Belgian Too Sweet. Oak?

[devildancer]

We brewed up a Mad Elf clone that I found floating around on one of the sites. It's basically a Belgian Golden Strong, brewed with honey and cherries.

Everything was great when I racked it onto the cherries, half sweet and half tart. I think I left it too long because when I kegged it Sunday, it has a really sweet candy taste. FG was 1.016 when I racked it to the cherries and the same when I kegged it, leading me to believe all of the sugar fermented out of the fruit. It was on the fruit for about 4 weeks.

I'm thinking of adding a half ounce of light or medium oak to the keg to try and balance it, any advice?\

Edit: Or maybe it just needs time?

 

[bknifefight]

Since it is kegged, and you can add the oak any time, I would give it a month or two to see how it turns out before adding the oak. If it is still not what you want, throw in that oak and see how it turns out. I think it would be good with the oak.

 

[ericd]

It tastes sweeter but the gravity's the same?

I was going to say if it's "thick" sweet (gravity's too high) you could add a pinch of amylase and let it go for awhile.

 

[devildancer]

I was surprised by the gravity too.

 

[ericd]

What was the OG?

 

[devildancer]

It was 1.096. I don't know what the cherries added. I probably should have soured this one, but I think some time and/or a touch of oak will make this pretty good.

 

[devildancer]

Here's the recipe:

18.30 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 76.90 %
2.40 lb Munich Malt (6.0 SRM) Grain 10.09 %
0.30 lb Caraamber (25.0 SRM) Grain 1.26 %
0.30 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 1.25 %
1.25 oz Hallertauer [4.80 %] (75 min) Hops 14.1 IBU
0.50 oz Saaz [4.00 %] (10 min) Hops 1.6 IBU
2.00 cans Cherries (Sour) (Secondary 4.0 weeks)
2.00 cans Cherries (Sweet) (Secondary 4.0 weeks)
2.50 lb Honey (1.0 SRM) Sugar 10.51 %
1 Pkgs Trappist High Gravity (Wyeast Labs #3787) Yeast-Ale

Recipe called for vanilla extract too, but I omited that.

I'm not sure if it may be the Caraamber. I don't remember how that got in there, kind of a wierd malt. I'm tasting it now cold and only a little carbonation. It may just be the residual sweetness working with the cherries that makes it seem really sweet. The spicy phenols were really strong when it was racked to secondary, but kind of in the background now. Alcohol is really hidden. I think light oak would make this beer incredible.

 

[bknifefight]

The sweetness added by the cherries will eventually fade. I think that's the major culprit since your FG looks good.