northernltz
Active Member
Alright, here I go again with the questions. Please be patient with me.
I am brewing a strawberry blonde and would like to know opinions about these questions I have.
Should I rack to a secondary fermentation vessel?
Should I add new yeast to which ever vessel I use (secondary or leave in primary)?
When to add in the strawberry flavor? (I plan to use a strawberry puree and rack either onto it or just add it to the current vessel)
Will the use of strawberry purees sugars throw the alcohol percentage up through the roof?
How long do you think I should leave the beer in the strawberries?
Should I use a tertiary fermentation?
Now the back story of the brew so you have some idea how I got to this ridicules point.
To begin, I thought that with the spring/summer season right around the corner I would brew a nice, drinkable strawberry blonde. I contacted my local brew supplier and decided to go with a nice golden LME (6 lbs) and add to that 2 lbs #15 crystal and 1 lb flaked oats. I boiled the grains for 30min in 2 gal of water and added the LME slowly. Then with another gal of water I had brought to a boil I poured over the grains then removed them. The whole boil then went on for another 60 min with 2 hops additions at 30min and at 50 min. I cooled the brew to 80 degrees, racked to a 5 gal carboy and topped the liquid to 5 gallons. I added the yeast and aerated the mix for 2 minutes. I ran a blow-off tube along with my S trap. At 4 days in, and several blow-offs later, I removed the blow-off tube and left just the S trap. So, to this point, it seems a lot like almost any other LME brew.
Now, as of today, I have fermented this batch for 14 days. I thought that this weekend I should rack it to a secondary vessel with the strawberry puree to give it the light strawberry flavoring. I plan to leave it there for a week and rack it away from the puree and into a tertiary vessel for another week to clear before I bottle. This will be 4 weeks of fermentation/clearing though and that has me concerned for spoilage. I have read about every strawberry blonde recipe in these forums and they unfortunately all have different choices for these next steps. So, after all that, here are the questions again.
Should I rack to a secondary fermentation vessel or just leave it alone?
Should I add new yeast to which ever vessel I use because the fermentation has slowed now (secondary or leave in primary)?
When and how should I add in the strawberry flavor? (I plan to use a strawberry puree and rack either onto it or just add it to the current vessel and swirl)
Will the use of strawberry purees sugars throw the alcohol percentage up through the roof? If so, what can be done? I don't want to make a vile liquid.
How long do you think I should leave the beer in the strawberries?
Should I use a tertiary fermentation or just bottle it up after three weeks?
Thank you all for your generous input. My last brew was basically perfect because of the input I received and used to salvage what could have been disastrous. I sincerely appreciate all of your guidance.
Kurt
I am brewing a strawberry blonde and would like to know opinions about these questions I have.
Should I rack to a secondary fermentation vessel?
Should I add new yeast to which ever vessel I use (secondary or leave in primary)?
When to add in the strawberry flavor? (I plan to use a strawberry puree and rack either onto it or just add it to the current vessel)
Will the use of strawberry purees sugars throw the alcohol percentage up through the roof?
How long do you think I should leave the beer in the strawberries?
Should I use a tertiary fermentation?
Now the back story of the brew so you have some idea how I got to this ridicules point.
To begin, I thought that with the spring/summer season right around the corner I would brew a nice, drinkable strawberry blonde. I contacted my local brew supplier and decided to go with a nice golden LME (6 lbs) and add to that 2 lbs #15 crystal and 1 lb flaked oats. I boiled the grains for 30min in 2 gal of water and added the LME slowly. Then with another gal of water I had brought to a boil I poured over the grains then removed them. The whole boil then went on for another 60 min with 2 hops additions at 30min and at 50 min. I cooled the brew to 80 degrees, racked to a 5 gal carboy and topped the liquid to 5 gallons. I added the yeast and aerated the mix for 2 minutes. I ran a blow-off tube along with my S trap. At 4 days in, and several blow-offs later, I removed the blow-off tube and left just the S trap. So, to this point, it seems a lot like almost any other LME brew.
Now, as of today, I have fermented this batch for 14 days. I thought that this weekend I should rack it to a secondary vessel with the strawberry puree to give it the light strawberry flavoring. I plan to leave it there for a week and rack it away from the puree and into a tertiary vessel for another week to clear before I bottle. This will be 4 weeks of fermentation/clearing though and that has me concerned for spoilage. I have read about every strawberry blonde recipe in these forums and they unfortunately all have different choices for these next steps. So, after all that, here are the questions again.
Should I rack to a secondary fermentation vessel or just leave it alone?
Should I add new yeast to which ever vessel I use because the fermentation has slowed now (secondary or leave in primary)?
When and how should I add in the strawberry flavor? (I plan to use a strawberry puree and rack either onto it or just add it to the current vessel and swirl)
Will the use of strawberry purees sugars throw the alcohol percentage up through the roof? If so, what can be done? I don't want to make a vile liquid.
How long do you think I should leave the beer in the strawberries?
Should I use a tertiary fermentation or just bottle it up after three weeks?
Thank you all for your generous input. My last brew was basically perfect because of the input I received and used to salvage what could have been disastrous. I sincerely appreciate all of your guidance.
Kurt
