Fruit Ale (Strawberry) #2

Summary of a Strawberry Ale I made around Christmas 04.

I originally made this recipe back in April. My wife really enjoyed it. The first time I made it, I did not add in the irish moss at the 15 minute mark of the boil, but did add the gelatin. The beer was clowdy (expected), because of the enzymes contained in the strawberries. I think the only way around this is to put pectic enzyme in the fruit before you add it in and keep transferring it with geltin, until it gets clear. My wife didn't care, so neither did I.

I will post the recipe when I get the chance, but here is how it went.

This beer is very easy to make. It uses very little hops and no additonal specialty grains. I think the popularity in the recipe is based on it';s simplicity and effectiveness. From beginning to end everything went fine. I made sure to not make the mistake I made with the recent IPA and added water when necessary.

Once the boil was complete, I cooled it and the OG was ~ 1.050 and trnasferred it to the primary.

3 days into the primary, I simmered 7 pounds of strawberries, cooled it, and added them in. I didn't bother with another gravity reading, due to the strawberries sinking to the bottom. Once the primary was complete, I took a gravity reading (1.010) and tranferred to secondary with a teaspoon of geletin dissolved in clean warm water to get some of the strawberry particles to sink.

When secondary was complete the FG was ~ 1.008 and it was still clowdy. It tasted pretty good and was pleased that no wild yeast bacteria formed.

It came out to 2 cases and has been complete for 1 month now. My wife enjoys them occasionally. Some were not sealed well for some reason as some are more carbinated than others. All in all, successful.