Stolen Rouge

This is designed to be a Kasteel Rouge clone.

Recipe Type: Extract
Yeast: White Labs WLP550 Belgian Ale
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter: White Labs WLP550 Belgian Ale
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Original Gravity: 1.106
Final Gravity: 1.016
IBU: 27.5
Boiling Time (Minutes): 90
Color: 14.65
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 21
Additional Fermentation: 8 weeks
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 21
Tasting Notes: Kasteel Rouge Clone


.25 lbs. Belgian Munich
.125 lbs. Honey Malt
.25 lbs. Belgian Biscuit
10 lbs. Premier Gold Liquid
1 lbs. Honey
2 lbs. Candi Sugar Clear
.75 lbs. Invert Sugar
2 oz. Styrian Goldings (Pellets, 6.00 %AA) boiled 30 min.
.5 oz. Saaz (Pellets, 5.00 %AA) boiled 2 min.
9 lb. Cherries (pureed) (not included in calculations)
1 oz. Orange Peel (dried) (not included in calculations)

The above recipe is a Kasteel Bier clone with some tweaks and substitutions, based on what I want and what my LHBS had. I boiled for 90 minutes to caramelize the sugar a bit, put in the Styrian Goldings for 30 minutes along with the orange peel, and added the Saaz for the last two minutes. I plan on adding the cherries into the tertiary fermenter and letting the beer sit on that for a couple months before bottle conditioning it for 6 months. This beer should end up somewhere around 12% ABV, but I won't know how it is until July. I will definitely post up how it's doing then.

OK, so the recipe I am using as a guide tells me to pitch a second dose of yeast which is the reason for my question. The recipe, which is only a Kasteel Bier clone does not take into account the cherries that are going into this beer.

So, should I put in the second dose of yeast when I move the beer to the secondary before I put the beer with the cherries in the tertiary, or should I put the yeast into the tertiary with the cherries?

Anybody ever use pectic enzyme? If so would you reccomend for or against the use of it?

Last night I decided to put the yeast into the secondary and let it sit for a few weeks. I'll add the cherries in the tertiary where it will sit for two months, before it goes into the bottles for six months.

So last night this beer went into the tertiary bottle with all those cherries. I tasted a "pre-cherry" sample and it was great as far as flat warm beer goes...

I don't think that the cherries will be sweet enough to be an exact clone of Kasteel Rouge, but it should still be very good none the less.

As the title of this post indicates, this update is a bit overdue...

So on January 10th this beer went into the bottles... but it wasn't easy. The problem I have to solve when brewing a beer like this is how to get the fruit out of the way when siphoning to the bottle, I got most of the pieces of fruit out of it but some still made it to the bottle. If anybody that drinks it asks, I'll tell them I meant to put it in there . Anyway, the taste was spot on. I brewed this beer as a gift to myself when I get off of the six month deployment that I am on now, so by then it will be bottle conditioned for 6 months.... I can't wait to get back home for one more reason now!

Nice, looking forward to when you crack it.

The beer came out very good but not very cherry, like Kasteel Rouge. It has a fruity flavor to it but not overly so. With that being said if I pored it for you in a glass and said try this (like I have for a few of my buddies) you would probably like like it a lot, they all said it was very good and really liked the flavor. It's got a great body to it and a dark red color.

If you plan to brew this, two things I would strongly recommend are make sure the cherries you use are puree not chunks and use more than I did, possibly use more juice also.

More on the beer... It has a great head, good mouth feel, good nose and great taste.

If you have any other questions please feel free to ask.

I'd like to try this one out...wife loves the Kasteel Rouge and is currently pregnant, so it'd be easier for her to wait while the beer finishes up.

Does anyone have any other modifications that might lend toward that more tart cherry taste? Any other changes that might lend to the finished product?

Perkt said:

I'd like to try this one out...wife loves the Kasteel Rouge and is currently pregnant, so it'd be easier for her to wait while the beer finishes up.

Does anyone have any other modifications that might lend toward that more tart cherry taste? Any other changes that might lend to the finished product?

Click to expand...

Definitely go with more cherry, the tart level is actually really good, it's not "sweet" but it's very good. I'm about out and everybody that has tried it loves it. I just wish it had more cherry flavor. I was told that adding cherry juice during bottling could help with this as well.

So you mentioned adding yeast to the secondary, did you use the same 550 that you pitched in the primary? What about making a starter for it?
With the cherries, I've heard of people using cherry pie filling, is that the route you took, or was it more just buying cherries, removing pits and making the puree in a blender?
Would you think letting it set for 6 months in secondary would make a greater impact with the cherries, rather than bottling and letting condition for 6 months?

Perkt said:

So you mentioned adding yeast to the secondary, did you use the same 550 that you pitched in the primary? What about making a starter for it?
With the cherries, I've heard of people using cherry pie filling, is that the route you took, or was it more just buying cherries, removing pits and making the puree in a blender?
Would you think letting it set for 6 months in secondary would make a greater impact with the cherries, rather than bottling and letting condition for 6 months?

Click to expand...

I used the same yeast just to keep it consistent, but if you want to make it stronger you could go with super high gravity yeast (that's actually the name of it, I put it into some pumpkin beer after the primary was done and it turned out great). If you use the White Labs liquid yeast you don't need a starter, just make sure it's up to room temperature or a little warmer before you add it in.

I went with canned, halved cherries, I ordered puree but that's what I got and didn't realize it until it was too late. I wouldn't use the pie filling for cherries because of all the "goo", I'm not sure how it will affect the final flavor and with the time it takes to get this one done I am not willing to chance it.

As far as final flavor in beer goes when making a flavored beer like this, or pumpkin beer I have found that for body flavor and after flavors letting it sit in the secondary is great, but for a primary flavor like the cherry taste, adding at bottling time has a much better result.

Some of the cherry I still have is over a year old and it's still getting better, it is more like a dark fruity belgian that has impressed everyone that has had it, newcomers to real beer and beer snobs alike.