Imprint Beer Co.’s Black Forest Cake Stout clone

Imprint Beer Co.’s Black Forest Cake Stout clone

(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.100   FG = 1.028
IBU = 65   SRM = 69   ABV = 9.6%

Ingredients
15.5 lbs. (7 kg) American 2-row pale malt
1.5 lbs. (0.68 kg) Munich malt
1 lb. (0.45 kg) Carafoam® malt
1 lb. (0.45 kg) British chocolate malt (350 °L)
1 lb. (0.45 kg) British crystal malt (65 °L)
1 lb. (0.45 kg) roasted barley
12 oz. (0.34 kg) Carafa® Special III
3 lb. (1.4 kg) Vintner’s Harvest sweet cherry puree
16 AAU Magnum hops (90 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 16% alpha acids)
1.5 lbs. (0.68 kg) Cholaca liquid cacao (original flavor) or 12 oz. (0.34 kg) toasted Ecuadorian cacao nibs
5 Madagascar vanilla beans
Wyeast 1968 (London ESB) or White Labs WLP002 (English Ale) or Lallemand London ESB English-Style Ale yeast
2⁄3 cup corn sugar (if priming)

Step by step
Several days before brewday, scrape open and cut the 5 vanilla beans into 1-inch (2.5-cm) segments and soak in vodka or Bourbon until ready to add to the secondary.

Mill the grains and mix with 6.8 gallons (25.7 L) of 167 °F (75 °C) strike water to reach a mash temperature of 155 °F (68 °C). Hold this temperature for 60 minutes. If you have soft water, you may want to hold off on adding the roasted grains and British crystal malts until the final 15 minutes of the mash. Vorlauf until your runnings are clear. Sparge the grains with enough water to obtain 7 gallons (26.5 L) of wort. At this point, you may want to test the wort’s gravity. The goal should be to have 7 gallons (26.5 L) of 1.072 SG wort at the start of the boil. You can add dried malt extract (DME) at this point if the SG is low or you may want to wait until the beer is in the fermenter. If you wait to add the DME, be sure to add it after fermentation begins to calm down.

Boil the wort for 90 minutes or more, adding hops according to the ingredient list. After the boil, turn off heat and chill the wort to slightly below fermentation temperature, about 65 °F (18 °C). Aerate the wort with pure oxygen or filtered air and pitch yeast. There should be 5 gallons (19 L) of cooled wort in the fermenter. Be sure to have room in your fermenter for the cherry puree.

Ferment at 66 °F (19 °C) for 10 days (adding the fruit puree on day 6), then raise the temperature to 70 °F (21 °C) for 3–4 days. Carefully rack into a secondary vessel containing Cholaca/cacao nibs and vanilla extract, and age to desired taste. Crash the beer to 35 °F (2 °C) for 48 hours. Bottle or keg the beer and carbonate to approximately 2.25 volumes.

Imprint Beer Co.’s Black Forest Cake Stout clone

(5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains)
OG = 1.127   FG = 1.033
IBU = 65   SRM = 69   ABV = 14.6%

Ingredients
11 lbs. (5 kg) extra light dried malt extract
1 lbs. (0.45 kg) Munich dried malt extract
1 lb. (0.45 kg) Carafoam® malt
1 lb. (0.45 kg) British chocolate malt (350 °L)
1 lb. (0.45 kg) British crystal malt (65 °L)
1 lb. (0.45 kg) roasted barley
12 oz. (0.34 kg) Carafa® Special III
3 lb. (1.4 kg) Vintner’s Harvest sweet cherry puree
16 AAU Magnum hops (90 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 16% alpha acids)
1.5 lbs. (0.68 kg) Cholaca liquid cacao (original flavor) or 12 oz. (0.34 kg) toasted Ecuadorian cacao nibs
5 Madagascar vanilla beans
Wyeast 1968 (London ESB) or White Labs WLP002 (English Ale) or Lallemand London ESB English-Style Ale yeast
2⁄3 cup corn sugar (if priming)

Step by step
Bring 4.9 gallons (18.5 L) of water to approximately 162 °F (72 °C) and hold there. Steep milled specialty grains in grain bags for 15 minutes. Remove the grain bags and let drain fully. Add dried malt extract while stirring, and stir until completely dissolved. Bring the wort to a boil.

Boil for 60 minutes, adding hops according to the ingredient list. The remainder of this recipe is the same as the all-grain version.

Tips for Success:
Brewer and Co-Founder Ryan Diehl of Imprint Beer Company in Hatfield, Pennsylvania, says he subscribes to the approach of building a luscious, deep chocolate stout that can stand on its own, and then adding elements specific to the individual beer. Diehl recommends Crisp and Fawcett malts for the grist, and strongly suggests a large yeast starter — this gravity level is tough on the yeast! Or, you may want to repitch yeast from a smaller beer such as a mild ale or ESB. This yeast often attenuates better when it gets repitched. He also says they sometimes boil their pastry stouts for two to four hours, but if doing so be sure to adjust your sparge water to account for greater evaporation.