Chocolate covered cherry stout - wheres the fruit?!??

[RobMelton83]

I brewed a partial mash/ extract sweet chocolate stout with a secondary fermentation addition of cherry. (5gal batch) I added a 3 lb can of brewers cherry puree and had absolutely no cherry flavor come through. So I went ahead and added 64 oz of maraschino cherries (w/juice) and took sample and got some flavor so let it ferment another two weeks, bottle conditioned for another 3weeks and served @ Christmas. When we had it there was absolutely no cherry flavor at all! I was stumped. Should I have added the cherries later in secondary or even during bottling?

 

[SavoryChef]

I added 12 cans of the tart cherries from Oregon and have a decent cherry flavor in mine.

 

[thadius856]

64 oz of maraschino cherries (w/juice)

Maraschino cherries are the problem. They have no flavor on their own.

A maraschino cherry (pron.: /mærəˈskiːnoʊ/ marr-ə-skee-noh or /mærəˈʃiːnoʊ/ marr-ə-shee-noh) is a preserved, sweetened cherry, typically made from light-colored sweet cherries such as the Royal Ann, Rainier, or Gold varieties. In their modern form, the cherries are first preserved in a brine solution usually containing sulfur dioxide and calcium chloride to bleach the fruit, then soaked in a suspension of food coloring (common red food dye, FD&C Red 40), sugar syrup, and other components.

They're just a carrier for artificially colored sugar syrup. The yeast sees sugar and just goes after it, with nothing left behind (except maybe the red dye). I assume your ABV must be pretty decent on this brew.

What type of cherries are used in that can of puree you used?

 

[RobMelton83]

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/oregon-cherry-puree.html

 

[Schumed]

If you want cherries to be prominent use at bottling I find works best ...also start using extract much stronger flavor you are probably looking for

 

[TarheelBrew13]

I would use fresh cherries, local if you can find them. 3lbs should be enough but to get the most aroma you will need to leave them in the fermenter the shortest amount of time you can. I add fruit to the secondary (I wash but don't pasteurize) and once the gravity stabilizes for 4-5 days I immediately bottle/keg. Those aroma compounds are extremely volatile so letting it set in the fermenter longer than necessary will reduce their impact. Sounds tasty.