Recipe

O’Fallon Brewery’s Cherry Chocolate Beer

Cherry Chocolate Beer clone
(O’Fallon Brewery, Missouri)

(5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains)
OG = 1.051 FG = 1.010
IBU = 16 SRM = 22 ABV = 5.3%

Ingredients
3.3 lbs. (1.5 kg) Briess Light liquid malt extract
2.2 lbs. (1.0 kg) Briess Wheat dried malt extract
9.0 oz. (0.26 kg) CaraPils (dextrin) malt
9.0 oz. (0.26 kg) crystal malt (40 °L)
5.0 oz. (0.14 kg) chocolate malt
0.5 oz. (14 g) Durkee liquid chocolate extract (alcohol base)
2.0 oz. (57 g) Cellar Pro natural cherry fruit flavoring
1 tsp Irish moss (15 mins)
2.8 AAU German Northern Brewer hops (60 min.) (0.33 oz./9.2 g of 8.5% alpha acid)
2.4 AAU German Northern Brewer hops (30 min.) (0.25 oz./7 g of 8.5% alpha acid)
White Labs WLP029 (German Ale/Kölsch) or Wyeast 2565 (Kölsch) yeast
O.75 cup of corn sugar (for priming)

Step by Step
Steep the 3 crushed malts in 3 gallons (11 L) of water at 155 ºF (68 ºC) for 30 minutes. Remove grains from wort, add the malt syrup and dry malt extract and bring to a boil. Add the first addition of Northern Brewer hops, Irish moss and boil for 60 minutes. Add the last addition of Northern Brewer hops for the last 30 minutes of the boil. There are no finishing hops in this recipe. Now add wort to 2 gallons (7.6 L) cool water in a sanitary fermenter, and top off with cool water to 5.5 gallons (20.9 L). Cool the wort to 75 ºF (24 ºC), aerate the beer and pitch your yeast. Allow the beer to cool over the next few hours to 65 ºF (18 ºC), and hold at this temperature until the beer has finished fermenting. Add the chocolate and cherry flavors to the beer on bottling day when you add the priming sugar. Then bottle and enjoy!

All-grain option:
This is a single step infusion mash. Your grain bill will be 6.33 lbs. (2.9 kg) pale 2-row malt, 2.75 lbs. (1.2 kg) wheat malt, 9 oz. (252 g) dextrin malt, 9 oz. (252 g) crystal malt (40 ºL), and 5.0 oz. (0.14 kg) chocolate malt. Mash crushed grains at 156 ºF (69 ºC) for 60 minutes. Collect enough wort to boil for 90 minutes and have a 5.5-gallon (21-L) yield (about 7 gallons/26 L).

According the O’Fallon Brewery’s website, “O’Fallon Cherry Chocolate is a dark wheat beer that tastes like a chocolate covered cherry…only better! We use four kinds of grain along with natural cherry and chocolate flavors for a smooth, delicious brew …the perfect sipping beer for the cooler winter months.”