The black cherry (Prunus serotina) is a species of cherry found in eastern North America. The fruit is about 1 cm in diameter and usually bitter, but it may be sweet when fully ripened to a black color. This particular cherry is more often used for flavoring rather than eaten as a fruit. The following recipe is for a true black cherry beer.
Instructions
1. Place the malted barley and crystal malt in a grain bag and pour 2.5 gallons of cold water in a pot. Heat the water to 160 degrees and hold it there for one hour before removing the grain bag.
2. Add the malt extract syrup and bring it to a boil. Add the hops and boil for one hour. Cool the pot to room temperature.
3. Boil, cool and filter 2 gallons of water. Strain the wort into the primary fermentation vessel and top off with the water to 4 gallons. Aerate the wort, add the yeast and culture and aerate again. Wait about five days until the fermentation is proceeding vigorously.
4. Add the cherries to 1 gallon of water and heat to 160 degrees for 30 minutes before allowing it to cool. Pour this into the secondary fermentation vessel. Rack the beer into this container and top off to 4 gallons with boiled, cooled and filtered water. Allow the beer to ferment for one month.
5. Rack the beer to a third container to finish the fermentation and bottle.
Tags: fermentation vessel, Rack beer