Sucker Punch Cherry Ale

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boostsr20

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2010
Messages
804
Reaction score
16
Location
Michigan
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
S-04
Yeast Starter
No
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter
No
Batch Size (Gallons)
5 Gallon
Original Gravity
1.056
Final Gravity
1.011
Boiling Time (Minutes)
40
IBU
15
Color
Dark Cherry
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
7
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
14
Tasting Notes
Tart and sweet all in one.
6.00 lb Pale Liquid Extract (1.3 SRM) Extract 66.67 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 11.11 %
1.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (1.8 SRM) Grain 11.11 %
1.00 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 11.11 %
1.00 oz Cascade [5.40 %] (40 min) Hops 14.5 IBU
8.00 oz Malto-Dextrine (Bottling 5.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs SafAle English Ale (DCL Yeast #S-04) Yeast-Ale
2.00 oz Lactic Acid Secondary

Deathbrewer style Partial Mashing. Mashed at 158 for 60min to help with sweetness and sparged at 172.

I used 16oz of Balaton Tart cherry concentrate at flame out then used the other 16oz of tart and 16oz of dark cherry concentrate when transferring to secondary. I picked both of them up at Health Hut but here are links.
http://cherryproducts.gourmetfoodmall.com/ProductDetail.php?product=27876

http://www.vitacost.com/Bernard-Jensens-Our-Finest-Cherry-Concentrate

I made this for my wife who Loves Founders Cerise, which is awesome if you can get it. I would not call this a clone but its in the realm of a super fruity beer bordering on champagne qualities. Tartness and Sweetness are balanced fairly well. The only thing I might change next time I make it is to use Citra hops and shoot for the same IBU's. I think their flavor profile might work a little better. Overall, my wife loves it and I'm impressed. I'm doing a sampling party next weekend so I'll know how well its received in general.

Its still really fresh at only 30 days from Boil to Bottle. I'm thinking this one will be awesome in another 2-4 months.

Not sure how to calculate for the alcohol added from the cherry concentrate but I would guess its in the 7% range.
 
This recipe really interests me but I'm still not quite sure how to read recipes in this format and I see quite a few set up like this. Is there some kind of tutorial on this site that could introduce me to what all this means?
 
Just do a search for easy partial mashing by deathbrewer. Its the process I use and it works really well for small grain bills.
 
4 months later and its really to mellowed out. Next time I'd probably leave the Lactic acid out altogether and I would probably drop the Balaton concentrate to 16oz total. I like it as is, but its pretty tart. The wife likes to add a couple teaspoons of sugar, or mixes it with an oz or two of orange juice.
 
Last bottles just got drank and they were very tasty although the tartness never really seemed to tone down. I am going to brew this one again but I'm now doing all grain so I think the recipe will change quite a bit. I'm thinking about using some Honey malt for sweetness, about 30% wheat and a lot higher alcohol content. I'd like it to be a lot maltier this time. Also dropping the lactic acid and probably dropping the cherry concentrate back to 12oz to start just to try and get the tartness in line as I don't want it Kriek like again. Looking at something like this.

Amount Item Type % or IBU
8.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 61.54 %
4.00 lb White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 30.77 %
1.00 lb Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 7.69 %
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (60 min) Hops 16.7 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (5 min) Hops 3.3 IBU
1 Pkgs California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) [Starter 500 ml] Yeast-Ale



Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.073 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.016
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 7.41 %
Bitterness: 20.0 IBU
Est Color: 7.3
 
Just found 2 more 6 packs! Score. I've got to say, this is one that has grown on me a lot with age. I've been a big fan of Lindemans Framboise and this beer has crept closer to that style over time. I'm excited to let these keep aging to see how they turn out. I think I will brew this again soon with some minor tweaks. Probably won't use nearly as much wheat as I thought.
 
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