Brew Day!

[Nosybear]

Off to brew a strong Scottish ale with a twist: Cocoa in the mash (4 Oz), three pounds of cherry puree a couple days into primary, a half to a whole vanilla bean to finish. Think black forest cake in a glass....

 

[MrBIP]

This sounds interesting.. how's it coming?

 

[Nosybear]

Absolutely freakin' yummy! It's in secondary and will stay there for another couple of weeks at room temp to clean everything up. I got the vanilla in there on Friday - soak one bean in 30 ml vodka overnight and added 10 ml of the resulting tincture - just enough. Everything came together.... It doesn't taste like a Black Forest Cake but it does remind you of one. The original had dark fruit flavors (currant, cherry) despite having no fruit added, this one doesn't disappoint. It's sweet and thick with a FG of 1.03, the original recipe took gold at the GABF this year and it's strong enough to stand up to the spices and fruits at 9.5% ABV. I'll share....

http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/r ... -wee-heavy

Options are to brew it straight, delicious in itself, or to add the flavors and spices I used.

 

[MrBIP]

Looks and sounds awesome.