Strawberry Basil Wheat - Barley The Brew Pup June Recipe
Nothing beats biting into a freshly-picked, juicy, delicious strawberry on a warm summer day. As summer nears, it's time to put my favorite fruit into a crisp, clean, and refreshing drink; you guessed it... BEER! This month's Barley's Brew is not only a wonderfully satisfying strawberry wheat, but we will dry hop with fresh basil to give our brew a hint of an earthy characteristic. So share in my adventure and come brew with me! The Recipe:
- 1 can of Mr. Beer Bavarian Weissbier Brewing Extract
- 1 pack Mr. Beer Brewmax Pale DME
- 1/4 cup cane sugar
- 1 lb fresh strawberries
- 1 fresh basil plant (or roughly 30 basil leaves)
- 1 Packet No Rinse Cleanser
Before we get started, I recommend finding a brewing assistant. An assistant isn't completely necessary for humans, but I hear it makes the process more enjoyable. I like to keep my paws off the hot pots and make this guy do the heavy lifting. I fondly refer to him as the upright, the big guy, or the human. He will pretty much answer to anything. I have him pretty well trained.
Now that I have the big guy to do the work, I'm going to assemble all the ingredients. I like to take this time and read through the instructions (two or three times doesn't hurt) and make sure I have all the equipment and ingredients I need BEFORE we get started. Well, ok... maybe I can't technically read, but the upright has that part figured out, so he reads and collects everything while I watch. It's a pretty good system that we've worked out!
To get started, I had my brewing assistant bring 6 cups of fresh water in our brew pot to a near boil. He then took it off the heat and added the Bavarian Weissbier Brewing Extract, one pack of Mr. Beer Pale DME, and 1/4 cup Cane Sugar. Take your time and try not to spill, or your pup will be lunging for the wonderful gooey mess… I know this from experience!
Be sure to get every last delicious drop of your brewing extract!
After the big oaf (with his extremely useful meat hooks) thoroughly mixed the wort, I instructed him to carefully pour the wort into our sanitized Mr. Beer Little Brown Keg. He then topped off the two gallon mark with clean, cold water and aerated the wort with a clean, sanitized brew spoon.
Once we took a hydrometer reading and I ensured our wort was at a proper pitching temperature (around 66-68°F), I did the honor of pitching the supplied pack of brewers yeast.
Special Instructions After we finished brewing, we rinsed and cleaned 1lb of strawberries and diced them into thirds. Next, we picked the leaves off of our fresh basil plant and mixed them with the diced strawberries. I instructed the upright to add the strawberries and basil into an already sanitized hop sack, and then place the hop sack in a mason jar. Lastly, we added 1 cup of vodka to the mason jar and sealed it tight.
After your brew has been in the LBK for a week, gently remove the lid and pour your strawberry, basil and vodka contents into your LBK. You want to get all of the juicy vodka into your fermenter as well. Let the hop sack and vodka sit in the fermenter for another 2 weeks and then bottle.
Lastly, and quite possibly the most important step in the entire brewing process, is once you have tucked your fermenter away in a cool, dark, dry location, and washed all of your brewing equipment, you need to sit down and crack open a nice cold homebrew. Get yourself a brewing journal and jot down any memorable notes from your brew day as every brew is unique and a great learning experience. Also, while enjoying your homebrew, take a look on Mr.Beer.Com and start planning your next brew. You have to keep the pipeline going!
Disclaimer:
- Don't give your pups beer…WE DON'T! Everything you see here is staged for entertainment purposes.
- Sanitization is very important to us and we recommend following all of Mr.Beer's recommended sanitization process. A much more thorough write up, including sanitization practices, can be found online on the Smoked Stout recipe page.
If you have enjoyed this homebrew write up, please check me out @BarleyTheBrewPup on Instagram. We update daily - follow me to see what the uprights have in store for me next!
