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Looking to try a Belgian cherry ale
So my wife picked me up a bottle of Big Sky Smoove cherry ale the other day, its one of their limited edition beers that come in a 750ml bomber. I'm usually not a big fan of berries and fruit in my beer but this was awsome! The cherry flavor was so subtle you might not have been able to put your finger on it with out knowing that cherries were used. I think they used a belgian yeast strain as their were some other fruity estery flavors present as well, also the alcohol content came in at 8.75%. I think I can put together a grain bill and hop profile but I have know idea on how to use the cherries. They state that their beer was infused with cherries, I would asume that would mean adding to the secondary, but how much? Anyone have any suggestions? I really just want a subtle flavor here. It might also be cool to see what kind of color I can add to like a golden strong ale with some ripe red cherries. So I guess what I'm after here is a Belgian golden strong ale with a slight taste of cherry and a tinge of pink to sip on in the late summer. Any suggestions?
Ok so here is what I came up with:
Recipe: Belgian Cherry Ale
Type: Partial Mash 5 Gallon
OG: 1.090 FG: 1.012 (hopefully)
Color: 5-7 SRM (not counting the cherries)
Bitterness: 20 IBU
Alcohol: 10% v/v
3 lbs Belgian pilsner
0.25 lbs Aromatic
0.5 lbs Cara-pils
7 lbs Extra Light malt extract
1 lbs Honey (15 min to flame out)
1 lbs Clear Belgian Candi sugar (At high Krausen)
2 lbs Fresh cherries added to secondary
Wyeast 3787
When I add the cherries to the secondary should I boil them first? or just steep at 180 or so for 10-15 min?
Also, anyone have any Idea how much fermentables the cherries will contribute? Should i tone down the extract to acount for this?
And, how much sweetness will the cherries add should I beef up the IBUs?
Any thoughts would be highly appreciated. Otherwise I guess at some point we all have to learn from experience.
If you use frozen cherries you don't need to boil them they are already sanitary. Also you don't want to boil fruit. Steep the cherries in hot water short of boiling or you could end up with hazy beer from pectin.
DC
Thanks DC,
I also found this article on using fruit in beer if anyone else is interested.
http://www.byo.com/stories/recipes/arti … techniques
Prost!
After reading this article I do believe that the wheat beer I have in the primary will become a cherry wheat! Wonderful article!!
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