The Cliff Baron's Cherry Vanilla Stout

Source: Dave Herling
Recipe added: 03/25/00
Email: dbh1975@yahoo.com
URL: http://www.wohworld.com

When I came up with this recipe I didn't take into account what a high gravity I would be dealing with, so the original yeast conked out pretty quick. Try using a scottish ale or chanpagne yeast. You will probably also need a yeast nutrient along the way. I used the cherry concentrate to sve some money on the cherries, but you can use a full 6-8 lbs of cherries if you want. The results were amazing, and I've gotten ffers to start a microbrew from several people based on this one beer alone. It tastes like a combo of a dark stout and a sour beer like Berliner Weisse. I've tasted it at 2 weeks after bottling, 1 month, and 2 months. It started out a little chewy, but it has really begun to mellow out. The cherries have really come though and the vanilla is just starting to lurk. It has an alcohol content of about 9%, so this can sit for a good 6 months to a year before it might be done, but what a beer!

Specifics

Recipe type: Extract
Batch Size: 5 Gallons
Starting Gravity: 1.075
Finishing Gravity: 1.015
Time in Boil: 1 Hour
Primary Fermentation: 10 Days
Secondary Fermentation: 1 month
Additional Fermentation: 3-6 months aging in bottles

Ingredients:

6.6 lbs. John Bull Dark Malt Extract
2.0 lbs. Plain Dark Malt Dried Extract
0.5 lbs. Crystal Malt
0.5 lbs. Roasted Barlet Malt
0.5 lbs. Black Patent Malt
0.25 lbs. Moutons Carapils Malt
1.5 oz Northern hops (Boiling)
0.5 oz. Northern Hops (Finish
4 tsp. Gypsum
1 tsp. Irish Moss
4.0 lbs. cherries
1 can Welch's Juice Makers pourable concentrate "Cherry Sensation"
8.0 oz. Vanilla Extract

Procedure:

crack & steep grains for 1/2 hour, remove grains and then bring water to a boil. Add extract (set aside 1.25 cups of the plain malt dried extract for bottling), boiling hops, and gypsum. Hold at boil for 45 minutes, add Irish Moss, boil an additional 15 minutes. Put cherries in a hop bag and crush in a large bowl (Just break the skins of all/most of the cherries to allow the juice to come out). When the wort comes down to 180 degrees, dump the cherry concentrate,the cherries and the juice from the bowl into the wort to pastuerize. After 15 minutes, dump in the vanilla and put the finishing hops into the hops bag with the cherries. Wait 2-5 minutes, the dump into the primary, hops bag and all. Let cool and pitch yeast. Wait atleast 5 days before putting into a seconsary, but no more than 10 days.

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