Strawberry Beer

Classification: fruit beer, strawberry ale, extract

Source: Robert Blade (blade@pop.tcs.tulane.edu), r.c.b, 7/15/94

I just finished a strawberry beer that I love.

When I bottled it it tasted tart as hell -- but a week later I started drinking it and it was great! It's a bit bitter, but the strawberry is very noticeable and everyone seems to enjoy it (especially me!).

Ingredients:

6 lb. pale male extract
1 lb. amber malt extract
1 lb. light crystal malt
2 oz. hops (can't remember what kind I used, but 1 oz. was for 60 min. boiling and 1 oz for 15 min.)
9 pints fresh strawberries
1 pkg. WYEAST Belgian Ale
a little irish moss
about 3 tsp. pectin enzyme

Procedure:

I cleaned and pureed all the strawberries in a blender, added about half a gallon of water to them, and boiled them seperately from my wort for about 15 mins. (my pot wasn't big enough to fit 'em). Cooled them and my wort and added the rest of the water. Pithced the yeast. The blowoff was amazing! (I probably lost about 1 1/2 gallons of beer). Tons of it. I heated the pectin enzyme in a little water and added it to the secondary (to eliminate pectin haze). Let it sit in a secondary for three weeks. When I bottled it it tasted tart as hell -- but a week later I started drinking it and it was great! It's a bit bitter, but the strawberry is very noticeable and everyone seems to enjoy it (especially me!).