Black Forest Lager (chocolate-cherry lager)

Ingredients

5 lbs. (2.23 kg) amber dried malt extract
4 oz. (113 g) Carafa® III malt
4 oz. (113 g) dark crystal malt (90° L)
4 AAU Hallertauer hops (60 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 4% alpha acids)
2 AAU Saaz hops (15 min.) (0.66 oz./19 g at 3% alpha acids)
1 cup dark creme de cocoa
1 cup cherry liqueur White Labs WLP838 (Southern German Lager) or Wyeast 2206 (Bavarian Lager) or Mangrove Jack’s M76 (Bavarian Lager) yeast
1/2 cup corn sugar (if priming)

Step by Step

Steep Carafa® and crystal malts in 3 gallons (11 L) of cold water. Gradually raise heat to 170 °F (77 °C). Remove grains and rinse them back into the pot with 1 gallon (4 L) hot water. Stir in dried malt extract, bring to boil and add Hallertauer hops. Boil 45 minutes, add Saaz hops. Boil 15 minutes, remove from heat, cool 15 minutes. Add to fermenter along with enough chilled, pre-boiled water to make 5.25 gallons (20 L). Cool to 65 °F (18 °C), pitch yeast. Seal and ferment for two weeks at 55 °F (13 °C), then rack to secondary and age at 40 to 45 °F (4 to 7 °C) for a month. Prime with corn sugar if bottling and add liqueurs bottling bucket or directly into the keg.