Hernando

Recipes 

I am going to be putting a trappist ale on 4 lbs. of black cherries and four pounds on tart cherries.

The only place in Colorado that sales frozen tart cherries here is holding them to make their own pies. I can't find any suppliers online that have any available due to the crops taking a hit this year.

What I can find is:
Dried tart cherries but they are coated in sunflower oil.
Canned tart cherries in water.

I was wanting to avoid the dried cherries because of the oil. Leaving the only option as the canned in water cherries. Does anyone know if I would need more or less canned cherries to get the same effect? And do I still need to freeze the canned cherries? I assume since they are canned I could drain and add the the secondary.

__________________
"If you looked at the yeast under a microscope, you'd see lots of leather skirts, whips, & chains". ~Sam Calagione
Mountain Boxers Brewing

JNEL73

Recipes 

Look in to cherry republic out of Michigan they have dried cherries and cherries in the can that should be fine. Will use them in my lambic later this year.

thrillhouse

Recipes 

I was looking for tart cherries recently. Whole Foods sold organic dried cherries without the oil, but it was ridiculously expensive, something like $7.99 for 1/2 pound.

gratus fermentatio

Recipes 

You might try this:
http://www.rwknudsenfamily.com/products/just-juice/organic-just-tart-cherry/
I've used it with good results in wine. The trick will be calculating how much juice is = to how much fresh/frozen fruit.
Regards, GF.

ReverseApacheMaster

Recipes 

I have also used it with very good results. It will thin out your beer because you're adding a lot of water to it but the flavor is excellent. You can probably find tart cherry concentrate at local health/organic stores. If not, it is certainly available online (although pricey).

Those canned cherries you find at the grocery store are worthless for beer. They have most of the color and flavor stripped out of them before canning because the juice is mostly lost to the pitting and canning process. They make good food because you're eating the fruit but that isn't helpful here.

Do any local stores sell the Oregon tart cherry puree? That would be a useful option as well.

BBBF

Recipes 

Last weekend I dumped a bottle of tart cherry wine into a keg of spontanious fermented, rye beer. You could always give that a shot.

agusus

Recipes 

http://www.amazon.com/Oregon-Fruit-Pitted-Cherries-14-5-Ounce/dp/B000I6625I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1343886008&sr=8-1&keywords=oregon+tart+cherries
Just ordered some of those for my kriek.

Hernando

Recipes 

Hey, thanks all! I Think i will go the canned route. or maybe boil off some of the water from the organic juice. I love that stuff to drink. I was able to find some frozen tarts but they aren't shipping them till November; they only ship in colder weather.

I did checkout the cherry republic and they are a bit pricey as well and I am unsure if they coat their cherries in oil. Most dried cherries are coated.

If I go the juice route and reduce it, I will let you all know how it goes.

__________________
"If you looked at the yeast under a microscope, you'd see lots of leather skirts, whips, & chains". ~Sam Calagione
Mountain Boxers Brewing

eastoak

Recipes 

i used those cherries and won't use them again. there are smaller cherry farms selling dried cherries without oil but i'll have to dig for the link.

EDIT: found one and there are more. http://northstarorganics.com/dried-tart-cherries-5-lbs/

Hernando

Recipes 

Thanks Eastoak. Out of curiousity, what issue did you have using the canned cherries; and was it an issue with this particular brand?

__________________
"If you looked at the yeast under a microscope, you'd see lots of leather skirts, whips, & chains". ~Sam Calagione
Mountain Boxers Brewing