Cherry Wheat?

I am kind of toying with the idea of getting some cherry flavour into a wheat beer. I suspect that this could be really terrific, or really awful. Anyone with any ideas?

I would love to brew a batch someday.

My local HBS has this recipe:


6.6 lbs. Wheat Malt Extract
10 lbs. fresh black cherries (or whatever type you like)
2 oz. whole Hallertauer Hops (boil)
½ oz. whole Hallertauer Hops (finish)
1 pkg. Wyeast Liquid Yeast - Belgian Ale
¾ cup Corn Sugar (for priming)

Rinse cherries & remove stems. Crush cherries in 6.7 gal. (or larger) plastic fermenter with hands to expose cherry flesh. Don’t remove pits. Put cherries aside. Heat 1½ gal. water to 160°F. Remove pot from heat & add malt. Stir until malt is dissolved. Return to heat. Add 2 oz. hops & boil for 55 min. Turn off heat & add ½ oz. hops. Steep for 5 min. Strain hot wort into plastic fermenter with cherries (leaving hops behind) & allow to steep for 15 min. This will pasteurize cherries without setting pectin. Add enough cold water to make 6 gal. Pitch yeast when cooled to 80°F or below. After five days of primary fermentation, rack into 5 gal. carboy. Bottle when fermentation is complete. This beer gets better when aged 6 months to a year, but be warned: it’s really hard to keep from drinking it all before then! Yields 5 gal. For more Cherry Flavor: Brew beer first without adding cherries. Fill carboy only ¾ of the way & ferment until krausen falls. Rack into bucket with crushed cherries. Allow to ferment, then rack into carboy until clear.

Big problem here: Hot Side Aeration.

I don't think it's that big of a problem. There is an article in BYO this month regarding hot side aeration. Apparently it's a bigger problem to aerate hot freshly mashed wort pre-boil. You could just siphon it in gently, though

Thanks for the recipe.. that's a similar method to the one Papazian outlines in his updated book (though for a stout). I am glad to see that there's a good plop of hops in there... I would think a guy would need a little extra bitterness and flavour to balance out the cherries... I'm going to give this kind of thing a try in the winter, so I have a nice cherry wheat ale for the first even remotely warm day of the summer.

I had problems finding cherries for my CW until recently. Could only find frozen sour cherries. Good luck!

one thing you can also do is do a basic wheat recipe, then when you goto your primary fermenter, add your wort, and then water upto 4 gallons in the fermenter and then the last gallon you can use cherry juice (100%) and it works great a friend brewer here does that for his cherry wheat and it tastes awsome

Sasquatch said:

I am kind of toying with the idea of getting some cherry flavour into a wheat beer. I suspect that this could be really terrific, or really awful. Anyone with any ideas?

Click to expand...

the one i did came out really great...
3.3Lbs. Liquid Wheat Malt Extract
1 lb. Wheat DME
1 lb. Crushed crystal Malt
1 oz. Hallertauer hop pellets- Bittering 60 min
10 pounds fresh cherries

i had ten pounds of cherrys that i picked the stems off and put in the fermentor and crushed them with a spud masher. after the boil was done i just poured it ontop of the cherries cooled it and added the yeast, after the primary was done siphoned it and put to the secondary ect as normal... the actual beer itself was good after 4 weeks int he bottle however i noticed as it aged longer the flavour mellowed and got alot better the bottles i put aside for 3,6 and 9 months got progressivly better the 9th month being the best, very smooth and yummy...

A local boutique brewary here in Western Australia does a very nice cherry beer, you could also try using cherry essence (flavouring) available in supermarkets (well here in Australia it is).

I brewed the wheat brew this weekend with phenomenal fermentation going on now. I plan to add the cherries to the secondary by the weekend. I understand that they should be made to sink, not float where they can rot, mold, etc. Is there any truth behind this? What would be the best means of sinking a grain sock to prevent rotting?