Cherry Stout

[Northwet]

Going to brew up a cherry stout this weekend. Anyone have tips or good recipes?

 

[AmandaK]

I'm going to just hop on this band wagon and ask sort of the same question:

Has anyone brewed a stout (or chocolate stout) and aged it for a bit on whole tart cherries? I see a bunch of recipes with "cherry extract" or "cherry puree", but I'm assuming those are sweeter (or in the case of extract, I'm assuming it's gross). I have a metric ton of Balaton cherries that I need to use and I want to brew a stout so I can use the yeast cake for a RIS soon.

Will the roast and tart go together well?

HALP?

 

[crazyworld]

I did an AHS anniversary stout, added 6 oz (by weight) of dutch processed cocoa powder during the boil and then after 2 weeks our so, I added 4lbs of frozen red cherries (from costco) that I heated up with little to no water until it hit about 170F and held it at that temp for 5-10 mins. I keep it on cherries for about 2 weeks. I have more detailed notes as to when I racked onto fruit and how long it was there for at home (stuck at the DMV :/ ).

Ironically, after it had been on cherries for a bit, it had gotten infected but I'm almost positive it was NOT from the fruit addition but from a fly that ended up in my bucket after fermenting in the basement (there were also more than a dozen tiny dead flies in the starsan in my airlock which leads me to believe I may have gotten a suck back).

Either way, it's got quite a thick pellicle on it now after 5 months of being infected but tastes great and smells even better. It's not a strong cherry flavor but it's still there. I think a little additional sugar In the form of lactose would bring it out more and balance real nice with the roastiness.

 

[bk0]

I used tart cherry concentrate, and a lot of tartness came through but not much cherry flavor. The sugar ferments out, remember.

 

[jaytizzle]

Preface this, I was disappointed with this beer.

I used Northern Brewer's Dark Cherry Stout:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/dark-cherry-stout-extract-kit.html

After about a month in primary, I put it into secondary on 6 lbs of cherry base (http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/vh-cherry-base.html) and 4 oz of cacao nibs (http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/cacao-nibs-ghana-4-oz.html). I kept this beer in secondary for one month then kegged and carbed. I got practically no noticeable cherry flavor. The chocolate from the nibs was nice but I was not impressed by the cherries. If I HAD to do it again, I'd get fresh cherries and puree them myself. Not sure I'll every try again, though, as this was a lot of money spent on less than average beer.

 

[bigbeergeek]

I had great success using tart red cherry juice concentrate. The only ingredient is tart red cherries. The stuff tastes like liquid cherry pie, it's pasteurized and a single bottle of the stuff could easily dose 15-20 gallons worth of wort. It is concentrated indeed! The other great thing about using concentrate is you can add a couple of ounces to your fermentor and give it a taste. Still needs more cherry? Add another ounce or two until you get the fruit/roast balance you want. It ferments out quite tart for the first few months (they call them "tart" red cherries for a reason -- and that's before they ferment) but at my 6 month tasting the stuff was dynamite.

 

[bigbeergeek]

I used tart cherry concentrate, and a lot of tartness came through but not much cherry flavor. The sugar ferments out, remember.

How long did you age the beer? My 6 month old bottles and 8 month old bottles really have a nice cherry flavor to them. It starts tart -- "tart red cherries" right? It would be fun to arrest fermentation with chemicals and use concentrate to get that pure cherry pie flavor, but I think this product is fantastic if you plan for a 6-8 month wait for the end result.

 

[bk0]

It's almost 3 months after brewing, about 1.5 months in the bottle. I have no problem letting it age, hopefully it'll mellow out a bit like yours.

 

[bigbeergeek]

It's almost 3 months after brewing, about 1.5 months in the bottle. I have no problem letting it age, hopefully it'll mellow out a bit like yours.

It will. Patience grasshopper!

 

[AmandaK]

I will be using 8-10 lbs of fresh, whole Balaton tart cherries from Michigan. Most likely over an oatmeal stout with cocoa nibs and a small amount of vanilla bean.

I used 2 lbs/gallon in my Flanders Red and it turned out with a nice cherry flavor, although admittedly, some of that is probably from the Roeselare.

I may do 2.5 lbs of the same cherries in the stout because I know it's going to have a lot of other flavors to fight through.