Brewer’s Log: Kiwi Birthday Ale

Posted at 6:33 pm by Patrick under Brewer's Recipe Book

Andrea’s birthday in July seems to always inspire us to have a neighborhood party. This year, I invited her to pick a beer style and help brew it. She wanted a light, refreshing fruit beer for the party, and we picked a kiwi/strawberry combination for this recipe.

For 5 gallons (75% efficiency):

Grain
5.00 lbs. Pilsener malt
2.00 lbs. Munich Malt (2-row)
1.00 lbs. Flaked Soft White Wheat
0.50 lbs. Honey (orange blossom, or other aromatic honey)

Fruit
4.0 lbs. kiwi fruit, peeled and cut into small chunks (3.5 lbs after peeling)
2.0 lbs frozen strawberries (thawed and pureed)

Hops
0.75 oz. Mt. Hood (6.5%) 60 min.
0.25 oz. Saazer (2.5%) 5 min.

Yeast
White Labs WLP001 American Ale

Mash grains at 152F for 60 minutes. Add the Mt. Hood hops when wort begins to boil. After 45 minutes, add Irish moss. After 10 more minutes, add the Saaz hops. 5 Minutes later, knockout to chiller, and pitch yeast. Will be in primary fermentation for up to 7 days, and then rack it to secondary for the fruit addition. It will ferment for 7 to 10 days in secondary. After the fermentation subsides, you can transfer to a tertiary fermentation to help with flavor maturation, or package it..

OG: 1.047 (11.7P)
Anticipated SRM: 9.3
Anticipated IBU: 22.3

Packaging
Kegged and force-carbonated

Production + Tasting Notes
The beer was served as the birthday beer at our summer party, and it very well received. The kiwi tartness had melded with the strawberry flavor to produce a light fruitiness that complemeneted the light body of the base beer, yet avoided being cloying. Andrea remarked that it is "definitely not for the kids".

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