What Yeast for a Sour Cherry Oak Porter?

[PredatorMilk]

Fairly novice homebrewer here; frequent browser; first post.

So I was lucky enough to score a Stranahan’s CO Whiskey stave during a distillery tour two weeks ago and the first idea to pop into my mind was to do 5 gal of a sour Oak aged cherry porter.

I plan to shoot for a smooth porter with low IBUs, load up the secondary with fresh cherries and charred stave (should I smash the cherries or leave them whole?), and I would like to use a yeast that will be slightly tart in order to bring the cherries, oak and whisky into focus. While I plan to do something with wild yeast or true Brett sour in the future, this won’t be the time... I have no idea what yeast to use.. suggestions?

Plus; anybody have suggestions for a nice smooth base Porter recipe that won’t battle the already multiplicitous flavors with high IBUs?

Also… another thought I had was to use a mildly tart yeast and then use sour cherries instead of Bing. I have no experience using fruit of any kind in secondary, suggestions? How much fruity should I use?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Piratwolf]

Hi, PM! Welcome officially to HBT! As you already know, it's a fantastic place for info (and some goofiness...)

I expect others may chime in, but the only mildly tart yeast IME has been S-04. It's an English strain, so that fits nicely with your porter style. However, I like your sour cherry idea better for achieving a tart or sour flavor. You can also get 100% tart cherry juice these days, which should give the flavor and might be both cheaper & less tricky to work with. The advice I see and hear on juice, though, is to make sure there are no preservatives.

My other suggestion is to use a brown porter and cut down on the roasted malts--it's a low IBU style anyway, and lower roast should also let the cherries & oak shine.

Good luck & please post your recipe & results

EDIT: on a FWIW note for your future brews, Brett doesn't really produce much sourness. That usually requires a lacto and/or pedio bacteria, which are found in blends like Roselaire (WLP, I think).

 

[JeffersonJ]

I'd also recommend looking into adding a few ounces of acidulated malt to produce some tartness.

 

[rtbrews]

You are likely going to get plenty of tartness from the cherries so I personally would not be too concerned about the yeast for tartness. I'd focus more on the attenuation I want with the yeast and any other ester profiles you might want. If you want to go for a little less attenuation, go english and if you want it more dry, go with the cal ale or american ale (safle us-05 if using dry). If you ferment the english ale yeast warmer, you'll get more of that fruitness.

Personally if I wanted to mess with all these extra oak, whiskey, and cherry flavors, I'd go for the cleanest fermentation possible and let all these extra ingredients do the talking since you are already balancing enough flavors there. I'm with Jefferson on the acidualed malt though if you want to bring out more sourness, that will get the acidic character going more. Just be mindful that acidualted malt plus the darker grains you are going to use will all bring your mash PH down so you may want to add some calcium carbonate to the mash depending on your water source. That might not be applicable but my water is so low in PH, it is something I need to consider so I thought I'd mention.

 

[rtbrews]

Oh I realized I ignored part of your question regarding the cherries. I always freeze the fruit then as they thaw in the carboy, the cells wall rupture making them more accessible to the beer. Never done smashing but I have also heard many positive reviews of puree.

 

[kingwood-kid]

I would skip the acidulated malt and rely on the acidity from the cherries. If that doesn't get sour enough for your tastes, you can buy some acid blend at your LHBS (about $2) and add to taste at bottling. Remember that carbonation produces a sourness of its own.

The usual amount on fruit is about a pound per gallon. I would go for a third to half that, or you won't taste the oak. You can throw the cherries in whole, but smashing and/or freezing will speed things up. I would keep your ibu's under 20. As Piratwolf suggested, I would stay away from very dark malts. The cherries might pair well with something like pale chocolate malt.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

I expect others may chime in, but the only mildly tart yeast IME has been S-04. .

That's what I was thinking.