. Mainly because I'm just not sure what's gotten into a "gushy" area or how well I can clean that.
 
vhanley said:
I'm not entirely sure. My understanding is that there is a stronger flavor from frozen, probably from whatever processing they go through prior to packaging, but don't quote me on that.

On the sanitizing part, one thing I didn't mention is that I'm extremely picky with my fresh berries. If there's even a hint of bruising or "nastiness" on them, I dump that berry. Mainly because I'm just not sure what's gotten into a "gushy" area or how well I can clean that.
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The packaging says that they were picked and immediately frozen so I'd say it's on par with anyone else I suppose. I guess there is an added value and elimination of doubt when you do the picking yourself and freeze them. We will see!

WildGingerBrewing said:
I will say, if you are going with frozen, spend the money for Dole. Don't buy the cheap, off-brand crap!
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Have you had poor results with off-brand frozen berries?
 
MetallHed said:
The packaging says that they were picked and immediately frozen so I'd say it's on par with anyone else I suppose. I guess there is an added value and elimination of doubt when you do the picking yourself and freeze them.
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Huh! Kinda makes me wonder if they're clean then...I would assume with the FDA they would have to be.

I just cracked one and one thing I did notice was I have a small amount of white "floaties" in each bottle do I'm foreseeing Whirlfloc doesn't eliminate everything, especially since the fruit is in the secondary and by that point the Whirlfloc has done its job. Judging by the color and consistency they're definitely fruit particles. Not a detriment in my opinion though.
 
vhanley said:
Huh! Kinda makes me wonder if they're clean then...I would assume with the FDA they would have to be.

I just cracked one and one thing I did notice was I have a small amount of white "floaties" in each bottle do I'm foreseeing Whirlfloc doesn't eliminate everything, especially since the fruit is in the secondary and by that point the Whirlfloc has done its job. Judging by the color and consistency they're definitely fruit particles. Not a detriment in my opinion though.
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I'm hoping that by cold-crashing then putting the strawberries in that it'll help clear it up. Plus I put a muslin bag over my autosiphon to filter out floaties of whatever. Works great for IPAs!
 
MetallHed said:
I'm hoping that by cold-crashing then putting the strawberries in that it'll help clear it up. Plus I put a muslin bag over my autosiphon to filter out floaties of whatever. Works great for IPAs!
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Yeah, that should work. Unfortunately, I don't have the means to cold crash right now so kind of stuck with the floaties.
 
MetallHed said:
Have you had poor results with off-brand frozen berries?
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I wouldn't say "bad", but not what I would have expected. I used Wal Mart brand on the last batch and they had a ton of coloring added to them. The beer actually looked like grapefruit juice. I think I posted a pic of it a few pages back. It also had an off flavor. Not bad, just not the same as when I use name brand. When I use a name brand, the beer actually looks like beer, with a hint of pink, but not full on grapefruit juice.
vhanley said:
Yeah, that should work. Unfortunately, I don't have the means to cold crash right now so kind of stuck with the floaties.
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I cold crash during tertiary. Beer comes out clean everytime.
 
WildGingerBrewing said:
I wouldn't say "bad", but not what I would have expected. I used Wal Mart brand on the last batch and they had a ton of coloring added to them. The beer actually looked like grapefruit juice. I think I posted a pic of it a few pages back. It also had an off flavor. Not bad, just not the same as when I use name brand. When I use a name brand, the beer actually looks like beer, with a hint of pink, but not full on grapefruit juice.
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I used the same stuff as BlueLineBrewer (the great value stuff), and his looks pretty good. My wife said it looks "pretty." lol

She's brewing the beer right now!
 
Gelatin works miracles for clearing beer!! I've done gelatin on my last few batches and I can't believe how much clearer they've been! But I don't recall ever having floating fruit particles.. weird. As far as brand of strawberries, Great Value brand seems to be pretty tart. Although I don't know if they're consistently like that. Unfortunately, my Wal-Mart doesn't carry the Dole brand anymore. :(
 
would it be a bad idea to add some rhubarb to the secondary? like 2lbs rhubarb and then 6lbs strawberries? i've got a bunch of it growing in my backyard and am itching to use some
 
hiya all,

I will be bottling this on Tuesday - it has been cold crashing for a week with a little gelatin, its looking beautiful!

What is the typical dosage of corn sugar for this recipe? iBrewmaster is telling me the CO2 Range based on the recipe style is 2.40 - 2.80. I have chosen a desired CO2 volume of 2.6, with the beer temp being 68 deg. at bottling (I'll let her warm up slowly) and a volume of 5.0 gal.

The residual CO2 in beer (according to iBrewMaster) is 0.86

Therefore the corn sugar required is saying 4.67.

I have had some issues with over carbonation with my last two batches from going off of iBrewMaster's recommendation - nothing exploding, but just way too much effervescence.

Ideas? Thoughts? Suggestions?
 
KurtisCummings said:
hiya all,

I will be bottling this on Tuesday - it has been cold crashing for a week with a little gelatin, its looking beautiful!

What is the typical dosage of corn sugar for this recipe? iBrewmaster is telling me the CO2 Range based on the recipe style is 2.40 - 2.80. I have chosen a desired CO2 volume of 2.6, with the beer temp being 68 deg. at bottling (I'll let her warm up slowly) and a volume of 5.0 gal.

The residual CO2 in beer (according to iBrewMaster) is 0.86

Therefore the corn sugar required is saying 4.67.

I have had some issues with over carbonation with my last two batches from going off of iBrewMaster's recommendation - nothing exploding, but just way too much effervescence.

Ideas? Thoughts? Suggestions?
Click to expand...

Afraid I'm not much help. I've always used the prepackaged corn sugar from the lhbs. And I cant recall how much corn sugar is in those, 4.5 oz I believe. Its always worked out well for me.
 
WildGingerBrewing said:
I would say that a) i cant imagine it would hurt anything and b) if you like rhubarb go for it!
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thanks mate, i was afraid that maybe the added acidity of the rhubarb might negatively affect fermentation somehow. anyhoo, just blanched about 2.5 lbs of rhubarb and put it in the freezer for 4 days before i add it to secondary. i was also thinking about getting some fresh Amish strawberries for this but that might be a bit overkill.
 
did a brew in a bag version of this beer this past weekend hope it turns out as good as everyone says theres is hit the starting gravity right on the head
 
I've made a similar strawberry blonde several times, and one time had a happy accident of forgetting the last hop addition. But when I'd open one or pour it from the keg, it smelled of fresh strawberries rather than hops. I recommend it and now do it with all fruit beers.
 
just brewed an all grain mini batch of this stuff. 1 gallon, 1.5 lb of frozen strawberries. I'll let y'all know how it turns out! i threw the strawberries in the primary after 3 days. Used US-05 and a bit more wheat than the OP.
 
About how much ABV increase can I expect after racking onto 8 lbs of strawberries? Is it significant?
 
Making batch #4 of a tweaked version of this. This is definitely a beer worth being an "always on hand" brew...brought it to a party on the 4th and they disappeared! Doing what I can to keep up with the demand!
 
3lbs bavarian wheat dme instead of the lme, 1lb with the lme addition, 2lbs added with the 20min saaz. Also, 1/2 lb lactose when racking on the strawberries (5lbs). Hit 1.07ish last night.
 
Looking to brew this, can anyone comment on the 1272 vs S05 yeast? Curious if someone brewed with each and how different they turned out?

I also see a number of frozen strawberry brands and some using fresh, did anyone try multiple ways and can comment on any differences?
 
I have never tried 1272, but it could be a really good choice, if fermented at a very cool temp. I wouldn't want the nutty flavors associated with a warmer temp. After using 1056 and S-05 on numerous occasions, i have made S-05 my standard, mostly due to price. Give 1272 a try and report back!
 
Well LHBS was out of 1272 so I went with WLP051, California ale V. Should be a bit fruitier than their regular California 01, I'll let you guys know how it turns out!
 
Mine was cold crashed for three days, racked onto frozen strawberries, then put back into the fridge at 6.1*C and it hasn't fermented at all (from what I can tell).. which is exactly what I wanted it to do so that the strawberries' sweetness remains (hopefully). The color of the beer is wicked awesome now too!
 
MetallHed said:
Mine was cold crashed for three days, racked onto frozen strawberries, then put back into the fridge at 6.1*C and it hasn't fermented at all (from what I can tell).. which is exactly what I wanted it to do so that the strawberries' sweetness remains (hopefully). The color of the beer is wicked awesome now too!
Click to expand...

Are you bottling or kegging? My only concern would be that extra sugars could create bottle bombs while carbonating. I may be way off base with that, but, who knows.
 
Bluelinebrewer said:
Are you bottling or kegging? My only concern would be that extra sugars could create bottle bombs while carbonating. I may be way off base with that, but, who knows.
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Kegging, so no worries here. Otherwise, yes there could be possible bottle bombs

OR

maybe you wouldn't have to add any sugar at bottling and the extra ferment would provide the carbonation.. *shrug* There's a good experiment for someone to do...
 
MetallHed said:
Kegging, so no worries here. Otherwise, yes there could be possible bottle bombs

OR

maybe you wouldn't have to add any sugar at bottling and the extra ferment would provide the carbonation.. *shrug* There's a good experiment for someone to do...
Click to expand...

I've considered that as well, just never tried it.
 
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
 

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