VERY sour cherry wheat

Tried making a generic cherry wheat, 5.5lbs wheat malt, 5.5lbs 2-row, primary for one week then racked onto 5 lbs frozen cherries and 2 cans of cherry pie filling. After 2 weeks in secondary, the cherries had floated to the top and were covered (above the top of the wort) in a white slimy layer that I assumed was yeast. Racked to keg and carbed, the beer is bright pink (almost pepto-looking) and extremely sour.

Do you think the slimy layer was mold or another infection (sorry, didn't take pictures), and is there anything that I can do to salvage this batch?

What can I do next time to avoid this?

What kind of cherries? Some are very sour and some are sweeter.

Don't remember, they were the only frozen ones available this time of year at Meijer. I saw a couple recipes that called for 10 lbs of cherries for a 5 gallon batch, so I thought I may have been under-doing it with 5 lbs, but this stuff will take the lining off of your tongue.

Usually you would thaw then pasturize the regular cherries before using them. Pitting then making a puree out of them if possible makes contact time needed less.

Some of those pie filling cherries are tart, but I think it was the fresh/frozen that may be giving you problems. How long were the cherries in the secondary before they started floating and turning white slime. what yeast did you use?

I was out of town, so I wasn't keeping an eye on it, but the beer was mixed with the cherries for 2 weeks. I used a smack pack of american wheat yeast.

Are you sure it was slime? When I've used fruit in secondary (especially strawberries) they kind of get slimy and whitish, but there's not actually anything on them.

all the parts of the fruit that were above the surface of the beer had a thin white coating on them - Looked slimy, but I didn't want to touch it.

My main concern is the sourness - Think I should just leave it in the keg for a couple weeks and see if it mellows out?

"Slimy" sounds like lactobacillus to me. "Sour" is another indication of lactobacillus. Fermented cherries ARE kind of sour normally, or at least tart. But unpleasantly sour makes me believe it's a lacto infection.

If it's lacto, it won't hurt you. But it'll get worse, not better. Some people love sour beers, especially sour fruit beers, so if you like it drink up!

That's what I figured - I've gone too long without getting an infection, one had to pop up eventually. Thanks for the advice.

yeah I think adding them into the solution without pasturizing them may have been a problem.
Although there is alcohol in there, fresh fruits tend to need pasturization before using them.
You also have to watch when using fruit fillings, some have preservatives that will cause problems