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Hey guys,

Have any of you made a wheat beer or other style (blonde?) using fresh strawberries? I figure with the strawberry season upon us and quickly ending its high time to try something usin fresh strawberries.

Thanks
Andrew

My friend has successfully made strawberry red many times.

My understanding is that the strawberries completely ferment leaving little flavour. Perhaps the splenda idea would help. Did we come to a conclusion about its fermentability?

Jamie, can you post your friend's recipe or offer some insight as to how to make it work? I'm keen to try for the same reason as Andrew.

KMcK wrote:My understanding is that the strawberries completely ferment leaving little flavour. Perhaps the splenda idea would help. Did we come to a conclusion about its fermentability?

Jamie, can you post your friend's recipe or offer some insight as to how to make it work? I'm keen to try for the same reason as Andrew.

you are correct. is leaves very little strawberry flavour. it only adds slight strawberry hints. typically will add the straberries to the secondary for two weeks. they ferment and loose colour slightly.

if you want something that is more profound strawberry then you probably will need to get some kind of non-fermentable extract.

I wonder if you just throw in a bunch of jam...

Sounds like it might be easier just to chuck some sliced strawberries in the glass

Another idea might be to put the strawberries in the keg after fermentation, maybe then it would extract the flavour and with minimal yeast left at that time wouldn't ferment, either that or rack it into another carboy after the secondary and leave it on the strawberries for another week so i don't worry about strawberries getting jammed in the dip tube.

mr x wrote:I wonder if you just throw in a bunch of jam...

I'm working on a Cassis right now, so did a fair bit of reading this weekend. It was suggested in one article that that's the last thing you want, because of the pectin. otoh, it's a wheat - clarity is not that important, so how bad would the pectin be? I don't have a clue, but we'll see - my wife made an extract from our frozen berries, and it's pretty close to jam.

I think you can get big jars at Cash & Carry/Costco. I don't know why it wouldn't work...try to get the 'pure fruit' type...

We got some unbelievably deep red and very tasty berries today at a u-pick, some of the best I've had in a long time. Not huge either, toonie size. I think if you're going fresh, the berry quality will go a long way towards success. A lot of the ones in the stores are big and bland.

I think i might try two pints in the secondary and chuck another two pints in cheese cloth in the keg so they don't get jammed up in the dip tube. I'll let ya'll know how it goes

Something else you may consider as well, is to freeze the strawberrys first as it seems to intensify the flav. Before putting in secondary I would also pour some boiling water on them and let sit for a bit. Kill off any wild stuff.

So it's started, I brewed this yesterday with my new fancy 48L brewpot from kent. Why I chose 60L I have no idea as it's going to be quite dark and probibly take away from any strawberry colour but i'll keep you posted on how it works out. I'll take a pic when i rack everything into the secondary and add the strawberries, i'll be taking spuds suggestion and be freezing 2 boxes worth and then go from there.

Recipe: Strawberry Wheat
Brewer: Andrew
Asst Brewer:
Style: Weizen/Weissbier
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 30.50 l
Post Boil Volume: 25.91 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 23.02 l
Bottling Volume: 23.02 l
Estimated OG: 1.047 SG
Estimated Color: 6.3 SRM
Estimated IBU: 10.4 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 75.7 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type
# %/IBU
3.20 kg Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain
1 66.0 %
1.40 kg Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain
2 28.9 %
0.50 oz Perle [6.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop
4 10.4 IBUs
1.0 pkg Weihenstephan Weizen (Wyeast Labs #3068) Yeast
6 -
0.25 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain
3 5.2 %
0.25 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining
5 -


Mash Schedule: Decoction Mash, Double
Total Grain Weight: 4.85 kg
----------------------------
Name Description Step
Temperat Step Time
Protein Rest Add 20.24 l of water at 128.9 F 122.0 F
35 min
Saccharification Decoct 6.78 l of mash and boil it 147.0 F
20 min
Saccharification Decoct 3.38 l of mash and boil it 156.0 F
20 min
Mash Out Heat to 168.0 F over 10 min 168.0 F
10 min

Sparge: Fly sparge with 16.07 l water at 168.0 F

andrewtrsmith wrote:Sounds like it might be easier just to chuck some sliced strawberries in the glass

Excellent idea, and not just for wheat beers. Strawberries go well with porters and stouts.

spuds wrote:Something else you may consider as well, is to freeze the strawberrys first as it seems to intensify the flav.

My cursory researching of this topic suggests that it's not the freezing, but the fact that they were frozen just after picking. Store-bought strawberries had to ripen off the plant so aren't nearly as tasty as freshly picked ones.

Added two boxes (pints?) of strawberries last night to the secondary and its interesting that overnight that 90% of the colour has been extracted from the berries. It kinda looks like a whole whack of albino strawberries are floating on my beer now

I'll keep you posted as the experiment goes on as I would like to know how much flavour is left at the end of the secondary and if adding additional fruit in the keg will add any more flavour.

I'm also thinking that i'm going to have to counteract this fruity beer with a DIPA brew when i come back from montreal.

First off let me say that I am no chemist. From what I have been told, if you freeze your berries it will rip open the cell walls and allow you easier access to the sweetness. Have tried it both ways and have found a bit more flavour from frozen. Have fun and hope it all turn out well. Raspberry wheat is also very good.

I've got a raspberry wheat on tap as we speak I cheated and used a can of raspberry puree from NG versus fresh or frozen berries though.

I use the purees wherever possible. They are easy to use and the best quality.

Okay you naysayers, listen to this. I did a wheat with fresh strawberries and it was awesome. The flavour and aroma were subtle, but definitely there. I can see why it would be difficult to do it in a commercial context, but a small batch for a home brewer is worthwhile. I'll have some at my party later this month for those of you who want to try it.

Yes, the ones I did with Splenda were sickeningly sweet, so I concluded that it doesn't, for the most part, ferment. The ones I did with just strawberry were actually nicer if you appreciate subtle flavour.