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Strawberry Blonde
Robar wrote:
Brewchez, anytime you're ready to toss me another recipe or two, I'm game! I like to brew and amazingly enough I like to drink brew too. Its a win/win situation.
Well I just made a 60/- scottish style ale... which tastes horrible. SO I won't be sharing that one. I cut my caramelization short and the beer suffered greatly. Maybe I'll retry it.
I also have a Belgian Tripel still fermenting. It was at 1030 when I racked it Friday night, so its still got a ways to go. I'l report back on that one when its done...few weeks though I suspect.
I know this is an old post, but I couln't help but be intrigued by this recipe. I've promised my non-beer drinking wife that I would try to make a beer that even she would drink. I was telling her about adding fruit flavors to beers and since her favorite fruit is strawberries, I thought I would try making this strawberry blonde recipe. It sounds good and I like Pete's Strawberry Blonde, so if I can get something that turns out like that, then I'll be happy. I'll even be happier if I can get my wife to enjoy one every once in a while. She is, by the way, my brew-partner, so I would like her to be able to enjoy in the fruits (literally) of our labor. I won't be upset if she ends up not liking it because I know it will be a hit with friends during cookouts his summer (if I brew it right).
So, I've got the extract recipe all printed out and plan on doing this as my next brew so that it will be ready for the summer and I have one question about the addition of the strawberries. The directions say to "steep the 4lbs of strawberries in water that is at near boil temp." Does this mean to put the strawberries in grain bags? Do you then add the strawberries to the secondary still in the grain bags or should you just add them in by themselves not in grain bags? I'm thinking the grain bags are just for ease of removal and to control the mess when clean out you secondary.
By the way, does anybody have a picture of what this brew looks like in a glass? I bet it's got a great amber/pink hue from all those strawberries. I would love to see it.
Lukeduke
I tend to bring a gallion or two of water to 200F. Then I put the prepared berries in a large pot, and pour in just enough water to cover them. There is enough heat there to sanitize the berries somewhat, its not great but I haven't had to many problems.
The key is to use a little water as possible.
Then the fruit and water are all added at once. This way you captaure any berry good ness that was leached out by the berries. I add the fruit to the secondary fermentor because you want the alcohol in the beer to help minimize the effect of any wild microbes taking hold in the beer. Regardless, I tend to consume this beer quickly and store it cold to prevent any surprise growth from those microbes.
FWIW: I plan to rebrew this one this year and try canned puree from the LHBS and to maybe try it with a straberry extract. Just because I don't care for the variability that you get from the strawberries and the cautions you need to take with the whole fruit sanitation steps. I'd like to eliminate that if I could.
I tend to bring a gallion or two of water to 200F. Then I put the prepared berries in a large pot, and pour in just enough water to cover them. There is enough heat there to sanitize the berries somewhat, its not great but I haven't had to many problems.
The key is to use a little water as possible.
Then the fruit and water are all added at once.
So, would you then only do around 3-4 gallon brew in the primary since you'll be adding this to the 1-2 gallon strawberry mixture?
It does seem to be a lot of work using fresh fruit for brewing. Throw in the chance of flavors varying, and it seems as though the strawberry extract might be the way to go. What has been your experience using fruit extracts? Is the flavor very "natural?" I know they sell fruit extract in measured out bottles for 5 gallon batches of beer. I guess you would just add this to the secondary and let it sit for a few days. I would also assume that the beer would stay fresh longer this way. Seems too easy...there must be some kind of drawback.
I tend to just rack beer on top of the fruit mix until I hit the 5.5 gallon mark.
I don't get to bent out of shape over loosing some beer in the process.
Some people do say that extracts have a slight artificial taste to them. I haven't had a lot of experience with it myself. That is the primary reason for the experiment.
I think I will go with the extract due to the ease of use, less worries about sanitation, and for longer lasting beer. Thanks for the info and for sharing this recipe. Sounds great. If you brew this in the near future, keep me informed. I'd love to hear how it turned out.
Hi Luke Duke,
I made the base recipe recently, without the strawberries. The base recipe is great! My wife and even mother-in-law rave about it.
A few notes for you:
1. There was not a target OG and FG on this recipe. With the 11.5 LBS of grain I hit 1.057 at about 78% brew house efficiency. Ended up with 1.012 FG...giving this brew about 6.1% ABV. I'm not sure what gravities you are looking to hit, but you might want to tweak the recipe if need be.
2. I would recommend adding at least 1 LB or 10% rice hulls to the mash. I'm not sure how much experience you have with wheat malt, but it can get stuck easier than barley malt.
3. Given how much protein wheat malt has, you might want to do a multi-rest mash.
4. I had some issues getting my hot break material to congeal and fall back into the brew pot. You might want to keep a close eye on your boil level to prevent boil over.
I think that's about it. It is a great beer...nice and hazy and the Tettnang gives it a really nice flavor and aroma. Enjoy!
I think this is going to be my next batch, as it looks great and I want something a little lighter than the porters and stouts I've been doing. I think I will be doing just the base recipe, but I want to pull off a gallon of it to try a Raspberry Blonde. I am planning on using a 1lb bag of frozen raspberries, pressed through a strainer to puree it and remove the seeds. Is there anything I should worry about with frozen berries? From what I understand they are already pasturized, so sanitation shouldn't be an issue.
For those that have already made this recipe, any thoughts or tips that aren't already included in the thread?
Thanks!
Northern Ike wrote:
1. There was not a target OG and FG on this recipe.
Who was the bastard that posted a recipe without the OG damn it?!?
Using an efficiency of 75%, my estimated OG was 1065 for a 5 gallon batch, or 1055 for 6 gallons.
Good luck with the brew as a base or add whatever fruit you want.
Another variation I am going to try next is to go with WLP001 American Ale yeast, and Cascade Hops.
Go out and get some Anchor Summer Beer for a commercial example of what I am talking about.
I was reading online trying to find out what the best way to add fruit to beer was. During this process I located a site, the address of which I have now forgotten, that claimed you could add fresh fruit directly to your secondary without any adverse side effects. The reasoning was any microbes on the fruit tend to be beer friendly. They also claimed that the steeping process can have negative effects on taste. Any thoughts, experiences??