UncleRusty
Well-Known Member
Hello All,
Recently I brewed two Fruit Beers, a Raspberry Red (Somewhat Based off of a Founder Rubaeus Clone) and a Strawberry Blonde Ale based off of the Strawberry Alarm Clock v3 Recipe found in these forums.The base beers themselves, prior to me adding fruit tasted fantastic, as I believe they hit the base style spot-on in terms of what I was looking for.
However, after racking each beer onto their respective fruits for a secondary fermentation, letting them age out for about another week and then cold crashing to clarify, in each case I've been left with two beers that are fairly good in terms of fruit aroma and fruit flavour, however both are now left with a noticeable amount of astringent bitterness that was not previously present. I'm considering back-sweetening both as they fermented out a bit drier than I'd hoped, each around 1.005 FG, unless anyone else has any suggestions on how to fix or modify this flavour.
At this point, I'm suspecting that part of the problem came from the way I processed the fruit prior to brewing. Earlier this summer I was able to find strawberries and raspberries for a very inexpensive price, so I bulked up and purchased about 7.5lbs of each respectively. In order to save space in my freezer, I ended up boiling them to a liquid which I then stored in tupperware in the freezer for several months prior to using them in these batches. I've since learned that boiling fruit isn't recommended as it imparts a different flavor profile to the beer, though it might be desired if the goal is for more of a raspberry/strawberry pie flavour as opposed to the natural flavour of the raw fruits themselves.
I'm always very careful while racking, so I don't think the astringent flavour is coming from oxidation or anything like that. My other though was that with around 7.5lbs of fruit for each 5.5 gallon batch, that excessive tannins may have leached into the beer leading to the bitterness.
What do you guys think may have been the culprit of this slight off-flavour in my brew? They are definitely drinkable, and a few of my friends have liked the brews in their current state, but it's not quite up to my own standards and desired flavour profile. Alternately, is there anything I might be able to add to these kegs to counter the astringency, aside from additional back-sweetening or possible addition of pure fruit juice to the keg?
Recently I brewed two Fruit Beers, a Raspberry Red (Somewhat Based off of a Founder Rubaeus Clone) and a Strawberry Blonde Ale based off of the Strawberry Alarm Clock v3 Recipe found in these forums.The base beers themselves, prior to me adding fruit tasted fantastic, as I believe they hit the base style spot-on in terms of what I was looking for.
However, after racking each beer onto their respective fruits for a secondary fermentation, letting them age out for about another week and then cold crashing to clarify, in each case I've been left with two beers that are fairly good in terms of fruit aroma and fruit flavour, however both are now left with a noticeable amount of astringent bitterness that was not previously present. I'm considering back-sweetening both as they fermented out a bit drier than I'd hoped, each around 1.005 FG, unless anyone else has any suggestions on how to fix or modify this flavour.
At this point, I'm suspecting that part of the problem came from the way I processed the fruit prior to brewing. Earlier this summer I was able to find strawberries and raspberries for a very inexpensive price, so I bulked up and purchased about 7.5lbs of each respectively. In order to save space in my freezer, I ended up boiling them to a liquid which I then stored in tupperware in the freezer for several months prior to using them in these batches. I've since learned that boiling fruit isn't recommended as it imparts a different flavor profile to the beer, though it might be desired if the goal is for more of a raspberry/strawberry pie flavour as opposed to the natural flavour of the raw fruits themselves.
I'm always very careful while racking, so I don't think the astringent flavour is coming from oxidation or anything like that. My other though was that with around 7.5lbs of fruit for each 5.5 gallon batch, that excessive tannins may have leached into the beer leading to the bitterness.
What do you guys think may have been the culprit of this slight off-flavour in my brew? They are definitely drinkable, and a few of my friends have liked the brews in their current state, but it's not quite up to my own standards and desired flavour profile. Alternately, is there anything I might be able to add to these kegs to counter the astringency, aside from additional back-sweetening or possible addition of pure fruit juice to the keg?
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