cherry fever stout

i was wanting to make papazian's cherry fever stout. it calls for five pounds of cherries. i dont think i can get fresh cherries this time of year. is there something i could use for a substitute (frozen, extract, etc) or would i be better off waiting till theyre back in season.

also, if anyones made this before, how was it?

i was just at kroger. they had cherries for seven bucks a pound, no thank you

One thing you could consider is cherry extract. Many of the online retailers have this as well as good LHBS.

I haven't made this yet, but I am planning on it in Jan. Let us know how it turns out for you!

If you are in Somerville, check out Modern Brewer on Mass Ave in Cambridge. They are excellent with fresh ingredients and good people working there. They have a number of extracts and flavorings.

And Welcome to HBT!

You could also use Oregon Fruit Co. Cherry Puree.

I made this as my third batch. I used 5 pounds of sour cherries. They were picked fresh but I froze them to ease crushing. Added them with pits and all. The beer was great, the cherries definitely came through and it was pretty tart. Just be careful racking it will all the pulp and pits in there.

I've got a wild cherry tree in my back yard which has cherries around the first week of June every year. We've made pies and such in the past, but this year the harvest came about a week early due to all the heat and early spring rain. I've just finish picking the 5 pounds I need for this batch over the course of the last few days and am looking forward to brewing Papizan's Cherry Fever Stout soon! (cherries are in the freezer for storage)

BTW, when you're hand picking cherries off a tree, you'll see what justifies the $7/# price at Krogers that someone previously mentioned.

The official recipe also says you can substitute fresh raspberries for the cherries. It actually says to use 3# of sour cherries and 2# of choke cherries, or 5# of sour if the choke are not available. I'm using wild cherries because they're growing in my back yard.