Cherries in Flanders

Since it is cherry season, I decided to make a cherry beer. I love
kriek, but a decent lambic clone takes years to make. I love the liefmans
Kriekbier, which uses a sour brown ale rather than a true lambic as a
base. I plan to ferment the beer on the fruit in the secondary for
several months and then age it for a few more. The richness of the
belgian malts and the hops should combine well with the cherry flavor.

Brewer:	Christopher McMath		Email:	mcmath@colorado.edu
Beer:	Cherries in Flanders		Style:	Flanders Brown ale w/ fruit
Type:	All grain		Size:	7 gallons
Color:	94 HCU (~34 SRM)		Bitterness:	27 IBU
OG:	1.054		FG:	1.015
Alcohol:	5.0% v/v (3.9% w/w)
Water:	declorinated boulder city water plus some gypsum for mash chemistry
Grain:	2 lb. American 2-row .5 lb. Wheat malt 4 lb. Belgian Munich 2 lb. German Vienna 1 lb. Belgian aromatic 1 lb. Belgian biscuit .5 lb. Dextrine malt (Cara-Pils) .5 lb. Belgian CaraMunich 1 lb. Belgian Special B .5 lb. Belgian chocolate .12 lb. Roasted barley
Mash:	80% efficiency
	start with a mini mash with the 2-row the night before brew day. Mash the grain at 153 for 40 min until conversion. Then hold the mash in an open container over night at 122 degrees to allow the lactic bacteria to add sourness. Mash the rest of the grain bill the next day with a single decoction. 122 for 30 min 154 for 60 min pull 1/3 and bring to a boil over 20 min. boil decoction for 30 min and then add back to main mash raise to 170 and mash out for 20 min. add converted soured mini-mash back and sparge the whole mash with 175 degree water to collect 7 gallons or so.
Boil:	90 minutes	SG 1.054	7 gallons
	Irish moss added last 1/2 hour
Hops:	1 oz. Styrian Goldings (5.5% AA, 90 min.) .5 oz. Tettnanger (4.5% AA, 90 min.) .5 oz. Saaz (3.75% AA, 25 min.) .5 oz. Tettnanger (4.5% AA, 25 min.) .5 oz. Saaz (aroma)
Yeast:	wyeast abbey II ale yeast. 1 quart starter at high kruasen.
Log:	As noted in the mashing schedule, this beer uses a small sour mash to achieve the sourness needed for a flanders brown ale. The mash is allowed to sour over night and is added to the main mash and sparged. This way, you can control the amount of sourness in the beer, rather than having live lactic bacteria in the beer. i plan to do a two week primary ferment and a three week secondary. After that I will add nine pounds of fresh bing cherries that have been frozen to break down the cell walls of the fruit. Ferment on the whole fruit for at least two months to get maximum cherry flavor. Then when fermentation is done, rack the beer to a tertiary fermenter to allow the the beer to clear and age. Then when completely done fermenting, add priming sugar and bottle. Age for several more months.
Carbonation:	These beers are supposed to be highly carbonated. With the fruit, it might make sense to prime lightly since some residual sugars may continue to ferment over time.
Tasting:	I will let every one know how this turns out. Should be really great. Try liefmans kriekbier to get an idea of what I am shooting for. Aged, this beer tastes almost like merlot wine. Such great stuff!

Recipe posted 07/07/98.