I brewed this on February 6th. Here is my recipe. I added the honey a few days into fermentation. After about 3-4 weeks in primary, I racked to secondary and added the cherry juice and cherry preserves. Here is my recipe from BeerSmith
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Mad Elf
Belgian Specialty Ale (16 E)Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 4.10 gal
Boil Size: 6.24 gal
Boil Time: 90 min
End of Boil Vol: 4.37 gal
Final Bottling Vol: 3.60 gal
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage
Date: 03 Mar 2014
Brewer: Blake
Asst Brewer:
Equipment: 7.5 gal BIAB
Efficiency: 81.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 83.0 %
Taste Rating: 30.0
Taste Notes: Should be 11% gravity and 15 IBU
Added 8 oz of mixed berry preserves and 32 oz of cherry juice
Ingredients Amt Name Type # %/IBU
9 lbs 1.6 oz Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 75.0 %
1 lbs 6.4 oz Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 2 11.5 %
2.2 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 3 1.1 %
0.80 oz Saaz [2.90 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 10.2 IBUs
0.40 oz Saaz [2.90 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 5 3.9 IBUs
0.35 oz Hallertauer Mittelfrueh (2012) [4.80 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 6 5.7 IBUs
0.67 oz Hallertauer Mittelfrueh (2012) [4.80 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 7 5.1 IBUs
2.0 pkg Trappist Ale (White Labs #WLP500) [35.49 ml] Yeast 8 -
1 lbs 8.0 oz Honey (1.0 SRM) Sugar 9 12.4 %
Gravity, Alcohol Content and Color
Est Original Gravity: 1.091 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.013 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 10.3 %
Bitterness: 25.0 IBUs
Est Color: 11.2 SRM Measured Original Gravity: 1.091 SG
Measured Final Gravity: 1.014 SG
Actual Alcohol by Vol: 10.2 %
Calories: 313.8 kcal/12oz
Mash Profile
Mash Name: Single Infusion, Medium Body
Sparge Water: 2.34 gal
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: FALSE
Total Grain Weight: 12 lbs 2.1 oz
Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Tun Temperature: 72.0 F
Mash PH: 5.20 Mash Steps Name Description Step Temperature Step Time
Mash In Add 13.29 qt of water at 163.7 F 152.0 F 60 min
Mash Out Add 7.44 qt of water at 200.7 F 168.0 F 10 min
Sparge: Fly sparge with 2.34 gal water at 168.0 F
Mash Notes: Simple single infusion mash for use with most modern well modified grains (about 95% of the time).
Carbonation and Storage
Carbonation Type: Bottle
Pressure/Weight: 2.83 oz
Keg/Bottling Temperature: 70.0 F
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage
Volumes of CO2: 2.3
Carbonation Used: Bottle with 2.83 oz Corn Sugar
Age for: 30.00 days
Storage Temperature: 65.0 F
Notes
7.1 gallon: total water
4.1 gallon: mash
3.0 gallon: sparge
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Pre-boil Volume: 5.5
Post-boil OG: 1.078 @ 4.1 gallons 81% efficiency
Had a little trouble with mash temp initially.
1.75L starter
19c ferm temp to start
Added 32oz tart cherry juice and 2 oz cherry preserves.
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This is a picture of the cherry juice I used. I couldn't find any good real cherries, and wasn't keen on using pie filling. Canned cherries I managed to find at one store, but it would have cost me about 20 bucks for the cherries I needed. I wound up buying this for about 7 bucks.
As for the comparison. Mine is on the left, the real is on the right:
Mine looks darker, but it's really not much darker. Mine had much better head retention, and the head blocked some light and made it seem a lot darker. The head on mine was white, while the head on the real stuff was a light caramel color and dissipated quickly.
Also, here was a shot from a few weeks before I did the comparison. It was a bit cloudier, as it was soon after I kegged and I never used gelatin on this.
As for tasting, overall both my wife and I thought mine tasted better. It had less cherry flavor that the real stuff. Otherwise, I couldn't tell the difference between the two. I've had about 10 people sample it, and they all love it. There is no noticable heat, it doesn't take like it is 12%. I had a fellow brewer over a couple nights ago and we sampled about 5 different homebrews I had available. He liked the Mad Elf the most. I may have to brew another batch sooner than the holidays. My wife and I had this on tap and I had to take it off because we were burning through it. Overall, I don't think there is much I would change about my recipe--despite the fact that people on this thread have gotten more information in the past 2 months from Troeg's.