Torchiest
Well-Known Member
I just finished racking my porter off of the cherries into tertiary, and oh my god it was the most aggravating beer event I've had to date. Everything was smooth sailing until I got about 2/3 of the way down.
Then things started to slow significantly, and finally stop. I pulled the racking out and, sure enough, it was clogged with cherry bits. I shook them free and started again. It wasn't long until it locked up again. Pulled it out, shook it loose, tried again, but I couldn't make anymore progress.
I tried tilting the carboy over, and got a LITTLE more, but not much. I was sucking a lot of air in, which was freaking me out on the oxidation tip, so I just gave up on the last gallon and called it done.
I carried the secondary carboy into the bathroom for clean up, and I can see tons of cherries floating all over the place. I had some minor difficulties when I used raspberries, but they all either floated or sunk. It appeared as though the cherries did the same thing, but apparently, they like to wander the countryside.
So I tried to siphon a bit for a gravity reading, and I couldn't even get any beer for that, no matter how hard I pumped. I just got a load of foam. Finally I tried just pouring some beer into a glass to get a reading, and it was a bit chunky mess of cherry-infested glop.
I do NOT plan on using cherries any time soon. Raspberries were tough, but manageable. These were a ***** to get into the carboy, and the beer was a ***** to get out, so no more cherries for me. Let this be a warning for others.
Now I'm paranoid about using anything besides the proven raspberries. I was planning on using blueberries in my next beer; does anyone have good or bad experience with them?
Then things started to slow significantly, and finally stop. I pulled the racking out and, sure enough, it was clogged with cherry bits. I shook them free and started again. It wasn't long until it locked up again. Pulled it out, shook it loose, tried again, but I couldn't make anymore progress.
I tried tilting the carboy over, and got a LITTLE more, but not much. I was sucking a lot of air in, which was freaking me out on the oxidation tip, so I just gave up on the last gallon and called it done.
I carried the secondary carboy into the bathroom for clean up, and I can see tons of cherries floating all over the place. I had some minor difficulties when I used raspberries, but they all either floated or sunk. It appeared as though the cherries did the same thing, but apparently, they like to wander the countryside.
So I tried to siphon a bit for a gravity reading, and I couldn't even get any beer for that, no matter how hard I pumped. I just got a load of foam. Finally I tried just pouring some beer into a glass to get a reading, and it was a bit chunky mess of cherry-infested glop.
I do NOT plan on using cherries any time soon. Raspberries were tough, but manageable. These were a ***** to get into the carboy, and the beer was a ***** to get out, so no more cherries for me. Let this be a warning for others.
Now I'm paranoid about using anything besides the proven raspberries. I was planning on using blueberries in my next beer; does anyone have good or bad experience with them?