Gnomeberry Hollow Cherry Porter
If you follow SheppyBrew at all, you probably have read that I want to concentrate more on my BJCP Goal in 2025.
As of the time I'm developing this recipe, if I'm counting correctly, I've brewed 84 of the 108 styles in the 2021 BJCP Style Guidelines. Since the beginning of the 2025, I've already brewed 6 new BJCP styles (7 if you include Tasman Pilsner).
I have my Roll-a-Style list, which helps me keep track of styles that I still need to brew.
The idea is that I use a 20-sided online die to decide which style to brew next.
In late-ish July, I was killing time one day and thought I'd spend time coming up with a new recipe.
I rolled my 20-sided online die, and rolled a 10 ...
... which corresponds to 29C. Specialty Fruit Beer.
"A Specialty Fruit Beer is a Fruit Beer with some additional ingredients, such as fermentable sugars (e.g., honey, brown sugar, invert sugar), sweeteners (e.g., lactose), adjuncts, alternative grains, or other special ingredients added, or some additional process applied. A Specialty Fruit Beer can use any style within the Fruit Beer category as a base style (currently, 29A, 29B, or 29D)."
This style is wide-open for interpretation. I decided to ask ChatGPT for ideas ...
My favorite of the ideas was
?? Dark & Mythic: “Gnomeberry Hollow”
Base Style: English Porter
Fruit: Blueberries
Vibe: Smooth roast meets tart berry complexity
Story: Set in a misty glen where gnomes distill forest magic. Tap handle could feature a gnome alchemist with glowing blueberry beakers.
Together, we (mostly me) came up with this recipe.
“Gnomeberry Hollow” seems very much like a halloween-y name, and currently I'm planning on waiting until closer to October to brew this, but I guess we'll see.
When I went to buy ingredients, my LHBS did not have Blueberry puree, and out of the fruit puree they had the dark sweet cherry puree seemed like the best match to a porter style of beer. So, this went from a Blueberry Porter to a Cherry Porter.
For more about this beer, see Sheppy's Blog: Gnomeberry Hollow
| Gnomeberry Hollow --- Batch 1 (382) |
| Style | Specialty Fruit Beer | Batch Size | 5.50 gal | |||
| Type | All Grain | Boil Size | 6.60 gal | |||
| Brewhouse Efficiency | 65.00 | Boil Time | 60 minutes |
Recipe Characteristics
| Recipe Gravity | 1.060 SG | Estimated FG | 1.013 SG | ||||
| Recipe Bitterness | 27.6 IBUs (Rager) | Alcohol by Volume | 6.3 % | ||||
| BU : GU | 0.458 | ||||||
| Recipe Color | 40.2 SRM |
|
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| Measured OG: | 1.062 | Measured FG: | |||||
| ADF: | Measured ABV: |
Ingredients
| Amt | Name | Type | # | %/IBU | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7.94 gal | Denver, Colorado | Water | 1 | - | - |
| 5.00 g | Calcium Chloride (Mash) | Water Agent | 2 | - | - |
| 2.00 g | Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash) | Water Agent | 3 | - | - |
| 9 lbs | Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) | Grain | 4 | 59.0 % | 0.70 gal |
| 12.0 oz | CaraRye (65.0 SRM) | Grain | 5 | 4.9 % | 0.06 gal |
| 12.0 oz | Chocolate Malt (Simpsons) (430.0 SRM) | Grain | 6 | 4.9 % | 0.06 gal |
| 8.0 oz | Crystal, Medium (Simpsons) (55.0 SRM) | Grain | 7 | 3.3 % | 0.04 gal |
| 8.0 oz | Midnight Wheat Malt (550.0 SRM) | Grain | 8 | 3.3 % | 0.04 gal |
| 1.000 oz | Magnum [13.20 %] - Boil 30.0 min | Hop | 9 | 27.6 IBUs | - |
| 1.00 Items | Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) | Fining | 10 | - | - |
| 3 lbs | Cherry Puree [Primary] (10.0 SRM) | Sugar | 11 | 19.7 % | 0.33 gal |
| 12.0 oz | Honey [Primary] (1.0 SRM) | Sugar | 12 | 4.9 % | 0.06 gal |
| 1.0 pkg | SafAle English Ale (DCL/Fermentis #S-04) [23.66 ml] | Yeast | 13 | - | - |
Mash Profile
| Name | Description | Step Temperature | Step Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saccharification | Add 31.77 qt of water at 162.9 F | 156.0 F | 45 min |
| Heat | Heat to 158.0 F over 10 min | 158.0 F | 15 min |
| Mash Out | Heat to 170.0 F over 7 min | 170.0 F | 10 min |
If steeping, remove grains, and prepare to boil wort
Recipe Notes
Cherry Puree ... 200 g of sugar. Should contribute around 5 points of fermentable sugars.
From Denver water, salts puts water profile at
Ca=92Mg=8,Na=21,SO4=88,Cl=104,HCO3=104
Boil as directed.
Chill water to as close to 60F as possible.
Add fruit and honey directly into the fermenter
Pitch yeast and ferment in low 60's for first 2 days.
After main fermentation is done let temperature rise to room temp. Let total fermentation go a total of 2 weeks.
Brewing Record
| Brew Date: | Strike Temp: | |||||
| Mash Temps: | ||||||
| Pre-boil OG | (1.046 SG) | Pre-boil Vol | (6.60 gal) | |||
| Actual Mash Efficiency | Pitch Temp | |||||
| Fermentation | ||||||
| Day 1: | ||||||
| Day ... | ||||||
| Day ... | ||||||
9/24/2025 Need to think about brewing this.
10/13/2025 Picked up ingredients today at the Brew Hut. Probably will be this coming weekend.
10/19/2025 Brew day today went well. Up before 6. Mash done before going to church and let the water heat up while away. OG 1.062 after honey and fruit added. Done with brew day around 11:10.
10/20/2025 There is some bubbling this, but not really looking like it will take off. I'm thinking about adding another package of yeast. I hydrated the yeast yesterday and it looked a little weird to me, so I'm not 100% sure the original pack was good. I'll give this a couple of hours and see if I get the typical signs. Luckily, I have the option of adding another pack.
10/21/2025 Going strong this morning. Tilt says 1.033 at 68.
10/22/2025 Still bubbling some, but the krausen is completely gone now. Tilt says 1.018 at 68. I may keg this early.
10/23/2025 Yeah ... this looks pretty much done. It will be interesting to see if Tilt gravity falls any between now and whenever I keg. Currently, Tilt says 1.016 at 68. I want to use this yeast in my X-Mas Ale, so I might wait to keg on that brew day.