Experiment gone wrong

[fuji6100]

It has been 2 weeks since I bottled the Strawberry Wheat I was experimenting with last month. I sampled some after about a week and it was terrible. Now, at 2 weeks, it tastes more like strawberry sour pucker than beer. I read a lot of recipies from online resources, and quite a few people use 5, 8, or even 10 pounds of strawberries for a 5 gallon batch.

I used 5 pounds and if this stuff gets any more sour, I'll be able to market this as sour-patch-kids-soda. I'm not anticipating the aging process doing anything to improve this.

If I EVER do this again (It's going to take a lot of convincing and a severe wild-hair) I wouldn't use more than 2 pounds of strawberries... I can't see how people use 10 pounds and still drink it.

At least my Nut Brown is ready to drink and my Irish red will be ready in a week or two.

[ray m]

Sorry to read this, Fuji. I am curious---what kind of yeast did you use; what was your OG; and were the strawberries put into the primary or secondary? Do you think the sourness is a result of sanitation problems or the by-product of a warped mind that conjured up this recipe in the 1st place?

[fuji6100]

I used a basic wheat beer recipie and added 5# of puree'd strawberries (previously frozen) to the primary. I got an explosive fermentation with dry ale yeast and the OG was 1.065.

When I bottled, it smelled great and the FG was 1.010 and it was very clear, even for a wheat beer. I'm pretty sure sanitation isn't the problem as this beer smells absolutely wonderful, it's just TOO DARN TART!

I think The strawberries just got overkilled. If I ever do this again, I"m cutting WAY down on the fruit amount and I'll add the fruit after primary fermentation has died down, but before racking to secondary (so the fruit kinda has its own primary fermentation period.)

For now I'm licking my wounds and enjoying my other beer.

[ray m]

I've always been scared to death to use real fruit in my fruit beer ventures. I have had great results with cherry flavoring (4 oz. per 5 gallon batch), and so-so results with Oregon's blueberry puree that I once used to make a somewhat exotic Blueberry Brown ale. I couldn't even taste the blueberry at all, so I had to add about 2 oz. of blueberry flavoring. The beer was so-so at best---one of those batches that I was glad to see the last bottle finally being consumed. If I were you, I would set this brew aside for about 6 months and see what magic, if any, good ol' bottle conditioning can do for this brew. I would not even stress out about tasting the beer every month or so to "see how it's coming along"---just try to forget about it for 6 months & see what happens. It sure as hell can't hurt anything. Maybe bust it out for the holiday season!!

[Payson]

Have you thought about adding any lactose to combat the sourness??? It won't ferment so it shouldn't be detrimental. Might just work! Good luck!

[sallad]

when using spices, fruits, or whatever, i always go pretty light to start (not more than 1 or maybe 2 pounds for fruit). that way, worst case is you get a typical ale with, for example, just a hint of strawberries. if next time you want a stronger fruit flavor, add more fruit!