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**Brandon O** · 05-29-2009, 05:09 PM

Any reccomendations on which kind of cherry to pair with some nice long 7" beans? I could go with Bing cherries, or tart cherries....what say ye?

I was thinking the tart cherries would make a great small mead, say 8% or so.

5 gallon batch.

6 lbs of tart cherries
6 lbs of OB honey
nutrient and engergizer
champagne yeast

Also thinking the bing cherries would go with the vanilla better.

5 gallon batch.

10 lbs of bing cherries
10 lbs of OB honey
2 7" madagascar vanilla beans split
nutrient and energizer
champagne yeast

Not sure if 2 beans will be too much or not enough. Anyone have experience with vanilla bean potency?

KingBrianI · 05-29-2009, 05:11 PM

Definitely tart. Much more cherry flavor in them.

**Brandon O** · 05-29-2009, 05:16 PM

Sweet!!!!!!!!

svengoat · 05-29-2009, 06:13 PM

humm I have some whole vanilla beans here too... Are you crushing them or just seeping them whole in the fermentor?

Aleforge · 05-29-2009, 06:16 PM

Does anyone know of a good place to buy beans? Local store just started carrying them and they are around 8 bucks each. Was wondering if there was an online options to save some money.

Side note anyone grow their own? Talk about making a killing, I was reading about it and you need a warm, indirect light, humid area. However they grow 25 feet in length and need to be hand pollinated.... lol

summersolstice · 05-29-2009, 08:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brandon O

Any reccomendations on which kind of cherry to pair with some nice long 7" beans? I could go with Bing cherries, or tart cherries....what say ye?

Not sure if 2 beans will be too much or not enough. Anyone have experience with vanilla bean potency?

I believe tart cherries make much better wine and mead - even when backsweetened to make a sweet tart mead (yummy!). Two vanilla beans should be enough in 5 gallons -in the secondary, right? Split them open and drop them in the carboy.

SpaceInvadingMonkeys · 05-29-2009, 11:33 PM

Two vanilla beans should be plenty at that length. I am assuming that they are dry because it is exceedingly difficult to find fresh, non-dry vanilla beans in the states.
My parents picked up a bunch from a vanilla plantation in Tahiti. Those beans did not even begin to compare to the dry ones bought here. The flavour was so powerful and delicious. It was amazing.

gratus fermentatio · 05-30-2009, 01:25 AM

+3 on tart cherries having much more flavour. Though you could do both sweet AND tart cherries for more depth; it's just an idea. Regards, GF.
EDIT: If you don't already have one, get yourself a cherry pitter, it will pay for itself the 1st time you use it. I got one like this & it works GREAT! http://www.lehmans.com/store/Kitchen___Helpers_and_Accessories___Peelers_and_Pi tters___Lehman_s_Best_Cherry_Pitter___17106?Args=

summersolstice · 05-30-2009, 12:28 PM

There's really no need to pit your cherries. I spent about a half hour pitting some last summer and decided to research the whole pit thing. I discovered that many people weren't pitting their cherries so I stopped since it's a messy PITA. I used the pitted cherries in the primary and unpitted in the secondary. The mead turned out to be delicious. These really were bright red cherries when they went in the secondary. The color's been leached out into the mead.

armorshell · 05-30-2009, 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by summersolstice

There's really no need to pit your cherries. I spent about a half hour pitting some last summer and decided to research the whole pit thing. I discovered that many people weren't pitting their cherries so I stopped since it's a messy PITA. I used the pitted cherries in the primary and unpitted in the secondary. The mead turned out to be delicious. These really were bright red cherries when they went in the secondary. The color's been leached out into the mead.

I was going to ask if they were Rainier cherries. Great label art, is that homebrewed as well?