recipes for sour cherry beer

gmay10 · 06-27-2008, 07:49 PM

I have 2 sour cherry trees in my back yard that have beer written all over them. I am sure I could get at least 30-40 lbs of cherries off the trees. Do any of you know a good 5 gallon extract (not at the all-grain level yet) recipe with sour cherries? I am hoping to get a few recipes that people have already bottled and drank. I have no clue what type of recipe I want to use but, I am finally at the stage of brewing where I can create my own recipes based on what I like. I have never tried a sour cherry beer yet.

Evan! · 06-27-2008, 07:52 PM

I'd make a chocolate stout and add cherries to the primary fermenter. Blanch them first.

You could use my Dark Horse stout recipe, but omit the coffee and the baker's chocolate and just go with a whole container of cocoa powder.

**Brewtopia** · 06-27-2008, 07:53 PM

I brewed a Spiced Cherry Dubbel with 6 lbs of tart cherries and 4lbs of Bing cherries that was outstanding. It would be equally as good with all tart cherries I would think.

Recipe is here - http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f75/spiced-cherry-dubbel-21029/

gmay10 · 06-27-2008, 07:58 PM

I am not looking to make a stout yet. I will probably make a sour cherry stout over the winter so I can lager it. I will put the cherries int he freezer

**the_bird** · 06-27-2008, 08:04 PM

I have a cherry stout of Evan!'s a while back that was pretty tasty. I like the combination of the dark, chocolately roasted malts and the cherries; it's a strong enough beer for the flavor to come through without being overpowering, and the flavors are naturally complementary.

The Blow Leprechaun · 06-27-2008, 08:21 PM

It'll be hard to find a recipe that already uses cherries and is exactly what you want.

A better option is to think about a style of beer, or a beer you've already made, that you think would go really well with some cherries, and then add cherries to it.

Adding fruit to beer is the same whether it's an extract or AG beer, and you have a lot of options about how to do it. Since your cherries are homegrown, you probably want to heat them up somehow to kill off any wild yeasts, so I would suggest getting some pectin enzyme from your homebrew store to get rid of the haze.

gmay10 · 06-27-2008, 08:45 PM

great advice on the heating- I don't really even know when to put them into the wort. I have never made a beer with fruit in it before

the only problem is that I have only made about 5 batches of beer so far. I made a half decent all amber extract/ high hopped beer but the high hops might not be a smart move for a cherry beer. I have never made a wheat beer

sirsloop · 06-27-2008, 08:59 PM

I'd go light on the hops too... the cherries will add tartness that won't work well with a evenly balanced beer.

gmay10 · 06-28-2008, 12:57 AM

I am getting great info but does anyone have any recipes. How much is too much hops? what type of malt to use?

The Blow Leprechaun · 06-28-2008, 11:45 AM

What kind of beer do you think would be good with cherries? I think the cherry dubbel somebody else mentioned sounds good, but I don't have to drink it, so what do you want?

This isn't a paint-by-numbers kinda thing... you don't need a cherry beer recipe, you just need a beer recipe and you can add cherries to it.