cheezydemon3 said:
My "SUBSCRIBED" to your smoked cherry idea was closer to the "you sir are a genius" end of the "subscribed" spectrum.
Damned. Do you have a thread on this barleywine?
Dudes. Try this one. I've made it 5 times this summer. Smoked Cherry Ale. Everybody freaks out when they drink it. Even SWMBO's friends who DONT drink beer, won't shut up about it. Just sayin'. Here's what I do:
8lbs Marris Otter
3lbs Cherrywood Smoked Malt
1oz EKG/Fuggles/Willamette @60 mins
3-4lbs frozen cherries, thawed, sitting in a big mesh bag, in a big bowl. @10mins
Brew your beer. Do your thing. You'll know it's gonna rule when you smell your first runnings! Do your hop addition. At 10mins, add your cherries. The 10 mins is really to balance the kettle temp upon adding cherries. I like to boil the cherries for 5 mins, remove them in the bag into a clean tupperware WITH residual wort. So, lift that sack, dripping wort, into a Tupperware. Cool it and store, covered.
Ferment as usual. When things slow down, maybe a week later, toss the contents of that Tupperware into the fermenter with a little weight.
Note: I re-pasteurize the cherries before re-adding, just to be safe. Then I put a couple heavy bottomed pint glasses into the bag as a weight.
Toss that badass package right into your fermenter, I use buckets, shake gently, and watch a second ferment start up immediately.
I primarily use S04 for these brews. I personally really enjoy the dryness of the yeast with the cherries. This beer is a bit tart, a lil dry, a lil crispy and quite refreshing.
PS: I never secondary. I've repitched the yeast into different brews with great results. I really hate sweet beer, so I make this one to be dry & a lil tart. It may not suit you, but it's definately gets interesting feedback. Everyone seems to have an opinion on this one.