rwing7486

Recipes 

Was thinking of making my own puree using oregon red tart cherries in water (14.5 oz can) (110z of cherries). anyone else done this before by making a puree and adding it to the secondary? are these already pasteurized and how many cans should i use in the secondary?

Thanks guys

Oldsock

Recipes 

It shouldn't be an issue as long as you sanitize whatever you are using to make the puree. That said, I find purees harder to deal with, I like using whole fruit because it is much easier to get the beer off the fruit.

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bknifefight

Recipes 

I added the whole cherries to the secondary before and it worked great. I wanted a lot of flavor for a Belgian Strong Dark Ale and added 5 cans for a 2.5 gallon batch. It was very nice but less than subtle.

rwing7486

Recipes 

Ya i was thinking about using 8-10 cans for a 5 gallon batch...this is an all grain wheat brew....12 lbs wheat, 8 pounds pale malt, and 2 lbs rice halls.....i split the boil volume into 2 primary fermenters and doing an apple wheat in one and cherry in the other. so using the cherries as whole works just as well as a puree? and do you think 8 cans of 11oz oregon tart cherries should be about right for the secondary fermenter? i dont want an over powering cherry taste, but i want it noticeable.

bknifefight

Recipes 

Your best bet is to add maybe 3 cans, give it a week, draw a sample and see if you want to add more. It's a better idea to do it a little at a time so you don't over do it. My beer was very strong with a lot of flavor so I added a lot. In a wheat ale the cherries would be far more noticable, I think.

rwing7486

Recipes 

after hearing peoples responses i think im going to go with 5-6 cans of the tart cherries....boil them and then add them to the secondary....going to be at about 5.5-6 gallons in the secondary. I am not going to be racking till tomorrow night so any more input today and tomorrow will be greatly apreciated.

madbare

Recipes 

Just dump the cherries and water in the secondary. No need to boil them, they are already sanitized. I used 10 cans of them in a Cherry wheat and it was awesome! Good stuff.

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Fermenting:
none...

Kegged:
Coconut Milk Stout
Sour Cherry Berliner Weiss
Sour Apple Ale 1.0
Original Apfel Wine

Bottled:
Tart Cherry Wine
Sweet Plum Wine
Apfel, Cranberry, Raspberry Wine

On Deck:
none...