Cherry wheat beer
- Thread starter coonz
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
Troxclab
Member
I would pit and mash the cherries, and rack the fermented beer on top.
riprollins
Member
I recently brew a batch with cherries:
I added 10 lbs Crushed Sweet Cherries. I steeped them in the wort for 15 min after the boil between the temps of 170-145 while cooling in order to pasteurize the fruit.
I then cooled the wort and added the crushed cherries, pits and all (do not crack open the pits), and liquid into my fermentation vessel.
I would not recommend boiling the cherries because you risk setting the natural pectin found in the fruit.
I have read of people adding the fruit at the beginning or secondary depending on what you want to get out of the fruit.
I will update you on how prevalent the cherries are in the beer when I rack to secondary.
Happy Brewing!
I added 10 lbs Crushed Sweet Cherries. I steeped them in the wort for 15 min after the boil between the temps of 170-145 while cooling in order to pasteurize the fruit.
I then cooled the wort and added the crushed cherries, pits and all (do not crack open the pits), and liquid into my fermentation vessel.
I would not recommend boiling the cherries because you risk setting the natural pectin found in the fruit.
I have read of people adding the fruit at the beginning or secondary depending on what you want to get out of the fruit.
I will update you on how prevalent the cherries are in the beer when I rack to secondary.
Happy Brewing!
King of Cascade
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2008
- Messages
- 656
- Reaction score
- 7
I would freeze the cherries to break the cell walls down then add them to the fermenting wort.
use the same amount of priming sugar as usual
use the same amount of priming sugar as usual
I am just scared to use the same amout of priming sugar as usual because when i made my lemon wheat it was over carbonated. And tasted like pop for a long time. Is there a good way to tell how much priming sugar to use?
riprollins
Member
The question is, how much of and what kind of sugar do you use?
As stated in the Homebrewer's Companion, by Charlie Papazian (my primary reference until my discovery of this delightful forum), for batch priming dissolve and boil your fermentable sugar for 5 minutes in about 1 cup of water before adding to the beer prior to bottling. This should be added to fully fermented beer as to not have too many sugars for the reawakened yeasts to feast on. The schedule is as follows for a 5 gallon batch of beer. You may need to adjust accordingly if you have more or less than 5 gallons.
Sugar type - appropriate amount for bottling
Dextrose - .75 cup
Honey - 1 cup
Maple Syrup - 1.25 Cup
Molasses - 1 cup
Brown Sugar - 2/3 cup
Cane or beet sugar - 2/3 cup
Dried Malt Extract - 1.25 cup
I hope this helps!! The fermentation in my cherry ale is beginning to subside. I will be taking a gravity reading in a couple days and let you know how prominent the cherry is.
riprollins
Member
Coonz,
Ok, so I just racked to secondary and I ahev to admit, the cherries really don't come through unless you are REALLY looking for them. The color is wonderful, however. Even though it's a stout if you hold it up to the light or as it was coming through the racking cane it had a lovely cherry red hue.
I can imagine different reasons as to the lack of flavor.
1) most of the flavor was fermented out in primary.
2) the roasty maltiness of the stout overpowers the cherry notes
I am debating/considering adding additional cherries to the secondary in order to leach more of the aroma and flavor out of the fruit. If I do, I think I may pit and freeze the fruit first.
I hope this helps!
Ok, so I just racked to secondary and I ahev to admit, the cherries really don't come through unless you are REALLY looking for them. The color is wonderful, however. Even though it's a stout if you hold it up to the light or as it was coming through the racking cane it had a lovely cherry red hue.
I can imagine different reasons as to the lack of flavor.
1) most of the flavor was fermented out in primary.
2) the roasty maltiness of the stout overpowers the cherry notes
I am debating/considering adding additional cherries to the secondary in order to leach more of the aroma and flavor out of the fruit. If I do, I think I may pit and freeze the fruit first.
I hope this helps!
Sounds great and yeah I started mine on friday. I threw 1 lb of cherries in the primary, then when I rerack it I'm going to throw 6lbs in in order to get all the flavor.
6.6lb wheat extract
7lb cherries
1 lb honey
1oz tennger at 25
1oz sazz at 35
1oz tennger dry hopped for a week
6.6lb wheat extract
7lb cherries
1 lb honey
1oz tennger at 25
1oz sazz at 35
1oz tennger dry hopped for a week
riprollins
Member
As I had explained, the same happened to my brew. I imagine this is because the cherry flavor and taste is scrubbed out in the primary fermentation. Through research I have discovered that the later in the process fruits are added the more prevalent the aroma and flavors will be. If you are intending for a more significant cherry profile I would consider the addition of cherries into your secondary fermenter. You could also use cherry extract however, I have read that it will impart a very "artificial" flavor into your brew and taste somewhat similar to cough syrup.
I hope this helps! Good luck, mate!
riprollins
Member
I'm sorry, I just read that you have indeed put cherries into your secondary. I also saw that you dry hopped. If I were to guess, I would say that the hops may be your problem. Typically, fruit beers, especially those with fruits of a delicate nature, have a less aggressive hopping schedule. I suppose you could add more cherries (most recipes I have read call for at least 10lbs of cherries). How did you prepare the cherries for addition into the carboy, by the way?
riprollins said:
Thanks for the help. And next time I might not any hops to keep it safe. Thanks for the idea.
With the cherries I washed them and then froze them then thawed them out and added them to the secondary.
