Strawberry blonde

[shelden816]

I’m brewing a strawberry blonde this week. I have a BIAB and it comes with extract, I was wondering what do you guys prefer.... strawberry extract or put real fruit in secondary fermentation?

 

[Jag75]

I prefer tinctures over fruit . I will admit that I've used blueberries in a sour and it is requested a lot. I've used peaches and apricots as well. Fruit can be a pain for me at times .

 

[Rob2010SS]

To me and my wife and our tastebuds, you can never top real fruit. I absolutely despise extracts and will not use them unless absolutely necessary.

If it were me, I'd use fresh strawberries. Cut them up, freeze them for a couple of days, and when it comes time to use them, pull them out to thaw for a day, place them in the fermenter and transfer the beer on top of them. I've done it this way now 4 times with zero issues. Not saying it's the right way and people will tell you you're taking a chance with this method, which you are, but it works for me.

However, if you only use carboys and don't have a fermenter with a wide enough opening, I'd suggest making a puree from the fruit and using that.

 

[Kaze]

It could be fun to split the secondary fermentation. Do 3 gallons with tincture and 3 gallons with real strawberries, then see what you prefer. In my experience real fruit adds mostly tartness.

 

[Rob2010SS]

It could be fun to split the secondary fermentation. Do 3 gallons with tincture and 3 gallons with real strawberries, then see what you prefer. In my experience real fruit adds mostly tartness.

Absolutely! It's always fun to experiment.

I've had the tartness experience with blueberries, but my wife and I do a strawberry rhubarb gose every year and this year, we ended up going about a pound heavier on strawberries in one of the fermenters. While the one was balanced and you could taste the strawberry and the rhubarb, the other was definitely mostly strawberry flavor. From my experience, I would disagree that strawberries add tartness.