How long can you leave a sour on fruit?

I've been leaving my sours on fruit about 8 months. Is this too long or too short.

Do they taste ok? That's really all that matters. Conventional advice says after six months or so the fruit flavor reaches its peak and then starts to decline but you know what your beers taste like. If the fruit flavor starts to get mute or bland, then it's too long.

The beers are excellent, but I have difficulty identifying the fruit flavors in them.

Then it's either not enough fruit or it's sitting too long.

I let my krieks sit on the fruit (with pits) for at least a year. A nice subtle cherry flavor.

avidhomebrewer said:

I let my krieks sit on the fruit (with pits) for at least a year. A nice subtle cherry flavor.

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Thanks, makes me feel easier. I just put some on some cherries (with the pits).

If you can't ID the fruit in a FRESH sour, then you aren't using enough. How many lbs/gallon are you using? Typically, you should use 2 lbs/gallon for a good fruit flavor, and never less than 1 lb/gallon. All sours will lose the actual fruit flavor after they age, but when they're fresh (think fresh Kriek Marriage Parfait or the like), you should really be able to ID the flavor. I typically rack after ~8-10 months onto fruit and let it sit until it tastes good...there is absolutely no definite time period...it depends on temperature, acidity, alcohol %, bacteria count/type and tons of other things. After racking onto fruit, I typically start tasting after ~5 months and bottle/keg when its ready.