Jamil's Black Forest Stout

[skee1080]

i'm preparing to brew jamil's black forest stout from his specialty beer show, and was hoping for some guidance from people who might've brewed it already. the recipe calls for:
10 lb Pale LME
1/2 lb Chocolate Malt
3/4 lb Black Roasted Barley
10 oz Crystal 40
10 oz Crystal 80
2.1 oz Kent Goldings (5% AA) for 60 min
8 oz Cocoa Powder last minute of boil
2 cans (98 oz) Oregon Cherry Puree

jamil suggests starting with 7 gallons in the kettle and there will be 6 gallons left after boiling. rack 5.5 to the fermenter for a finished volume of 5 gallons. my questions are the following:
1. after steeping my grains, how long should i boil for? 60 minutes and add the hops at the beginning or do a 90 minute boil?
2. how long should the beer remain in the primary before i rack to the secondary (cherry puree goes in the secondary)?...i was thinking 1 week
3. how long should the beer remain in the secondary before i prime and bottle?...i was thinking 2 weeks

any other help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated...thanks!

[noremorse1]

Boil for 60 minutes. Hops go in as soon as your boil starts.

Use the 1-2-3 method here. 1 week in primary, 2 weeks in secondary, 3 weeks in keg/bottle. If you bottle condition I would recommend a temperature of about 68 degrees. Yes, rack on top of the cherry puree.

I plan on doing this recipe but, having roots in Michigan, my cherrys will be from Traverse City, MI.

[skee1080]

Thanks for the quick reply! Good luck brewing yours--I'll be brewing on Thanksgiving day!

[Andy]

I just bottled a split batch of 3 gallons of JZs Black Forest Stout and 3 gallons plain stout without the chocolate and cherries about a month ago. I was going to use the Oregon Cherry Puree as well, but accidentally found some imported European sour cherries at a local Russian grocery store, so I pureed them, and stuck the puree in the freezer during primary fermentation to break up the cells. After about 10 days in primary I funneled the thawed puree into the secondary, racked the beer and most of the chocolate on top, and let it sit for about a month as I tend to fall into "the longer in secondary the better" camp, especially where fruit and/or chocolate are concerned as the intention is to get as much out of these additions as possible. Fermentation was between 65F and 68F throughout. Though mine turned out very good I think the suggested 1-2-3 method would work out just as well. Hope this helps a little!

[dunleav1]

I just tapped the JZs cherry chocolate stout I brewed about 4 weeks ago.
The chocolate comes through great, but the cherries are barely there if at all.
Note: chocolate and cherries for 10 days in secondary.
Maybe the cherries will come through when this beer gets a little age on it.

[brewinhard]

Both chocolate and cherries (puree) benefit from longer aging than you think. I would start at 1 mos. minimum. Taste, then go from there. I wouldn't be surprised that 2 mos. in a carboy might be best providing you don't have a huge yeast cake for autolysis to occur on the bottom.