Beer Forum

I have successfully brewed a Lawnmower ale kit from my local brew store a couple of times now (the girls and domestic drinkers love it). Anyway, the plan was to use this as a base for a Strawberry ale for the summer, and that's where my questions come from. I was planning on using 8lbs of strawberries: adding 3lbs during the wort boil, and then boiling the other 5 lbs and adding them to the secondary fermenter. I was wondering if that would be enough or too much or if there is a better way to the get the flavoring out of the strawberries. I was also going to get some strawberry extract to add at kegging incase it doesn't have enough flavor or aroma. The lawnmower ale is very very light and has hardly any flavor, so I was hoping that would help let the flavor through. Anyways, let me know what you think.
-CP

I'm no expert on fruit beer, but i'd go back and listen to that episode of the Jamil Show. I've heard those boys know what they're doing...

I'm pretty sure if you boil some strawberries you will end up with a haze that won't go away. Pectic enzyme can take care of that, I hear, but have never tried it myself.

8 pounds in 5 gallons strikes me as rather a lot. Fermented out strawberries are fairly acidic so you will end up with one tart beer. Maybe some lactose added to taste after all fermentation is done would smooth that out a bit if you end up using that much.

I've had the best luck with either frozen strawberries or fresh from the field during season around here (february). Frozen ones get thawed a bit, smooshed up right in the bag, then dumped in straight to a late primary. Fresh ones get cored, dipped in starsan, frozen, then smooshed and dumped. 4 to 5 lbs per 5 gallons seems about right to me. Florida berries seem to hold up better to fermentation than Chilean or California berries, but that may be a matter of freshness.

Have you ever tasted/smelled fermented strawberries? It may just be me, but I don’t think that it’s a very desirable taste/smell. I’ve made a strawberry wine, mead, and hefe, and they all had this rubber like smell/taste to them. I just scratched it up to being a shitty brewer (it’s been the reason behind all of my other fermentation failures), but have since bought several professionally made strawberry wines, meads, and beers…they all have the same flavor and aroma. I guess that fermented strawberries taste and smell like rubber to me.
My advice: buy a few and give them a try to be sure that it is the flavor and aroma you are going for.
I would not boil them.

Strawberry flavor doesn't hold up very well to beer. For fruity beer the standard is 2 lbs / gallon

They're my girlfriend's favorite so i've attempted a few batches. They are a lot of work! If you have some way of juicing them, you'd be better off doing that than cutting the tops off and slicing them. I pulled a keg apart and there was strawberry leaf stuck in one of the poppits - and this was about 3 batches in that keg later.

5 lbs in a 3 gallon batch of non-lawnmower pale ale worked pretty well for a balanced taste.

But no matter what you do, avoid that "strawberry kiwi" flavor extract, it has no place in beer. Its the same fake flavor they use in gatorade propel.

Its getting to be strawberry season, you'll save a lot of money if you can find a local pick-your-own farm. Last time I bought 11 lbs for around $20.

Strawberry flavor seems very delicate to me. I wouldn't put them anywhere near the boil - you are just wasting your time. Secondary only.


Mylo

though i have never brewed with strawberries, boiling fruits tend to cause a lot of astringent flavors in the beer from the tannins. i would keep them on the cold side

Or, you could emulate Tasty and add Strawberry Extract at bottling. Watkins sells it.
http://www.watkinsonline.com/productdetail.cfm?Product=21386&gcatalogLocale=USA