Fruit the beer!

[jaytizzle]

So I've got this gorgeous stout that I brewed up almost two weeks ago. It is from the Northern Brewer Cherry Stout kit. I don't want to use the extract they provided so I'm planning to use canned cherry puree from my LHBS. 2 cans total to 6 lbs of puree. I also have 4 oz of cacao nibs that I want to add as well.

My plan is to put the puree and nibs into a sanitized 5 gallon carboy, rack the porter over that, and leave for two weeks. Does this quantity and duration sound right? Is two weeks too long or just right or what?

After secondary, I'm going to keg. No bottling for me.

Thanks for the help!

 

[jaytizzle]

Bump... ::is this thing on??::

 

[Jayhem]

6 lbs of canned cherry puree on 5 gal of beer?!!!

This is going to taste like fizzy cherry with a little chocolate! Why so much cherries?

 

[ArcaneXor]

Those purees are quite potent. I would use one can first and taste it that way before adding the second.

Remember to sanitize the nibs! People get infections from these pretty often. Soaking them in some rum for a bit works great. I am a huge fan of "dry nibbing" - it adds a wonderful, dark chocolate character to the beer that complexes very well with the chocolate malt flavor.

 

[jaytizzle]

Hmmm... well, the puree idea got scrapped for me because the LHBS didn't have it. They did have the 6lb can of Vintner's Harvest cherry base, which is supposed to be whole fruit. I had a friend pick it up for me. Should I use the whole thing? I'm going to put the fruit in a nylon bag in the secondary (as per recommendation from the LHBS owner).

Jayhem - everybody who has used fruit in beer has recommended at least 1lb per gallon. I figured 6lbs in a 5 gallon batch wouldn't be a problem. Have you every done a beer over fruit?

And ArcaneXor - thanks for the advice to sanitize the nibs. I know better but had completely forgotten! They're soaking in clear rum right now.