[skrag6713]

so i started brewing the black forest stout recipe from Brewing Classic Styles.  it's been fermenting for about a week now and i figured it was about time to go get the cherries to add to secondary.  problem being that cherries are out of season now and even frozen ones are relatively expensive for my budget atm.

so my question is: has anyone tried this recipe sans cherries?  the stout recipe looked good enough to stand on its own, but will i need anything to balance out the chocolate?  after dropping $60 on this batch already, i'm not really interested in dropping another $20-$30 on cherries.  any inexpensive fixes are welcome!

[kgs]

The one cherry stout I tried a couple years back (Bell's) I didn't like. And I realized afterwards I don't like cherries in any beer, period (though I do like cherries). So I am biased, but as far as I am concerned, it's like leaving out okra in just about any recipe, including fried okra... it can only be improved.

How does it taste? Do you like it? I made an oatmeal stout last winter flavored with a cold water extract of french roast coffee and a vodka extract of organic cocoa nibs, and it was deeeeeelish. Maybe the coffee is enough, but a little cocoa, a little vanilla... you can have fun with stout. It goes well with those warm dessert flavors. And at a fraction of the cost of out-of-season berries.

[cheshirecat]

I am planning to brew this one next month, excited too see how it turns out since cherry beers have been hit and miss with me.

On several occasions JZ strongly suggests using high quality canned cherries, such as Oregon Brand. His reasoning is that 1) don't have to worry about getting them in season since they are usually canned during the the hight of the season. 2) They have been sterilized so much lower concern for contamination 3) He made several side by side batches (with fresh, canned, and extract) he and other tasters felt the canned had better flavor and aroma (obviously this is totally subjective). The BCS recipe is built to use the canned.

[erockrph]

You could always try some high-quality cherry extract. This way it is easy to sample just prior to bottling to determine the right balance, and whether you even like it in the first place.

[skrag6713]

i took a sample the other day and, all things considered, i think it tastes just fine the way it is.  think i'm gonna nix the cherries and just call it a chocolate stout.  also, i got the impression it would go great with a squeeze of fresh orange juice.

[kylekohlmorgen]

Fresh OJ, eh? That sounds kinda nice. Let us know how it turns out.

I've wondered about orange/chocolate flavor in beer. Had an orange/choc port, and it was awesome. Maybe up the gravity of the BCS recipe, add a bit more chocolate (with higher cacoa content), and a few orange peels in the boil/secondary?

[kgs]

On my commute home yesterday I was actually musing about "dry-marmalading" a stout with one of those really tasty marmalades....

[alcaponejunior]

i took a sample the other day and, all things considered, i think it tastes just fine the way it is.  think i'm gonna nix the cherries and just call it a chocolate stout.  also, i got the impression it would go great with a squeeze of fresh orange juice.

Schlafly made an orange stout that I thought was fantastic, so this sounds great to me!

[hopfenundmalz]

The one cherry stout I tried a couple years back (Bell's) I didn't like. And I realized afterwards I don't like cherries in any beer, period (though I do like cherries). So I am biased, but as far as I am concerned, it's like leaving out okra in just about any recipe, including fried okra... it can only be improved.

Bells uses Montmorency cherries, which are very tart. One could always try Balatons which are not so tart, or a sweet cherry like Bing or Rainier.

[richardt]

If you're kegging, I recommend using the Di Vinci cherry, raspberry, and/or vanilla syrups.  Inexpensive, too.  Used about 2/3 of a bottle per 5 gal keg IIRC.  I had great experience with mine.  I also agree that the BF stout recipe tasted great before the fruit addition.

[skrag6713]

cracked open a bottle last night.  it's only been in bottles about a week but i decided to give it a try.  turned out excellent.  i had several comments of "it tastes like guiness with chocolate added."  didn't get the opportunity to squeeze fresh oj in it yet, but i'll get to that soon.  my little brother thought i should serve it with a shot of half and half in it.  which makes me think maybe i should add a little lactose next time for a 'milk chocolate stout.'