I have recently got permission to pick some Nottingham cherrys from a neighbors place. I have a few questions. I think I can find a cherry wheat recipe on here but do you always have to make a wheat beer or can you use a different style? What kind of prep work do I need to do on the cherrys before adding them to a secondary (like mashing the cherrys first or just boiling them?). When should I transfer to the secondary? How many pounds of cherrys should I pick for a 5 gallon batch? Please post some all grain recipes to help me out. Thanks in advance.
Cherry Beer
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william_shakes_beer
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When I do fruit beers, I freeze the fruit first. This helps to break down the cells so that the flavor will be absorbed better. I add the fruit to the secondary, slicing/mashing. Some people make a puree. Before slicing up I'll rinse with hot water, but I'm really not sure if this does anything to kill any bacteria, it just makes me sleep better. Usually adding it to the secondary, after the yeast has done it's business, will produce enough alcohol to kill off anything. I shoot for about 1lb/gal with fruit.
example: this weekend I'm doing a cherry barleywine. 10lbs of cherries, smoking half, all added to the secondary. Hope this helps.
Also, "subscribed" means that he will get notifications when someone replies to the thread.
example: this weekend I'm doing a cherry barleywine. 10lbs of cherries, smoking half, all added to the secondary. Hope this helps.
Also, "subscribed" means that he will get notifications when someone replies to the thread.
You can add cherries to any style. I added them to a robust porter and it was one of the best I've ever brewed. When I added them to the porter I added them after the beer was kegged and chilled and I kept the beer at 40 degrees. This prevented the sugar from fermenting out of the cherries so the sweetness from the cherries remained.
If you add the cherries to the secondary and keep the beer at ale temps the yeast will ferment out most of the sugar from the cherries resulting in a tart cherry flavor. Which is better? Depemds on what you are looking for in the finished beer. When I brew blueberry and watermelon wheat beers I add the fruit to the secondary and keep them at ale temps. The resulting tartness is perfect in the summer.
If you add the cherries to the secondary and keep the beer at ale temps the yeast will ferment out most of the sugar from the cherries resulting in a tart cherry flavor. Which is better? Depemds on what you are looking for in the finished beer. When I brew blueberry and watermelon wheat beers I add the fruit to the secondary and keep them at ale temps. The resulting tartness is perfect in the summer.
My mistake the cherrys are called nanking cherrys. These cherrys are smaller than the normal cherrys I find at the store. I will try to mash them. I was also thinking on putting them in a hop bag so that I could get them out easy. I will also freeze them first. I was thinking I would shoot for 2lbs/gal or so. Some of the research I found is to make a beer that isn't too malty or hopy so that the fruit flavor comes through more. So any recipes that you suggest?
My usual recipee for a fruit beer is:
5.5 gallon batch
5 lbs Pilsner 2-row
5 lbs White Wheat malt
1 oz crystal hops at 60 min
1 oz crystal hops at 15 min
Wyeast 1056 American Ale yeast
I mash at 152 degrees for 60 min.
Crystal hops works great with fruit beers because it is light and herbally. I shoot for abiut 25 ibus. It is just enough for the hops to be noticed withput overpowering the fruit. One of my biggest pet peaves when I try different fruitt beers is too many are all fruit and no beer. They taste like wine coolers. With this recipe you get a nice balance. When I ferment this beer I heep the temp right at 60 degrees which produces very clean fermentation.
Using a hop bag is necessary because the fruit will clog a racking cane. I haven't used this recipee for a cherry beer but it worked great with blueberry abd watermelon. I pureed the fruit and added it to the secondary and kept the beer at 60 degrees. The result was nice tart- dry fruit beers. perfect for the summer.
5.5 gallon batch
5 lbs Pilsner 2-row
5 lbs White Wheat malt
1 oz crystal hops at 60 min
1 oz crystal hops at 15 min
Wyeast 1056 American Ale yeast
I mash at 152 degrees for 60 min.
Crystal hops works great with fruit beers because it is light and herbally. I shoot for abiut 25 ibus. It is just enough for the hops to be noticed withput overpowering the fruit. One of my biggest pet peaves when I try different fruitt beers is too many are all fruit and no beer. They taste like wine coolers. With this recipe you get a nice balance. When I ferment this beer I heep the temp right at 60 degrees which produces very clean fermentation.
Using a hop bag is necessary because the fruit will clog a racking cane. I haven't used this recipee for a cherry beer but it worked great with blueberry abd watermelon. I pureed the fruit and added it to the secondary and kept the beer at 60 degrees. The result was nice tart- dry fruit beers. perfect for the summer.
I played around with cherries for the first time last summer and I went with a wheat. This year I'm trying a Cherry IPA. I fermented the beer in my primary for about two weeks and it's been "dry hoping" with hops and cherries for about a week now and will be kegged this weekend.
I boiled the cherries for about 15 minutes and sanitized my potato masher at the same time, then cooled and mashed the cherries and threw them in the carboy seeds, juice and all. Dropped in the hops and racked the beer on top of the whole thing. I used about 2.5 lbs for a 5 gallon batch only because that's the amount that was given to me. It will probably be a little light on the cherry flavor but it should make for a good experiment. Good luck to you!
I boiled the cherries for about 15 minutes and sanitized my potato masher at the same time, then cooled and mashed the cherries and threw them in the carboy seeds, juice and all. Dropped in the hops and racked the beer on top of the whole thing. I used about 2.5 lbs for a 5 gallon batch only because that's the amount that was given to me. It will probably be a little light on the cherry flavor but it should make for a good experiment. Good luck to you!
I usually rack to the secondary after 2 weeks. I don't use rice hulls because I batch sparge. If the mash gets stuck I give it a quick stir. If you are going to fly sparge and do not want to disturb the grain bed I would use rice hulls.
I would firstly wash the fresh cherries then freeze and secondary. It's worth noting you will lose some beer to the fruit and that the taste can be subtle, you need a fair amount of cherries. I've done it with Porters too with very nice results. The suggested 50% wheat bill looks best if you want the cherries to stand out most. Happy brewing.
Just FYI, you don't have to post to subscribe. Just go to the Thread Tools menu at the top and subscribe there. Cleaner that way.
william_shakes_beer
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But But But..... them I'm not participating I'm lurking I'm not against secondaries,I just haven't done one yet. Does anyone have any experience adding fruit to primary, say 2 weeks into a 4 week ferment? I suspect bottling bucket is a poor option and I've heard foul things about imitation/extract flavoring.
I'm not against secondaries,I just haven't done one yet. Does anyone have any experience adding fruit to primary, say 2 weeks into a 4 week ferment? I suspect bottling bucket is a poor option and I've heard foul things about imitation/extract flavoring.Wildcat_Fan
Member
I just kegged my cherry wheat last weekend. The sample from the secondary was awesome. I picked 2 pounds of cherries from my tree and threw them in whole to the secondary. I let it sit for about 5 weeks. When it was finished, there was a nice tart cherry flavor (the cherries are almost lemon sour when picked) and some residual spiciness from the WLP300 yeast. One unexpected result was that the yeast actually fell out of suspension due the the cherries acting as a fining agent. Guess I ended up with a crystal cherry wheat.
I used Jonas217's recipe except I used American Ale yeast II. Northern Brewer was out of the I yeast. It has been in the primary ferm since Aug. 4th. I am going to put it in the secondary tonight along with about 8 pounds of the cherries. I will keg it on Aug. 26th. I will give an update on taste and color in about a week. Thanks again for the help.
I am making a cherry vanilla milk stout. I am taking it off primary (3weeks) now to the keg to age in my kegator for another two months before serving.
1.5 weeks I added black cherry juice (its a thick juice). 1.5 for the yeast to do its thing. Should come out good.
1.5 weeks I added black cherry juice (its a thick juice). 1.5 for the yeast to do its thing. Should come out good.
Sorry for the slow follow up. I used way too many cherries!! The color is slightly less dark than a tomatoe juice. The taste is less tart and sweet than a grapefuit juice. The first time I had some (after a few beers), I thought this is not the worst beer I have ever had. The 2nd glass I thought it was a little better. A few days later I had a glass (with no prior beers) and thought this is terrible. I actually mixed it with orange juice which made it better. The only reason I have not thrown it out is because I don't have a beer to replace it with yet. If I had to go back now I would have added 2 lbs of cherries max. I will try to post a photo.
cheezydemon3
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subscribed...(as a protest
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cheezydemon3
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Just FYI, you don't have to post to subscribe. Just go to the Thread Tools menu at the top and subscribe there. Cleaner that way.
"Subscribed" in post, is a communication with the OP, somewhere between "You have piqued my interest" and "HOLY EFF YOU ARE A GENIUS!!!!!"
Either way positive and a contribution to the thread IMHO.
THAT BEING SAID.......
If SA can't make it work (not that they are the epitome of brewing, but they are solid and commercially answerable) I am safely content that cherry beer be a BAD idea.....at least to me.
nonetheless subscribed......
My cherry barleywine is coming along quite nicely. I smoked about 5 lbs of cherries and added those plus another 3 lbs of non-smoked cherries (Ranier I believe) to the secondary. It's been sitting on them for almost 2 months now. I pulled a sample last weekend. The smoke flavor is strong but is definitely mellowing out. Fantastic cherry sweetness on the finish. I'll probably let it sit another 3 weeks before I either do a tertiary or keg it for carbonation.
http://imgur.com/a/26YtU for a few pics (sorry for the **** quality)
cheezydemon3
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cheezydemon3
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My "SUBSCRIBED" to your smoked cherry idea was closer to the "you sir are a genius" end of the "subscribed" spectrum.
Damned. Do you have a thread on this barleywine?
Ah nah, I'm too lazy.
cheezydemon3
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Just for spite I re-subscribed you, no erasees.
crushingblackdoom
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cheezydemon3 said:
Dudes. Try this one. I've made it 5 times this summer. Smoked Cherry Ale. Everybody freaks out when they drink it. Even SWMBO's friends who DONT drink beer, won't shut up about it. Just sayin'. Here's what I do:
8lbs Marris Otter
3lbs Cherrywood Smoked Malt
1oz EKG/Fuggles/Willamette @60 mins
3-4lbs frozen cherries, thawed, sitting in a big mesh bag, in a big bowl. @10mins
Brew your beer. Do your thing. You'll know it's gonna rule when you smell your first runnings! Do your hop addition. At 10mins, add your cherries. The 10 mins is really to balance the kettle temp upon adding cherries. I like to boil the cherries for 5 mins, remove them in the bag into a clean tupperware WITH residual wort. So, lift that sack, dripping wort, into a Tupperware. Cool it and store, covered.
Ferment as usual. When things slow down, maybe a week later, toss the contents of that Tupperware into the fermenter with a little weight.
Note: I re-pasteurize the cherries before re-adding, just to be safe. Then I put a couple heavy bottomed pint glasses into the bag as a weight.
Toss that badass package right into your fermenter, I use buckets, shake gently, and watch a second ferment start up immediately.
I primarily use S04 for these brews. I personally really enjoy the dryness of the yeast with the cherries. This beer is a bit tart, a lil dry, a lil crispy and quite refreshing.
PS: I never secondary. I've repitched the yeast into different brews with great results. I really hate sweet beer, so I make this one to be dry & a lil tart. It may not suit you, but it's definately gets interesting feedback. Everyone seems to have an opinion on this one.
Opiate42
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So what is the best way to prepare cherries for the secondary? Thinking of making a cherry wheat soon as my first crack at a fruit beer.
Been seeing a lot of options, I'm hesitant to boil as I'm afraid that will leech out the flavours and sugars.
What does freezing do exactly?
Want to go with puree but wondering the best way to sanitize to ensure they don't contaminate my brew!
Been seeing a lot of options, I'm hesitant to boil as I'm afraid that will leech out the flavours and sugars.
What does freezing do exactly?
Want to go with puree but wondering the best way to sanitize to ensure they don't contaminate my brew!
BearNP
Member
Freezing the cherries will break the cell walls and better allow the Cherrie flavor to get into your beer.
