Strawberry Kolsch feedback

[Grant2]

I've been wanting to make a kolsch with strawberries for a while. I've got a empty keg, so it's time to brew!

I've got a bunch of fresh local strawberries in the freezer that are ready for this brew. I've done 5.5 lbs of blackberries in a wheat, so I'm going with that same amount of strawberries in a kolsch.

Fermentation in primary would be at 60F with a diacetyl rest once it's close to F.G.

I'll do a secondary and add the strawberries in there (will put them in a big mesh bag, dip them in star-san, then put in the secondary). I'm thinking that I'd start at 60F in secondary, then lower the temp to 34F over a few days and leave it there for 2-3 weeks.

I looked at a few recipes out there and I took the "Almost Perfect Kolsch" recipe from here and added 5.5 lbs of strawberries.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/882760/strawberry-kolsch

 

[Nosybear]

I had a strawberry blonde a while back.... Tasted like the medicine my mother gave me as a child. To taste like "strawberries" requires extract. Fermenting the strawberries will make it taste like fermented fruit. Now that said, tell us how your beer comes out, the idea of a strawberry Koelsch sounds so good I'd like to think it can work!

 

[oliver]

don't let your strawberries ferment, then. Brew the beer, get ready to rack into the keg, and then process your strawberries and collect only the juice, then put the juice in the keg with the beer, carbonate and serve. Always take into consideration with fruit the difference between grapes and wine. They taste drastically different. For fruit flavor, add unfermented fruit in the cold pressurized keg where you'll get little to no fermentation.

 

[Nosybear]

don't let your strawberries ferment, then. Brew the beer, get ready to rack into the keg, and then process your strawberries and collect only the juice, then put the juice in the keg with the beer, carbonate and serve. Always take into consideration with fruit the difference between grapes and wine. They taste drastically different. For fruit flavor, add unfermented fruit in the cold pressurized keg where you'll get little to no fermentation.

But do keep it very cold - the strawberry juice contains sugar and sugar will ferment. An option might be to prime with the strawberry juice but the sugar content is not very predictable, would eliminate the problem of cold storage but might not be enough juice to create flavor. You could measure it and do the math - you want to add about 2 points of gravity to prime, not much more or you end up creating grenades (or a bomb, if kegging). If you could get strawberry puree from Amoreti, it might be a better option, all things considered.

 

[oliver]

But do keep it very cold - the strawberry juice contains sugar and sugar will ferment. An option might be to prime with the strawberry juice but the sugar content is not very predictable, would eliminate the problem of cold storage but might not be enough juice to create flavor. You could measure it and do the math - you want to add about 2 points of gravity to prime, not much more or you end up creating grenades (or a bomb, if kegging). If you could get strawberry puree from Amoreti, it might be a better option, all things considered.

I do it often with my sours, as long as it is kept cold there should e minimal fermentation. As time moves forward, however, the flavor does become lackluster likely due to some fermentation happening.

When adding pure juice to your keg, just target percentage juice by volume. If you like it really light, 2% is a great choice. I seem to have landed at 4-6% juice by volume, which would be 1 quart of juice added to your keg. That might be a little sweet, i tend to like it more fruited and sweet.