Beer Recipe - Belgian Cherry Blonde

The first time I made this recipe, it was an extract recipe.  I made ten gallons, and split it into two fermenters and only added cherries to half of it.  Without the fruit, it makes a good Belgian style blonde ale.  With the fruit, it takes on an entirely different life.  At first, it seemed a bit bitter due to the hop additions.  When it aged a bit, though, it turned into an amazing beer.  It had effervescent carbonation and a tart flavor that made it more like champagne than beer, and really had a knockout cherry essence that only got better with age.

There are a couple of things to keep in mind when you are brewing with fruit, though:

• Make sure you do what you can to give your yeast the advantage it needs to ferment out before any wild yeast or bacteria kick in and start eating the good sugars.  To do this, let the primary fermentation finish before adding the cherries. It also really helps if you deep freeze your cherries for a while before you use them.  After they’ve been frozen for a couple of weeks, you can set them in the fridge to thaw for a day or two before adding them to your secondary fermenter.  Then, more magic happens and the healthy yeast get to eat the sugar in your cherries.
• Allow time for the sugars to ferment out of the fruit, as well.  It might even be a good idea to rack the beer off of the fruit into a third fermenter and allow it to finish out before you bottle.  Bottling with extra sugar in the beer will only lead to exploding bottles, which are not just sad and messy, they’re also dangerous.  When I’ve made this beer, I’ve had great success with just the secondary fermenter, but you want to make sure the yeast eat as much sugar as possible before bottling.  For that reason, I recommend giving plenty of time before bottling.
• Feel free to substitute fruit puree for the fruit, if you prefer.  It will speed up the secondary fermentation by increasing the surface area of the fruit and making those sugars easier to get to.  Your yeast will appreciate it.  I recommend Oregon Fruit puree if you’re going to do it this way.  I use fresh frozen and whole fruit for my fruit beers, but that’s just because I’m usually not in a hurry.

Without further ado, here is both the extract and all-grain versions of the recipe:

Belgian Blonde Tart – All Grain
Recipe Type: All-grain
Batch size: 5 gallons
Volume boiled: 6 gallons
Original Gravity: 1.058
Final Gravity: 1.010
Color: 4.44 SRM
Bitterness: 22.3 IBU
Alcohol: 6.4% ABV (plus the fermentables in the fruit – probably ends up closer to 8%)

Ingredients:
8 lbs. Belgian Pils malt
1 lbs. Belgian cara-pils
1.5 lbs. sugar (Belgian candi sugar or table sugar)
1 oz. hallertau pellets (4.50% AA) totaling 4.5 AAU, boiled 90 minutes
1 tsp Irish Moss
5 lbs. Tart cherries
Yeast: Belgian Ale Yeast (White Labs WLP550, Wyeast 1214, or your preference)

Procedure:
Mash at 149 F for one hour.  Mash out at 170 F and sparge with 180 F water to make 6 gallons.  Heat to boiling and add your hops.  Boil 75 minutes, and then add 1 tsp Irish Moss.  Boil 5 minutes and add your sugar.  Cool as quickly as possible to 70 F, rack to primary fermenter and pitch your yeast.  After 7-10 days, add the fruit to your secondary fermenter and rack the beer onto the fruit.  Ferment another 2-4 weeks minimum, and make sure the fermentation is done.  You can then rack it to a third set of fermenters for a few days to let it finish or, if you’re sure it’s done fermenting, simply prime and bottle using corn sugar or more of the candi or cane sugar.

Belgian Blonde Tart – Extract w/grain
Recipe Type: Extract w/ grain
Batch size: 5 gallons
Volume boiled: 6 gallons
Original Gravity: 1.058
Final Gravity: 1.010
Color: 4.44 SRM
Bitterness: 22.3 IBU
Alcohol: 6.4% ABV (plus the fermentables in the fruit – probably ends up closer to 8%)

Ingredients:
6 lbs. Belgian Pils malt
1 lbs. Belgian cara-pils
1.5 lbs. sugar (Belgian candi sugar or table sugar)
1 oz. hallertau pellets (4.50% AA) totaling 4.5 AAU, boiled 90 minutes
1 tsp Irish Moss
5 lbs. Tart cherries
Yeast: Belgian Ale Yeast (White Labs WLP550, Wyeast 1214, or your preference)

Procedure:
Place the cara-pils into straining bag or cheesecloth bag and drop in 6 gallons of water.  Heat water to 149 degrees and steep for 30 minutes.  Remove the grains and top up water to make 6 gallons.  Heat to boiling and add your hops.  Boil 75 minutes, and then add 1 tsp Irish Moss.  Boil 5 minutes and add your sugar.  Cool as quickly as possible to 70 F, rack to primary fermenter and pitch your yeast.  After 7-10 days, add the fruit to your secondary fermenter and rack the beer onto the fruit.  Ferment another 2-4 weeks minimum, and make sure the fermentation is done.  You can then rack it to a third set of fermenters for a few days to let it finish or, if you’re sure it’s done fermenting, simply prime and bottle using corn sugar or more of the candi or cane sugar.