Cherry (and other) Juice Concentrate

I've been looking for a "better way" to fruit my meads, and after seeing some commercials/ads, I saw some Cherry Juice Concentrate online. It's expensive (like $15/qt) but in concentrated form - I'm wondering if it would work. 2 qts of concentrate is supposedly equivalent to 45 POUNDS of Cherries...

They say the concentrate is 68 brix (I don't have Beersmith around to do the conversion).

Considering a can of Oregon Puree cherries is something like ~10-15 per can, and I used 2 cans in my cherry mead and it only has a slightly pronounced cherry flavor, any ideas how much of concentrate would be needed to produce the same effect?

I'm thinking it's even better than the puree, because there's no sludge to worry about or pitting of the cherries to do, so it's 100% gain directly into the fermenter with no racking loss from sludge.

Has anyone used anything like this previously? What sort of amounts am I looking at for use in something like a cherry mead? Could I get away with a few ounces of this super concentrate per batch and be able to flavor maybe 2 batches per QT? If so, this is super economical in comparison to the puree...

I used a half gallon of a 68brix concentrate in a low gravity belgian wheat ale. It was very strong on cherry, like New Glarus Belgian Red strong on cherry, and people absolutly loved it. I would say that keg went faster than any other beer I have ever brewed.

I did it once- I used a cherry concentrate that you'd use for making juice by diluting with water. It was a good brand, and it made good juice.

The final results were not good. It came out harsh and astringent, even though I only used enough of the juice to add about 10 points to the OG. I'm not sure why- it just wasn't very good. After a couple of years in the bottle, that wine has that "off" taste. It's improved, but it's still not right.

Something about a half gallon of concentrate in a wheat sounds like it's almost a cherry bomb. I was hoping that in super concentrated form, I'd only need a quart or less to achieve the same/more as the puree...

I did a pomegranate/cherry wine using the 68Brix concentrates, and it came out fine. I used this stuff http://www.brownwoodacres.com/cherry_juice_concentrate.php but you can use any stuff you can find. Just make sure the concentrate has no preservatives (label should say 100% juice). Yeast doesn't like preservatives. I think a full quart of the stuff will be more than enough for one batch. Just make your wort and pitch your yeast normally. After the primary fermentation is done, open it up and pour in your concentrate (no need to boil, it should be pastuerized already). Fermentation will start back up in no time. Yeast actually prefer the fructose in your cherry concentrate over the maltose in the wort. Let us know how it comes out.

jezter6 said:

Something about a half gallon of concentrate in a wheat sounds like it's almost a cherry bomb. I was hoping that in super concentrated form, I'd only need a quart or less to achieve the same/more as the puree...

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Yeah, a quart or so would be about right, I was going for a cherry bomb.

rnrchemnerd said:

I did a pomegranate/cherry wine using the 68Brix concentrates, and it came out fine.

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How much of each did you add?

How much of each did you add?[/QUOTE]

I used 1 gallon of pomegranate concentrate, 0.5 gallons of cherry concentrate, 5lb table sugar and 5 gallons of water. The OG for this wine was 1.125 and finished around 1.010. It is still very tart after aging for 6 months, but getting better every day.

So, is 68 brix the measured amount of the actual concentrate, or what the cherry juice should be when mixed with water in the appropriate ratio?

And wtf is 68 brix in numbers I can understand?

When do you add? at the start of fermentation?

I have been making my with 1/2 gallon of cherry juice concentrate from Traverse Bay Farms I have tried other brands but I had several bad experiences with sedimentation in the concentrate from other companies. http://www.traversebayfarms.com/cherryjuice.htm I has been my favorite recipe yet. I am now experimenting with Acai berry, but the cherry is my favorite so far.

What is the problem with sedimentation? Does it do something to the brew?

jezter6 said:

So, is 68 brix the measured amount of the actual concentrate, or what the cherry juice should be when mixed with water in the appropriate ratio?

And wtf is 68 brix in numbers I can understand?

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68 brix means it's 68% sugar by weight. By definition pure sucrose is 100 brix. Since a pound of sucrose yields 46 SG points in a gallon of water, a pound of the cherry concentrate should yield 31 SG points in a gallon of water. I would add it by weight since fluid ounces is a measure of volume rather than weight...