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possible strawberry blonde ale recipe
I want to make something to introduce my friends and their wives into beers other than your typical american lagers. I was thinking that an american blonde ale would be a good idea cause it'll be light and i'm thinking they'll be less reluctant to try it because of the color or aroma, and the strawberries just seem like a good addition. I would like to do a partial extract recipe and have gotten a lot of help before from the people on this message board so thats why i'm back. I don't have a lot of experience and havn't brewed anything in over a year, so i'm kinda starting over from scratch as a newbie, and i'm just curious where would be a good place to start in formulating a recipe. I've looked at some different recipes and of course they have different grain bills, different hops, and different yeast so i'm not exactly sure what would be the best ingredients to use. Like i mentioned earlier they're used to the typical american lager so they're not huge.... or at least they think they're not.... on hop flavor or aroma and I think this beer would be good to slowly introduce them into the many different flavors beer can have. Any help would be appreciated, any recipes you could give me would be helpful but not a must, mostly i'm trying to get a starting point as to what goes in a typical american blonde, what kind of hops would be useful in keeping it within the style, but not be overpowering as to deter them from it, and what kinds of yeast are typically used. thank you in advance
Instead of coming up with a recipe from scratch, your best bet might be to check out some of the extract kits available from some of the online retailers. Midwest has a Belgian Blonde that has very good reviews. You could probably use S-05 instead of a Belgian yeast to get more of an American character. The first kit I brewed was from Norther Brewer, their Cream Ale. Another good option would be an American Wheat. I would think any of these would work well with a wide variety of fruits.
These are also lighter colored, less hoppy beers that probably wouldn't scare off the bud/miller/coors crowd.
thanks, I've thought about doing a wheat beer, but i almost picture them going, why's it so cloudy, lol. The kit idea is a good one, but I wanna try to keep it kind of an american style and instead of getting the kit and replacing the hops and yeast I'm thinking this might be the simplest and easiest way to go right now.
5.5 lbs of light DME/ extra light DME/ or pils DME.... unsure which yet, probably the later to keep it on the light side of the scale
.5 lbs of crystal 10 L
.5 oz. cascade (60 min)
WLP001 california ale
in primary for 1-2 weeks, then rack over strawberries in secondary for another week or so.
like i said i think this might be the easiest and simplest way to acheive my goal. another question I have though would be how much strawberries should i use and how should i prepare them for the secondary? FYI: I'll probably use frozen strawberries... and if there is any suggestions tword a different hop variety i'm all ears
ruralbrew wrote:
Instead of coming up with a recipe from scratch, your best bet might be to check out some of the extract kits available from some of the online retailers. Midwest has a Belgian Blonde that has very good reviews. You could probably use S-05 instead of a Belgian yeast to get more of an American character. The first kit I brewed was from Norther Brewer, their Cream Ale. Another good option would be an American Wheat. I would think any of these would work well with a wide variety of fruits.
These are also lighter colored, less hoppy beers that probably wouldn't scare off the bud/miller/coors crowd.
I like the extract kits as starting points too, you can still experiment with them. I did a TruBrew Hefe that was an excellent heffe in and of itself, that went fast, and is a good summer beer and good way to introduce those accustomed to american cheap beer into the world of more fine beers. I live in Maine, moved here in 2000 when microbrews were just picking up here from Vermont where microbrews had been poplular for a good 10 years already. Everyone here was still stuck on Bud Light and PBR, but one of the beers that took off in that market was Alagash White, whcih is a nice light Heffeweizen. Now Alagash is huge here and on a tap at pretty much every bar in Southern Maine.
As recomended, you could use an american yeast to help with the clearing, and if you are looking for more fruit add some sliced up strawberries or even appricots to the secondary, but the kit gives you a great starting point.
abenz- If they wonder why the wheat beer is cloudy, just tell them it's protein. Protein, B-vitamins and fruit, it's Health Beer! kind of like gatorade with a kick! 
As far as your recipe, I'm sure it would make a nice, light flavored beer that would highlight the fruit flavor. I would probably go with an amber DME, if you want to introduce someone to more flavors in a beer. But it might not work as well with fruit. I like cascade for the hops, but am wondering if 1/2 oz might be a little light. I'm not a fan of hoppy beers, but I think it might be a little light on bitterness even for me. You could always add the other 1/2 oz at flameout for flavor and aroma, and still keep the bitterness down.
Bottom line, you know your audience and what their tastes are. So do what you think is best. That is the nice thing about homebrewing, you can ask for suggestions and ideas, but in the end you can do what ever you want, because it's your beer.
Anyway, welcome back to home brewing!
abenz-
Don't know if you've already brewed this or not.
I think you've got a good idea for the crowd you are describing.
Might think about using some Wheat LME, very nice touch for a fruit beer.
You can put the strawberries in a hop sack, just gotta figure out how to suspend it in the secondary.
Makes bottling simpler.
Much easier if you are using a bucket. A week is ok, two weeks in 2ndry is better.
Preparation for 2ndry is unnecessary if you are using frozen, they've been blanched then frozen, besides you've got enough alcohol to kill anything that might be on them.
I usually use Safale US-05 for my American Wheats.
Just my .02.
I would plan on this one disappearing very quickly.
Thanks a lot for all the imput its all been helpful!!
ruralbrew-
the reason I'm planning on only using .5 oz. of hops is because i'm trying to keep everything on the lower side of the style scale, at least with the color and IBU's. I'm pretty sure most of them have never had anything other than the typical american lager, so its kinda their introduction to ale's so i wanna keep it simple and not hand them something drastically different in color or bitterness than they are used to.... at least not yet lol.
brewski-
this may seem like a dumb question but when you say that preperation is unnecessary does that mean i can take them straight from the freezer put them in a sack and then rack from the primary on top of them in the secondary, or should i at least thaw them out? Also, how much strawberries will I need, I want the smell and taste to be there but, I also don't want it to overpower everything like its strawberry kool-aid with a splash of beer lol.
Well, I'd let them thaw, almost.
Go with about 3#, that's what I use in a Wild Raspberry Wheat.
Brewski wrote:
Well, I'd let them thaw, almost.
Go with about 3#, that's what I use in a Wild Raspberry Wheat.
Raspberry is a lot more contributing than strawberry. It is usually recommended for .5-1 # per gallon, depending on desired intensity. Strawberries are usually factored as twice as many necessary. So for a 5 gallon batch, 5-10#s would need to be added. I personally would try 7 #s and see where that gets me after a few weeks.
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