Homebrewers Association | AHA Forum
General Category => Beer Recipes => Topic started by: DrewG on July 12, 2012, 03:59:45 PM
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Went to the local brewpub last night, and my girlfriend was giving me the business about never making a fruit beer. The brewer was behind the bar, overheard the conversation and piled on. End result, he challenged me to brew a strawberry-rhubarb beer using kolsch for the base.
I've never made a kolsch, or a fruit beer. I could start with the kolsch in BCS, beyond that....
How much fruit and how much rhubarb? When in process? He recommended using frozen, thawing it and then puree in a food processor. Rack on to fruit in secondary.
Anyway, any advice would be GREATLY appreciated.
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The ROT is to use 1 lb. of fruit per gal. Strawberries are pretty subtle and ferment out, so you may need a lot more than that. Or use a strawberry extract to bump up the flavor.
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I agree with Denny. You'll need a lot of strawberries. I was underwhelmed by my strawberry rhubarb hefeweizen results but when I substituted raspberries it pretty much became a delicious liquid pie that was gone way too quickly.
on a side note, in your shoes I'd probably brew a "plain" Kolsch before I attempted to make a fruited version, but I'm sure you'll do fine.
cheers--
--Michael
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So, maybe 2 pounds of berries per gallon, and 1 pd per/g rhubarb?
Would you guys agree with his recommendation on racking onto the fruit in a secondary?
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Yes, rack onto the fruit in secondary. And I'd still recommend you look into flavor extracts.
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And I'd still recommend you look into flavor extracts.
Found some natural strawberry extract on Northern Brewers site, I'll give it a go.
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i made a strawberry rhubarb and rye. this was inspired by a strawberry rhubarb jelly and peanut butter sandwich on rye bread. remember that the rhubarb does have some bitterness so expect that. it tasted okay prior to bottling but i had some bottling issues and was ruined. i used fresh fruit and rhubarb in the secondary fermentation. if i were to make another one i would put it in the end of the boil i think. another option i am considering is the local farmstand has a strawberry rhubarb pie filling that she cans. i just may throw this in the end of the boill. hey its a hobby :o
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on a side note, in your shoes I'd probably brew a "plain" Kolsch before I attempted to make a fruited version, but I'm sure you'll do fine.
I'm not sure I want to fart around with lagering times on an experiment, so on second thought I decided an american wheat or a blonde ale base might be better.
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on a side note, in your shoes I'd probably brew a "plain" Kolsch before I attempted to make a fruited version, but I'm sure you'll do fine.
I'm not sure I want to fart around with lagering times on an experiment, so on second thought I decided an american wheat or a blonde ale base might be better.
you don't really have to lager kolsch. it helps but not 100% needed, a week or so at 46 will be fine. but wheat and strawberry rhubarb would be good to. the tartness from the wheat should highlight the rhubarb a bit.
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2,000th post! Woo!
I think that raspberry rhubarb hefe just bumped the old style clone from top of the 'to brew next' list.
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I think the sour category could really use a few rhubarb recipes. Somebody please make a rhubarb lambic!
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2lb of rhubarb in 5 gal of wheat is quite noticeable. I don't have any strawberry extract right now, but it probably would be much better than real strawberries since it won't really ferment out.
I did it on a whim, this will probably sit around in the kegerator for quite a while since the girlfriend don't drink much and is hardly ever here.