Novice Question With Cherry / Coconut in Stouts

[John Nicolac]

Hi All,
I am having a go at making a Cherry ripe stout from a recipe I found on Brewfather and also with help from one video I found
on youtube on this type of stout. I have worked out the grain bill and want to start this in the next few days.
My question is, (as i have never used Cherries/ Choc/ Vanilla or coconut in any of the standard Pale Ale / IPA brews I have made).
Once all boiled and cooled and added to Fermenter with just the Hop/ Lactose additions, the recipe calls for a 14-day ferment.
5 Days at 18c
1 day at 20c
5 days at 22c
cold crash 3 days at 2c


It also states that the coconut/ cherries are added in Secondary, does this mean after the 11 days plus 3 days cold crash, i move to secondary and add
the fruit and others in ? , has anyone done this before, do you jut add the Blitzed cherries into the Fermentor or in a hop sock ?
How long should it be in the secondary before bottling / Kegging ?
Doess the cherry / coconut cause any issues with tap blockage ?

Sorry for the newbie questions, i just want to try and get this a good beer Hopefully.

Thanks in Advance

 

[The Mack]

I wouldn't bother with a secondary, if you pitch the correct amount of yeast (what yeast does it call for?) fermentation should be done by day 7-just open up your fermenter and add the pulped cherries and coconut (contained within a hop sock).

Having used both I can add the following bits of advice.. Coconut- use flaked, shredded or desiccated will swell up a ridiculous amount and absorb a decent amount of beer. Further to that coconut is notorious for blocking taps/ poppets. Toast the coconut flakes in the oven at about 160c to help remove some of the coconut oil, I just spread it thin on some baking paper- keep an eye on it though it only really takes about 10 mins or so.
The coconut in the hop sock will want to float, so weigh it down with something, I used some SS 1.5" tri clamp barbs. I used 1kg in a 23L batch.

Cherries: I bought frozen ones from Woolies from memory, defrosted them, froze them again, pressed them through a stainless sieve, put the pulp in a hop sock- poured the juice straight in to fermenter
Bickfords (I think) has a 100% cherry juice that I believe people have used to good effect, however you add the cherries it does seem to kick fermentation off again- not so big of a deal if you're kegging but if you're bottling or canning it's something to consider.

I let mine go for a couple days and then began the cold crash (about 5c a day), kept it there for about three days once at 1c, retained a subtle bit of cherry flavour- not over the top at all- but I was kegging so it may well have not been fermented completely out.

Mind posting the recipe?

 

[yankinoz]

Unless otherwise stated, the 14 days in fermenter presumably means in the primary only.

On cherries, it takes a lot. New Glarus, a US brewer of a much-praised beer advertise they use a pound for every 750 mls, (1 kg/1.65 L. They use sour cherries that are medium in flavour, The frozen cherries I've seen in Aussie supermarkets are black sweet cherries from Chile wonderfully and strongly flavoured. Freezing and thawing free the juice pretty thoroughly from cherries. I've brewed with the frozen ones with good results, using about 250g/L..

 

[John Nicolac]

Thanks all for the info, i will opt to add the count & cherries into the Primary after fermentation and then leave them for a few days then begin the cold crash , hopefully, it turns out as good as it sounds.

The recipe is straight from brewfather cherry ripe stout from Pig Den Brewing

 

[John Nicolac]

I wouldn't bother with a secondary, if you pitch the correct amount of yeast (what yeast does it call for?) fermentation should be done by day 7-just open up your fermenter and add the pulped cherries and coconut (contained within a hop sock).

Having used both I can add the following bits of advice.. Coconut- use flaked, shredded or desiccated will swell up a ridiculous amount and absorb a decent amount of beer. Further to that coconut is notorious for blocking taps/ poppets. Toast the coconut flakes in the oven at about 160c to help remove some of the coconut oil, I just spread it thin on some baking paper- keep an eye on it though it only really takes about 10 mins or so.
The coconut in the hop sock will want to float, so weigh it down with something, I used some SS 1.5" tri clamp barbs. I used 1kg in a 23L batch.

Cherries: I bought frozen ones from Woolies from memory, defrosted them, froze them again, pressed them through a stainless sieve, put the pulp in a hop sock- poured the juice straight in to fermenter
Bickfords (I think) has a 100% cherry juice that I believe people have used to good effect, however you add the cherries it does seem to kick fermentation off again- not so big of a deal if you're kegging but if you're bottling or canning it's something to consider.

I let mine go for a couple days and then began the cold crash (about 5c a day), kept it there for about three days once at 1c, retained a subtle bit of cherry flavour- not over the top at all- but I was kegging so it may well have not been fermented completely out.

Mind posting the recipe?

If you use the bickfords 100% cherry juice , is this in conjunction with the pitted cherries ?. And would you pour it straight into fermenter after main ferment 6-7 days) is complete along with coconut and cherry pulp?.. also how much of the bickfords juice would I use ?