Cherry Puree for a Kriek?

Can I use canned cherry puree for a kriek?

Also, when is the best time to add fruit to a lambic beer? Mine has been fermenting for 2 weeks now. I am going to add the bacteria and other cultures today.

Thanks

Cherry Puree as in Oregon Fruits is fine. I would not recommend using Cherry Pie Filling though.

Typically you want to make sure the Sacc. has eaten everything can and will, and give the bugs a chance to take hold. Let this sit for at least 6 mos before adding fruit. Then let it sit at least another 6 mos.

Regardless of when you will be adding fruit do not rack to secondary. This is all extra food for the brett and bugs.

Good luck, and great patience.

I agree with jvlpdillon, and do not use cherry pie filling. I made a kriek that way already (the way you propose) and it turned out great. Like jvlpdillon says, be ready to wait a LONG time; you will be rewarded at the end. After you bottle, I would let it sit for about another year.

From what I have read, the cherry pits have their own particular flavor. I brewed a cherry belgian strong ale a few months back using whole cherries and was very happy with the results, but it's hard to say for sure if the pits made any major contribution. I imagine cherry puree probably would have worked just as well.

I made the Northern Brewer Dawson's Kriek kit with the following schedule:

6 weeks primary
racked onto two cans of oregon fruit puree in secondary for 3 or 4 months (I didnt think to let it stay in primary until after the fact)
bottled and let it sit for 3 months.

it ended up with a tart cherry flavor. SWMBO just had to have one, I plan on hiding the rest and letting it sit for another few months.

MrPat said:

From what I have read, the cherry pits have their own particular flavor. I brewed a cherry belgian strong ale a few months back using whole cherries and was very happy with the results, but it's hard to say for sure if the pits made any major contribution. I imagine cherry puree probably would have worked just as well.

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Whenever I drink a good kriek, I notice a unique woody flavor I always attribute to the stone - not sure if that's what it is though. I think I've read around on the internet about people using a spice sold at middle-eastern markets called Mahleb (I've seen it spelled multiple ways) in conjunction with the purees to replace the missing pits. I believe it's just ground up cherry pits. I have a kriek on my list of future brews and plan on hunting some of this down if I can't find any whole sour cherries.

I used the Oregon pie cherries a few years ago and the beer turned out fairly good. This year I am using whole raw fruit.

During the canning process the cherries are cooked in the can to seirlize them. I believe this changes the flavor somewhat and is not as bright. Although it is super easy.

BW

This worked pretty well for me http://www.brownwoodacres.com/amazing_cherry_juice_concentrate.php?gclid=CIr7l5eE8KkCFcWA5QodqhVGYQ

I'm not saying it would be as good as raw fruit, but still good.

Bobby_M said:

This worked pretty well for me http://www.brownwoodacres.com/amazing_cherry_juice_concentrate.php?gclid=CIr7l5eE8KkCFcWA5QodqhVGYQ

I'm not saying it would be as good as raw fruit, but still good.

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If you don't mind me asking, what ratio did you use?

Thanks!

I don't recall on the Kriek but we used Raspberry recently for a Framboise and I added 6 quarts in 60 gallons and it was based on how I converted the concentrate numbers to fresh fruit.

Bobby_M said:

I don't recall on the Kriek but we used Raspberry recently for a Framboise and I added 6 quarts in 60 gallons and it was based on how I converted the concentrate numbers to fresh fruit.

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Thanks! Just looking for a starting point.

I found the post it note on how I did the raspberries to concentrate conversion.

150 grams of fresh raspberries per cup.
1 cup of fresh raspberries in every tablespoon of concentrate (per the website)
Therefore 1 TBSP = .33 pounds of fresh fruit.
Therefore 1 quart is the same as 21 pounds of fresh fruit.

I'm sure it's a little different than cherries but that's what I ended up with. It's certainly more economical and easier to deal with than fresh, but I haven't done any side by side comparisons. One of the members of our club gets around to Belgium almost every year and he recently said that our club Kriek project easily stands up against any of the real deals for what it's worth.

Going to mention, that using just one can of the Oregon Cherry puree is something I wouldn't advise. I used just one can in a Cherry Wheat recently and the cherry flavor was pathetic. Not nearly enough. I didn't find the puree itself to have a very good flavor, either. Other people seem to like them though, so maybe it's just me.

Well yeah, those cans are 2 pounds right? 2 pounds of fruit in 5 gallons is a joke.

I think they're 3lbs. I went with just one can because it's seemed like that's what people were using (I assumed it maybe had a strong flavor or something to make up for the low amount). Boy was I wrong! Next time I'd definitely use a few cans or just some whole sour cherries.

Regardless, the flavor of the puree itself I wasn't really a fan of. It just seemed kind of one-dimensional to me, but other people seem to like it.