Opinion on experiment please

[menerdari]

I have been looking at a recipe for black cherry wheat in the "home beermaking" book that came with my Brewers Best equipment kit.
I thought how about Black Cherry Porter instead?
Using a Brewers Best robust porter kit.
6.6 lbs porter LME
4 oz. de-bittered black
4oz. caramel 120L
4 oz. chocolate
1/2 oz. brewers gold bittering hops at start of boil
1 oz. willamette at 45 min
1/2 oz. willamette at 55 min
That is the basic recipe.
My addition is 3 quarts unsweetened black cherry juice at flame out.
Any thoughts?

 

[inhousebrew]

I've never made a beer with juice but if I did I would dump it into the secondary instead of the boil kettle. That way you could add some, let it sit and mix up a bit and then take a tasting sample to determine if you want more in there. You can always add more, but you can't take it out.

 

[TopherM]

Brewers Best kits are a good place to start when you are a newbie, but in the grand scheme of things, they are very average kits, mostly because they are mass produced and have a tendency to be several months old by the time you buy them. I'd push you towards a good base porter kit from Austin Homebrew, Midwest Supplies, or Northern Brewer.

I think you should also plan on doing a secondary for this one and adding the cherry juice in secondary. Most recipies I've seen call for 1/2 gallon when adding juice, so you may also want to bump it up a bit unless you are trying to make it very subtle.

Good luck!

 

[menerdari]

Thanks for the suggestions, The Brewers Best kit I have on hand already is why I plan on using it. I live 1 hour away from the Brewers Best facility and my LHBS picks the kits up from there once a week as they are ordered so hopefully my kit is a bit fresher than average.Adding the juice to the secondary does sound like a good plan, maybe I can find some frozen cherries to throw in there?

 

[david_42]

Definitely add the juice or cherries in the secondary. I prefer frozen fruit or berries to fresh. The freezing bursts the cell walls and releases more of the flavor.

I like more caramel malt in my porters, but your recipe looks okay.

 

[TopherM]

I've seens lots of threads with brewers reporting very good results using two bottles of R.W. Knudson's Just Tart Cherry and Just Black Cherry juice in secondary. They sell this stuff at most Whole Foods/Farmer's Market type organic food stores, if you have one in your town:

 

[Kingfish]

I've seens lots of threads with brewers reporting very good results using two bottles of R.W. Knudson's Just Tart Cherry and Just Black Cherry juice in secondary. They sell this stuff at most Whole Foods/Farmer's Market type organic food stores, if you have one in your town:

Two bottles of either, two bottles of each or a bottle of each?

 

[TopherM]

Two total of either....not mixed.

 

[menerdari]

It appears, after checking their website, Giant Eagle (our local chain grocery store) carries it.
I will pick up a few bottles, 2 for my beer and 1 just to drink.