Making our annual cherry stout today. Matt got some California dark red cherries a couple of months ago and froze them.

As usual, we’re using our typical stout recipe and adding 5 lbs of the stemmed and pitted cherries to the primary.

https://share.brewfather.app/dCAhvYxEmv0B1f

Using the Brewer’s Friend mash temp calculator, we heated the strike water to 168° and added 3.5 gallons for a target mash temp of 152° for a single hour-long rest.

After the mash, added 3 more gallons of boiling water for a total of 6.5 gallons. Draining the wort, we ended up with about 6 gallons pre boil.

Only managed to get the wort down to 80° with tap water.

We decided to add the cherries after the beer has had a few days to ferment. We’re thinking that adding the cherries after the beer has some alcohol will make it less likely the cherries will contaminate the beer with whatever might be on them.

Kegging

Kegged the cherry stout. Forgot to take the final gravity.

Is tart the right word? What’s the word for tasting like too many pennies? There’s just an overwhelming taste I can’t put my finger on. Maybe the tannins are too strong and will reduce over time. Maybe adding the cherries raw introduced some bugs. We’ll wait a couple of weeks then revisit this one.