Dried Vs. Frozen/Fresh Cherries

Does anyone have advice about substituting dehydrated for frozen cherries? I'm planning on trying a chocolate cherry stout for the winter and saw dried tart cherries in the bulk food isle at the store. I was wondering about exchange weight between fresh and dried fruit and difference between taste, any difference in sugars, etc...

I've only made a few batches of fruit beer, but my first assumption would be that it wouldn't work well simply because there are no juices left in the fruit after the drying process. When I add fruit to my beer/wine, I either run it through my trusty juicer and simply dump all the juice into the wort/must, or I mash it up real good so all the juices can get out of the fruit and mix with the other sugars. It is my understanding that the drying process cooks out all the extra juices from fruit, leaving behind only what sugars are absorbed into the fruit itself.

All that being said, I'd really like to see if this could work as it's easier to ship and store dehydrated fruit when compared to fresh/frozen. Let us know if you do attempt this.

I also believe the dried/dehydrated cherries use a sulfite preservative for freshness, which would kill off the yeast.

Check out Oregon Fruit Purees, they're made to pour right into the fermenter, and they have cherry.

Most dried foods I've seen don't require preservatives of any kind once they're completely dehydrated, as there's nothing to preserve(beef jerky). i could be wrong about cherries..

Dried cherries have worked well in several beers I've used them in. In both cases I rehydrated them in some wine/port, before adding them to the beer. They provide a different flavor than fresh/puree that I think would match well with a stout. Make sure to read the label to avoid preservatives or oil.

Oldsock said:

Dried cherries have worked well in several beers I've used them in. In both cases I rehydrated them in some wine/port, before adding them to the beer. They provide a different flavor than fresh/puree that I think would match well with a stout. Make sure to read the label to avoid preservatives or oil.

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I think I'll give it a shot with the dried cherries. They should not be sulfured or have any preservatives since they'll be coming from a natural grocer - but I'll double check. I was planning on pasteuizing/steaming them to sanitize. I might switch it up and rehydrate in a kirschwasser. Any ideas about how many pounds I should drop in? I was planning on about 2 lbs since the sugars will be concentrated.

Yeah, 2 lbs should be fine, you can always add more if you need to.

Agreed, I would start with two pounds and make corrections as you go.