Need Sour Cherries

So ive got a 6 month old lambic that i want to rack onto cherries. Since its my first lambic i felt it only appropriate to use cherries

I am havign a heck of a time finding any type of sour cherries....whether fresh, frozen or puree. I am located in the NE.

Anyone have any sugggestions?

I ordered 3lbs of dried sour cherries from a seller on eBay. It was a little expensive compared to buying fresh fruit, but they're working out well for me.

You should let it age another year before adding cherries.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000I6625I/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I have had great luck with these. The dried ones are good, but I have heard mixed things about the fact that almost all of them use sunflower oil to prevent sticking.

levifunk said:

You should let it age another year before adding cherries.

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So it had a pretty nice Pellicle that has started to disappear. I thought once the Pellicle dropped you should add the fruit?

+1 about the sun flower oil. When you're looking just make sure they're not coated with anything. I was able to find some without oil. If you're interested I can dig up a link.

I bought them about 3 weeks ago and they were only about $20. They have since almost doubled their price and changed their item description about not having additives or sunflower oil, so there are probably better options out there. Here's the link anyway...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/220961872927?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

Stopped at a produce place in nj today. Was told no sour cherries this year. Too much rain. Price is super high. So I'll check out the amazon link.

Thanks

fpweeks said:

Stopped at a produce place in nj today. Was told no sour cherries this year. Too much rain. Price is super high. So I'll check out the amazon link.

Thanks

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Before you buy them online, check your grocery store. They would be in the pie filling aisle. I have them in mine.

I made some melomel with montmorency cherries from Trader Joes. They are often available dried, organic. Check the local hippie grocery store. No hippie grocery stores in PA? There's also juice available online.

cardinalsfan said:

Before you buy them online, check your grocery store. They would be in the pie filling aisle. I have them in mine.

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I've seen it said on here not to go with the pie filling cherries.....

I think it would be okay to go with the ones packed in water and not syrup.

fpweeks said:

I've seen it said on here not to go with the pie filling cherries.....

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I only said they were in the pie filling aisle, at least at my store. The ones I got were the exact same ones linked to at amazon. And yes, get ones packed in water.

Ok, gotcha. Thanks for info....I'll check that.

Anyone else think 6 mos is too early to rack ontop of cherries?

Try meauring the current gravity compared to the OG. Does it seem to be as attenuated as you would expect considering the yeast strain? I would want to have plenty of alcohol in there to extract the cherry flavor. If that isn't going to increase much in the future I'd put the cherries in. I'd taste it over the next few months and rack it when I had a flavor I like.

Time for fruit I think! Checked gravity today, and it's down below 1.005. Definately got some barnyard!

http://www.cherrybayorchards.com/dried-fruit/cherries.html
http://www.shorelinefruit.com/index.php