Looking for a Cherry Wheat

I don't want that cough syrup taste that Sam Adams has to it. I have the grain on hand. Any suggestions on how to improve the recipe. Also tips on infusing the fruit for a sure cherry taste. I feel bittering is all that is needed. Any help will be very much appreciated.

1 hour boil,
10 gallon batch:

10 lbs pale 6 row
10 pounds wheat
1 pound crystal malt
2 oz bittering (Tettnager) in at first boil
16 oz. Clover honey 15 minutes before end of boil
15 lbs fresh, pitted, frozen, pureed, sauteed at 170 degrees cherries (introduced after filtered wort goes into primary)
4 small bottles of Maraschino Cherries (pureed, with syrup) going into secondary (I don't have one handy, I think they would be 8 oz. each). I figure these are sterile and will not give the cough syrup taste.

I really wonder about the Maraschino addition. Sounds like it would fake it up a bunch.

You've got all those fresh frozen cherries going in, I would have to leave it at that.

I would also leave out the honey. I use honey when I want to dry out a beer. With fruit you often want to do the opposite, backsweeten or you are left with only sour fruit taste.

Cool, good point, Maraschino's are gone, honey gone (lots cheaper). Should I put fruit in primary, or hold them for the secondary?

I have read that the secondary gives it more of the aroma and taste when adding fruit.

backsweeten?

Do you mean adding sweetener?

yea, do fruit in secondary. active fermentation can wipe some flavor of those additions away

Stuntmantoo said:

Cool, good point, Maraschino's are gone. Should I put fruit in primary, or hold them for the secondary?

I have read that the secondary gives it more of the aroma and taste when adding fruit.

Click to expand...

I always wait until secondary. Plus, plan to do a tertiary after 7-10 days in secondary to clear from the fruit.

If you do this, I am interested in how it turns out. I have similar thing in mind only with Peaches.

Do I need to add sweetener? he said backsweeten, what ever that is.

Shiner did a great Peaches and Walnut ...EDITED ,,,, no Peaches and Pecan it was called "Holiday Cheer"
brew last year, Very good.

backsweetening is when you add sugar or some other sweetener (fruit, fruit juice, honey) after fermentation if the beer just doesn't have enough sweetness which can be the base with beers you expect to be very fruity.

dontman said:

I always wait until secondary. Plus, plan to do a tertiary after 7-10 days in secondary to clear from the fruit.

If you do this, I am interested in how it turns out. I have similar thing in mind only with Peaches.

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Will do, thanks guys. Need very few ingredients, will brew this tomorrow. I am shooting for less alcohol in this batch, should be 7% I am hoping.

Berserker_Brew said:

backsweetening is when you add sugar or some other sweetener (fruit, fruit juice, honey) after fermentation if the beer just doesn't have enough sweetness which can be the base with beers you expect to be very fruity.

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OK, so honey before kegging if it is has no sweetness like you would expect a cherry wheat to have, right?

Stuntmantoo said:

OK, so honey before kegging if it is has no sweetness like you would expect a cherry wheat to have, right?

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only use a fermentable if you have VERY clear beer with no chance of restarted fermentation, or it will go straight into the kegerator at 45*, dont want to try and backsweeten but end up going dryer. i have used Splenda before with good effects

1 hour boil,
10 gallon batch:

10 lbs pale 6 row
10 pounds wheat
1 pound crystal malt
2 oz bittering (Tettnager) in at first boil
15 lbs fresh, pitted, frozen, pureed, sauteed at 170 degrees cherries (introduced into secondary)
Pint glass with 1 pack Nottingham (3 heaping tablespoons of Light DME)

This will be a whole lot cheaper. I have a good feeling about this one, thanks for the help.

The safest way to backsweeten, if necessary, is with something unfermentable, like Berserker says. Since honey is one of the most fermentable sugars it is generally not a good option. Splenda works. Also Lactose. But far and away the best way is to make a less fermentable wort in the first place that will balance nicely with the fruit.

What I mean is, on a normal wheat I will mash maybe 150 and shoot for an FG of 1.012. If I plan to add fruit I will mash at 154-155 and this will bump up the unfermentables and leave the FG at 1.015-16. This added sweetness will help to balance the tartness of the fruit.

Berserker_Brew said:

only use a fermentable if you have VERY clear beer with no chance of restarted fermentation, or it will go straight into the kegerator at 45*, dont want to try and backsweeten but end up going dryer. i have used Splenda before with good effects

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Splenda is cheap and easy. I will have some on hand in case I need it.

dontman said:

The safest way to backsweeten, if necessary, is with something unfermentable, like Berserker says. Since honey is one of the most fermentable sugars it is generally not a good option. Splenda works. Also Lactose. But far and away the best way is to make a less fermentable wort in the first place that will balance nicely with the fruit.

What I mean is, on a normal wheat I will mash maybe 150 and shoot for an FG of 1.012. If I plan to add fruit I will mash at 154-155 and this will bump up the unfermentables and leave the FG at 1.015-16. This added sweetness will help to balance the tartness of the fruit.

Click to expand...

i wouldn't call that backsweetening though. that is thinking ahead. i think of backsweetening as strictly trying to undo a little fermenting.

dontman said:

The safest way to backsweeten, if necessary, is with something unfermentable, like Berserker says. Since honey is one of the most fermentable sugars it is generally not a good option. Splenda works. Also Lactose. But far and away the best way is to make a less fermentable wort in the first place that will balance nicely with the fruit.

What I mean is, on a normal wheat I will mash maybe 150 and shoot for an FG of 1.012. If I plan to add fruit I will mash at 154-155 and this will bump up the unfermentables and leave the FG at 1.015-16. This added sweetness will help to balance the tartness of the fruit.

Click to expand...

Very good info. I will shoot for these targets. I just started my commitment to AG. Having a Mash Tun really makes it easy to get a brew more precise. I have been just making beer. I will take notes so that when I post results you will have as much info. as possible. Shoot I haven't used my Hydrometer since I stopped bottling (about two years ago).

{Bad Home Brewer}

1 hour boil,
10 gallon batch:

10 lbs pale 6 row
10 pounds wheat
1 pound crystal malt
2 oz bittering (Tettnager) in at first boil
15 lbs fresh, pitted, frozen, pureed, sauteed at 170 degrees cherries (introduced into secondary)

Mash all grain at 154-155. Sparge 154-155.
Wort ran through screen into primary, Secondary for 7-10 days racked into Third Fermenter. 4 days in Third.

One last thing (of course) you still, and always, want to sparge at a temp which will raise the grain bed temp to 168. So your first batch should be ~185 and your second should be ~176.

Otherwise everything looks good.

I was going to put all the grains in the mashtun and go 155 like you said previously. I don't understand about deviating from the 155 degree mark. I figure 30 minutes and sparge with 155 degree to get close to my 7 or 8 gallon max to leave head space for fermentation.

Like I said earlier, I have been just making beer, not really watching things closely for a pretty good while (2 years not using as much as a Hydrometer).

Erase Erase Erase... I think I know what you are talking about. The amount of grain, the temp of the strike water equals the 155, and then since it is already warm, slightly lower temp (176)for sparge will get it to 168. Dang I impress myself sometimes. I have read that somewhere.

Thanks Dontman

My mash tun must be smaller, or grain warmer. 185 got it to 170 initially. After stirring in some cool water, got it to 159... Closed lid set timer thirty minutes. Checked it again at 22 minutes left,that cold water was too much, temp was 149. Heated some water (next time I will have hot water readily avaliable) got it back up to 154. Shut lid Mash Tun with 16 minutes left.

I am sure that this will become easier with experience. I do want to get this down to an art that is easily reproducable. Please bear with me as my noob comes out pretty frequently.

I did come up with a name (that is as long as the cherries are prevalent)

Ready for this?

"POP THAT CHERRY WHEAT"

Next day: 9-20-9

3 gallons each, one slow to take off. Slightly swirled each primary, now getting a good start (bubble every few seconds). Light DME (3 heaping tablespoons) in a pint glass, with Nottigham (1 pack). next time will try a gallon starter with at least twenty four hours.

9-21-9 Note to self
No fresh cherries available:
Substituting canned cherries. Only enough cherries at store to do 5 gallons, Other 5 gallons will have 5.5 pounds Pumkin w/spices already in.

9-23-9
Oregon Red Tart Cherries in water (5 cans, 55oz. fruit)
Lucky Leaf Red Tart Cherries in water (2 cans, 22 oz. fruit)
S&W Dark Sweet Cherries in heavy syrup (1 can, 11 0z. fruit)

Libbys Easy Pumkin Pie Mix (3 cans, 5 lbs. 14 oz)

Cherries in one, and Pumkin in the other fermenter, first ground up cherries. Got both to 170 degrees for 20 minutes, dumped in on top of beer. Warmed it up a bit, but the fermentation started again, I hope I am not bubbling all my flavor out. Pumkin seems to be a whole lot slower.

1 hour boil,
5 gallon batch:

5 lbs pale 6 row
5 pounds wheat
.5 pound crystal malt
1 oz bittering (Tettnager) in at first boil
5.5 lbs fresh, pitted, frozen, pureed, sauteed at 170 degrees cherries (introduced into secondary)

Mash all grain at 154-155. Sparge 154-155.
Wort ran through screen into primary, Secondary for 7-10 days racked into Third Fermenter. 4 days in Third.

Had to Substitute (no avaliable fresh, or one type can cherries, lucky to find these to make a five gallon bath).
Oregon Red Tart Cherries in water (5 cans, 55oz. fruit)
Lucky Leaf Red Tart Cherries in water (2 cans, 22 oz. fruit)
S&W Dark Sweet Cherries in heavy syrup (1 can, 11 0z. fruit)

Fruit is five to six inches high in secondary, Oct 2nd need to rack. Dontman let me know in a private message RDWHAHB. Should pack down more so that I can capture enough beer off the fruit.

Thanks for the chill pill Dontman!

Eleven days after fruit introduced...Cherries packed down to a healthy 4 inches, but pumpkin still at 5 or more inches. I am going to rack off top, fill carboys to 5 gallons.

No action before racking...

12:39 AM 11-5-9
Third move of beer (three days to keg!)

Spun the secondary’s (actual third move) with a drill and stirring rod, Cherry foamed a lot more than the pumpkin.

Tasting the Pumpkin, it really had a significant flavor of a pumpkin pie (since the cans had spices). The cherry was prevalent, and not at all cough syrup tasting, but not as significant as the pumpkin was. I still feel that it is going to be great.

Going to find info on carbonating, last batch of wheat that I am drinking has too much fizz.

Five days later, Cherry foamed alot more going into keg than Pumpkin. Pumkin very strong, Cherry less strong but still very much there. I am happy with initial taste of both. Can't wait to carb, even though I decided to go 15 PSI un-shaken for twenty four hours initially.

Instead of coffee filter, put cheese cloth around the end of syphon tube, with a rubber band making a 2" sack (so that I would get more filtering surface) beer moved very quickly, waiting to see if it is clear when going into glass.

Pumkin FG 1.003
Cherry FG 1.005

OK...last night tried the first carbonated taste. Realized that I cannot determine the alcohol content, because I never wrote down the OG!
Bad Home Brewer! AGAIN!:cross:

15 psi in the frig. shaked keg to force carb the next morning (after a nights sleep, I realized that I can't wait that long for a home brew, I am out at the moment). So 36 hours after the shake:

Both cloudy (hey it's wheat beer).
The cheese cloth doesn't work nearly as well as the coffee filters. I will be looking into another way to get clear beer, as the coffee filters take too long.


Both slightly carbonated, Pumkin very prevelant (not something SWMBO, or myself will drink a lot of. Still, nice as far as something different. Now the Cherry was so much better to my liking. It was there but not overpowering. Nothing like cough syrup, really very good. In 3 more hours I will be trying it out again, I put the 15 psi back on it for another 24 hours. That will make 8 hour initial chill, 60 hours in the frig @ 15 psi after shaking kegs.

The "Pop That Cherry Wheat" will be a repeat I am sure.

Holy crap this is good!
One more day at 15 psi, so that I get a good fizz going. Pumkin is so much better with the extra carbing. SWMBO was drinking before I got home (and it was the pumkin). The cherry is great, not sweet, but I like it! I am wondering can I now open the keg to introduce a little sweetener?

Stuntmantoo said:

Holy crap this is good!
One more day at 15 psi, so that I get a good fizz going. Pumkin is so much better with the extra carbing. SWMBO was drinking before I got home (and it was the pumkin). The cherry is great, not sweet, but I like it! I am wondering can I now open the keg to introduce a little sweetener?

Click to expand...

My Pumpkin is excellent too. I did add a little sweetnes while in the keg in the form of 5 oz of Lactose and 2 oz of brown sugar. Since it is cold and well cleared it has not fermented the sugar and the lactose is unfermentable.

You can start there with regular sugar in the cherry since yours is chilled as well. Another option is always splenda which is unfermentable for obvious reasons but I have not tried it because I don't really like it. I'm not sure I would use lactose in a wheat because that also affects body and a wheat beer is already brimming with body.

Thanks Dontman for quick response.

I am so happy with it, I got my son to come up with a preliminary label for "The Stuntman Brewery." I need to get away from the "Stunt" and more images of "Brewery" (hops, grain, mugs o' beer).

This is the last 6 bottles of a 12% fizzy wheat. 10 gallon batch with 26lbs of grain. I toned it down for the latest batches (cherry and pumkin). Co-workers are fixing to get two of these and two Cherry Wheat, two pumkin Wheat.

Note to self:

Introduce warm honey and water very carefully when going into cold keg. 10-14-9, I created a beer-volcano!

Nother note to self:

8 oz. of honey is a LOT of honey when putting into 5 gallons of beer!
Went from "Pop That Cherry Wheat" to "Honey Cherry Wheat." Emphasis on the honey. Should have been 2 oz. of regular sugar stir and taste.
I should have re-read that post Dontman. I know now though. I am going to work on this one again real soon.

Eight days after honey introduced: Flavor is great, carbonation is at point that head is slightly there. Cherries flavor is noticeable, honey is fragrant and an aftertaste only. Lots better.

Stuntmantoo said:

Note to self:

Introduce warm honey and water very carefully when going into cold keg. 10-14-9, I created a beer-volcano!

Nother note to self:

8 oz. of honey is a LOT of honey when putting into 5 gallons of beer!
Went from "Pop That Cherry Wheat" to "Honey Cherry Wheat." Emphasis on the honey. Should have been 2 oz. of regular sugar stir and taste.
I should have re-read that post Dontman. I know now though. I am going to work on this one again real soon.

Click to expand...

The best way to do this step is to define a goal. Ok, I am at 1.012 I want to be at 1.015 with backsweetening. Then you figure out the math to get there. honey has 45 gravity points in a pound and you want to up .003X5 = 15 gravity points. That equals one third of a pound of honey. 5.33 oz. So you weren't off that bad You got a bump of .005 with your honey addition.

I'll bet it gets really good though. Just don't warm it up or that yeast will have a feeding frenzy.

Thanks for the tips, I sure could use them. If I would have read your post about table sugar closer, I would have hit it a lot better. It sure is good now, I turned up the CO2 to 20lbs for another twenty four. That should do the trick.

These two were made from same batch, fruit added in each secondary.


Honey Cherry Wheat:

Honey is still there, 4oz would have been a better start. Red hue, Sweet, light, 1/4" light head. Few bottles in closet (less than twelve). I like it, but too sweet to drink more than two in a row (IMO).

Update: 10/30/9
Cherry is sooo good, honey is just a hint at this point. I am definitely going to repeat another batch, quick, as I am really running low on the bottled Cherry.
Pumkin Wheat:

Amber hue, very slight pumkin spice taste, light, refreshing, 1" head (if you are careful and pour gently). A fine mix between sweet and bitter. Surprisingly better of the two, since I over did the honey on the Cherry Wheat.


I can drink the Pumkin Wheat like water.

Update: 10/30/9
Pumkin is a lot better if you first drink a basic wheat, then the Pumkin Spice... the spices pop out if drank right after the basic wheat brew.

dontman said:

I'll bet it gets really good though. Just don't warm it up or that yeast will have a feeding frenzy.

Click to expand...

Funny thing, as I drink and don't remember sh*t. We woke up to .38 cal firing into my house, @ least that was what we thought. My son with a bat, and me with the .40 cal running into front yard. Only to find that the ones in the closet (only the honey laced Cherry beer bottles) were going off like grenades!

Dontman, when I see your posts, I will re-read them, as you think of things this 6 year brewer (but still a newbie) will do to himself.

Thanks for the warning. Today was the first time I comprehended it.

After reviewing this thread, I came up with this:

...............................Pop That Cherry Wheat..........................................

1 hour boil,
5 gallon batch:

5 lbs pale 6 row
5 pounds wheat
.5 pound crystal malt
1 oz bittering (Tettnager) in at first boil
5.5 lbs fresh, pitted, pureed, frozen, sauteed at 170 degrees cherries (introduced into secondary)

Mash all grain at 154-155. Sparge 170
Primary 7 days
Secondary (add fruit) for 18 days
Racked into Third Fermenter 3 days, topped with water to reach F.G.

Kegged, 2 weeks chilled (30 PSI 24 hours, serving pressure after that).

O.G. ?
F.G. 1.014 (leaves it sweet so no back sweetening needed).

1st attempt
Had to Substitute (no avaliable fresh, or one type can cherries, lucky to find these to make a five gallon bath).
Oregon Red Tart Cherries in water (5 cans, 55oz. fruit)
Lucky Leaf Red Tart Cherries in water (2 cans, 22 oz. fruit)
S&W Dark Sweet Cherries in heavy syrup (1 can, 11 0z. fruit)