Strawberry Blonde
So we tapped into that strawberry blonde Saturday at 2PM. At 5PM people were yelling at me; "Hey, I think we kicked the keg." Crap, 5 gallons gone in about 3 hours. Next, time I'll have to do ten gallons of it.
It was a great beer with fruit. The strawberry aroma was great, and the flavor was just enough. For everyone that asks about fruit in beer, if you like strawberry give this a try.
6lbs German pilsner malt
4.5lbs American Wheat Malt
1.5lbs Munich Malt
0.75oz tetnager hop pellets (60min)
0.25oz cascade hop pellets (20 min)
Fermented with WLP051 (California common V)
After primary, I racked the beer onto 4lbs of sliced strawberries that had been steeped in water that was at near boil temp (heat off during steep). Let sit in secondary with berries for 7 days, then rack to a third fermentor for 7 days. Then bottle or rack to keg.
Sounds resally good...I'll have to add this to my never ending list of brews to make.....I need the lottery, so I can build a ginormous homebrewery....
What were your fermentation temps with this, using a California Common? Isnt that a Lager yeast?
I fermented it a 68F, it is an ale yeast.
WLP001 is the Cali Common most people are familiar with, but my LHBS was out of it at the time so I tried the WLP051.
WLP051 California Ale V Yeast
From Northern California. This strain is more fruity than WLP001, and slightly more flocculent. Attenuation is lower, resulting in a fuller bodied beer than with WLP001.
Attenuation: 70-75%
Flocculation: Medium to High
Optimum Fermentation Temperature: 66-70°F
Alcohol Tolerance: Medium-High
Review this strain
Read other reviews for WLP051
Read FAQ for this yeast
That's gonna be my next next next brew................... or next next.... I have so much on my plate.
brewskinewbski wrote:
That's gonna be my next next next brew................... or next next.... I have so much on my plate.
Its tough to prioritize.
I just listed out my next 6 brews, and its impossible to get it all done when you want it done sometimes.
Back in the day I drank a lot of Pete's Wicked Strawberry Blonde. One of my all time faves from Pete's Stable.
I would like to try this brew. Strawberries are out of season now unfortunately. This year in my area we had a fantastic strawberry crop unfortunately my wife didn't freeze one single bag of berries. All Jam!
Now I am currious if my wife's labor of love can be turned into labor of BOOZE. Is there a reason I couldn't use Jam in the secondary instead of fresh berries? This is not that hidious freezer jam, this is the cooked and presure sealed in jars kid and tastes absolutely fantastic.
Okay now if I am missing a common knoledge point here just whisper DORK under your breath and explain my ignorance. Knowing the jam has a ton of sugar in it what if anything might need to be changed in the recipe? How many pints of Jam? Is this a stupid idea? Should I just go make a PB&J sandwich and shut up? Anyway I'm interested.
I had originally considered using jam actually. My concern though was to use some store bought stuff that had preservatives in it that would have stunted my yeast activity later on.
But berries were in season here, so I went fresh. I would consider a jar or two of jam, if you can spare them.
And combine that with a bag of frozen berries. I would't hesitate to make this beer "off-season" with frozen berries. Keep in mind that if you added alot of sugar to the jam, you'll need to allow for a longer secondary with the fruit to be sure it ferments out, otherwise the beer will be too sweet.
In fact most frozen fruits and vegetables are going to be more consistent than local fresh produce. Forzen fruits are picked and flash frozen at the peak of freshness. Although the freezing process destroys the nice appearence of the fruit, the taste is often just as good if not better than fresh. IMO
Excellent! I will pick up the all the stuff today. There are a lot of recipes I want to try but this one looks pretty easy and straight forward. Being on this forum is like being a kid in a candy store. So many goodies, it is hard to know what to try first.
Well As I type I am trying to get my wort down to 75* so I can pitch the yeast. I started the yeast almost 17 hours ago and it is starting to smell like beer in the starter bottle.
I took a gravety reading and at 78* it is 1.058 which if I understand how the math works that would make it the slightest hair off of an OG of 1.06 Correct?
This all grain brewing is a lot more fun then the extract stuff. When I brewed the cream ale I felt like I was making a can off chicken noodle soup.
Okay back to the strawberry blonde. The dude at the LHBs (Yes I said dude because thats what he is. Fairly snooty too!) Anyway he said stay away from the jam. Something about pectins, etc. etc. etc. I tuned him out when he started using the Latin names for stuff. So I was telling the wife about it and she informed me there are exactly two quarts of berries in the freezer. Pints a pound the world around as my grant mother used to say so I have beeries for the secondary.
My lauter tun made from the big round drink cooler work so well I was amazed! Of course being a new brewer I had to taste the sweet wort. It was very sweet and danged awful sticky!
Anyway I will soon pitch the yeast and get the primary settled in for a long week.
That sounds like a great beer. My gf loves strawberries and loves beer, so I figure I should be nice and brew this one up.
I do have a question though. Any idea what the extract recipe would be? I currently don't do ag (but cannot wait to start), but would like to try this.
Figure8 wrote:
That sounds like a great beer. My gf loves strawberries and loves beer, so I figure I should be nice and brew this one up.
I do have a question though. Any idea what the extract recipe would be? I currently don't do ag (but cannot wait to start), but would like to try this.
I am about to rack my second batch of this to the Strawberries tomorrow night I hope.
Figure8, no problem with the extract version. I'll work it up and post it tomorrow morning, its getting late for me now.
Robar! Good job, I hope when its done you like it.
Strawberry Blonde Extract Version
OG-1050-1055
2.0lbs Pils or Ultralight LME
4.5lbs Wheat Malt LME (60/40)*
1.5lb Munich malt (grain)
0.75oz Tettnanger pellets (60min)
0.25oz Cascade pellets (20min)
WLP051 California common V
*The problem with converting a wheat based AG recipe to extract is that you can't get 100% wheat extract.
So to get ~37% of the gravity points from wheat, one has to account for the fact that a wheat extract is only 60% wheat, which is why there seems to be so much more wheat here than in the AG recipe. Realistically you are getting 2.7lb wheat and 1.8 pale (60/40 for 4.5lbs). The other issue is that 40% of wheat extract is pale extract. I used no pale in this recipe, but its fine. Just use a superlight extract or preferably pils extract for the rest of the extracts.
For the grains, I would heat 2 quarts of water in a small saucepan to 155. Add grains to a grain bag, and place in the 155 water for 30-60minutes to allow for conversion. Fill your brewpot with water and start heating half way through the mini-mash of the grains. Once the mashing is done, dunk the bag several times in the water, letting it drain completely into the pot 3-4 times. Then pour whatever mash water is still in your saucepan into the kettle too.
Add your extracts and your off to the races.
Proceed as I described for the all grain recipe. This makes a fine beer even without strawberries.
Hey Brewchez
Well the strawberry blonde has been perking for a week. It never got too hyper and the best bubbling I saw was about 40-45 a minute. I don't know if this is because it was at 63-64* the whole time or I didn't oxygenate it enough or what. However after a week it is still going at about 15 a minute. I am starting to hurt for space with three beers in the primarys. What temp does this need to be at when in the secondary with the berries and would it hurt to put it on the berries before it stops bubbling? I really don't want to rush it, but don't want it to be in the primary for much longer either.
Fortunately MY 90 min ferments at 71-74 or I would really be hurting. My Blue Moon-ish deal needs to be at 62-63 though so I need to get something set up to keep it cool unless the strawberry blonde is okay at a higher temp in the secondary. Either way is okay, I just needed to know so I know how to proceed. - Robar
Robar:
Check the gravity. If you have gotten to at least 50-60% attenuation, then the bulk of fermentation is over.
In fact introducing the strawberries while you still have actvive yeast is a good thing. The fermentation will kick up again to consume extra sugars, keeping it from being overly sweet from the berries. Also active fermentation with chew up any oxygen that may get introduced during racking!
I would let it sit in secondary for at least two weeks with the berries if it is still perking now. Otherwise, one week on berries is generally enough. Plan to let it sit for a couple days in a third fermentor to make the strawberry seeds settle out before bottling.
I'd perform the secondary at the same temp as the primary. Then you can let the temp drop when you let the seeds settle out.
Oh, and don't be afraid of the mess you'll have after secondary. Strawberries are not a pretty site after sitting 2 weeks in beer.
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