Cherry Stout Review

For the Cherry Stout, I ended up doing something I've never done before, and that's splitting the batch up and augmenting part of the batch. I've been kegging my beer in 2.5 gallon kegs for several months now, and then bottling the rest of the batch. It's good for two things; helping my impatience and experimenting. I tend to be very impatient with my beer and the nice thing about kegging is that you don't need as long to carbonate and you can try out the beer without having to open up a whole (too often flat) bottle before it's ready. The other nice thing is what I did for this batch, which was add some stuff to the batch I wasn't kegging. At the time of the bottling, I didn't have enough bottles, so I decided to fill the keg and then transfer the remaining beer to a third vessel, this time a small 3 gallon carboy. Not impressed with the cherry flavor coming through I decided to add 16 oz of black cherry juice. In addition I decided to throw in a small amount of oak chips as well. The end result was quite interesting. There is a definite difference between the two versions. Here's the breakdown:
I'll start with the bottled/oak version:
It pours jet black with a foamy tan head. (Actually it is extremely carbonated, possibly due to the unfermented cherry juice?? Way too carbonated when you open it.) It settles down to a nice creamy head with some roasty, coffee and definite cherry aromas. A nice creamy mouthfeel. The cherry juice is present but not overwhelming. There is a lot of chocolate and sweetness throughout and a definite lingering smokey/oaky presence. The cherry juice is there, but not as cherry as one would expect. The oak is also evident, and creates some bitterness in the finish. What is lacking is the roasty/chalky presence from the other version. Not sure if it is the oak or the cherry juice, but one way or another, the roasty backbone is covered up some. Its faint, but not as present as I would have wanted. Overall, very nice and quite interesting. I used about .5 oz of oak chips, proof it goes a long way, because it's there without being overbearing.
Cherry Stout (original, kegged version)
Pouring jet black with a thick foamy tan head. There's some nice roasty/chocolately notes as well as some subtle cherry aroma. Much roastier than the other version. The cherry is much more faint in this version, it's present in the finish, a lingering cherry/acidic quality. There is some nice roasty, coffee, and chocolate flavors throughout this beer with a dry/chalky finish one would expect with roasted barley. Not as sweet as I was expecting, but I'm very pleased with this version. Despite the cherry being more subtle than I would have wanted, I really like the balance of the roastiness and sweetness. I think I could add more cherries, or opt for the juice instead of the frozen cherries, it's evident it takes a lot to truly come out. But I wouldn't want to detract from the roasted barley that is evident throughout the beer.

Here's the recipe:
1.5 lbs Org. 2-Row
.75 Crystal 60
.25 Carapils
* Mash for 45 @ 152
.60 lb Roasted Barley
1 lb Organic Chocolate
.25 Black Patent
* Steeped in 1 gallon of water @ 152 for 45
4 lbs Organic Light DME (1@ 60, 3 @15)
1 lb Lactose Sugar @ 1
1.5 oz Perle Hops @ 60
London Ale Yeast
42 Oz of Frozen Cherries in secondary

* One quick note, as I mentioned in an earlier post, and what I've come to realize was probably the lactose- I ended up with a very small drop from OG to FG (1.052-1.028). All appearances were that it was done fermenting when I transferred, so in the secondary I added a packet of dry yeast and this dropped it down a few more points. The end result was about 3.2 % abv. Despite that, it's really tasty and in some ways its nice to know I can knock back a couple without it being too much of a problem!
-On another note I'm brewing tomorrow night, The Gringo 09. I'll post more about this, but essentially a light beer using Belgian Pilsner Malt, Light DME and 4 oz of Centennial and Cascade Hops, and a Cali Lager Yeast. This year's version is going to feature 12 oz of Agave Nectar, not sure if I'm going to put it in the boil or wait and put in the secondary during the lagering period. More to come on my Imperial Mexican Lager.
Salud!
Bearded Brewer