Cherry Wit/Wheat beer

I'm looking for some guidance on adding real (or frozen) cherries to a batch of wheat beer I made. Very simple recipe for an upcoming picnic. I say simple because it is 55% 2-row and 45% flaked wheat. Well, I want to make this a cherry wheat. I used Fermentis WB-06 dry wheat yeast. I hit my OG spot on at 1.057. One week later, I'm at 1.012. I've got a little more fermentation to go. I'm at the high end of the "style" final gravity according to BeerSmith.

I'm looking at putting cherries in the secondary for a week. I'm probably going to use frozen cherries, but I'm curious as to how much. I've read 2 lbs is good, but I've also seen recipes for as much as 5 lbs. This picnic is a 1 year old's birthday party that will be 60% women, beer drinking women. The guys will be drinking the same beer. I was thinking about 2.5 lbs of frozen sour cherries. If I can't find sour, can sweet be used? What can I do from keeping this from making my beer taste like wine or cough syrup? Can I prevent this beer from turning pink or red? Is it possible to kill the remaining yeast off so it doesn't ferment the cherries, but instead the cherries just impart flavor into the beer?

I've searched and searched, but I'm not finding too much in regards to a cherry wheat/wit beer...

Thanks in advance to anyone who may be able to assist me...

Steve

No one has an opinion or an idea to help a fellow brewer out?

2-3 lbs of cherries would be a good amount. i would pit and slice them in half and then throw them all in secondary for 2 weeks. you don't want to kill the yeast because then you wont be able to bottle condition. unless you force carb in a keg then you could use potassium sorbate to kill the yeast. kind of like winemakers do. can't do a whole lot about color. i would assume any type of cherries would work.

I recently did a Belgian Strong Dark Ale and used 2 lbs of Oregon tart cherries per gallon. I left them in the beer for 3 weeks and it didn't give a ton of flavor but a nice hint. Granted, a wheat beer is much lighter, the cherries should come out more in flavor and less should be used. Remember, it is always better to use too little than too much. I would personally go with 5 lbs and give it a try.

Well, I was looking at Wal-Mart for frozen cherries, and couldn't find any. So, I decided to go down the "canned fruit" area and low and behold they sell canned Oregon Cherries. I bought 5 cans, which hold 11 oz. of cherries. My plan is to put these in a sanitized stainless steel container, and briefly smash them with a potato masher, to open them up a bit and add them to the secondary and rack on top of them. My question is, do I drain the water that is in the can with the cherries or should I keep that sweet nectar and pour that in the secondary as well?

Does Beersmith give me the option of adding cherries to the fermentables list, to help me figure out the ABV a little more accurately? I'm sure fermentation is going to take off again, albeit briefly...

Go onto the beersmith website they have an add on you can download for different fruit.

Your process sounds fine for adding the cherries. I had added the liquid too when I did mine. You are right to think it will start fermenting again, although only for a few days. How long do you intend on leaving the beer on the cherries or will you taste it as you go?