founder's cerise (cherry ale)

[mal209]

has anyone tried the cerise from founders?
and more importantly does anyone have a recipe?

ive seen recipe's for the cherry wheat that sam makes, but most (including myself) seem to think its nothing special. the cerise on the other hand is delicious, and is the beer that got SWMBO drinking beer (although now miller light is her go-to beer, which makes me die a bit inside).

does anyone know how you could accurately duplicate the full cherry flavor of the cerise?
"Adding fresh cherries at five separate stages of fermentation achieves the ultimate balance between tartness and bitterness"
i can only imagine with 5 additions possibly... 60 min, 20 min, 5 min, flame out and secondary? does anyone have any ideas what quantities would be ideal for this?

im guessing i could just make a standard wheat beer and add the cherry's on top....

any suggestions?

Thanks in advance,
Michael.

 

[jimevans_2000]

I'll be watching this thread with interest. I, too, am a fan of Cerise, of which I've only had one four-pack. I bought it last year on my family's annual vacation to northern Michigan. What I find the most amazing about this beer is how it tastes like fresh cherries, not like cherry juice. I've brewed a few cherry beers myself - the most recent one used 10 ounces of dried Michigan cherries and was aged on cherry wood chips. But while I can get a taste of cherry, it's a far cry from that ineffable fresh cherry flavor in Cerise. I would LOVE to get a recipe before my June trip, so perhaps I can come back with fresh cherries and give it a try.

Unfortunately for me, SWMBO doesn't like beer and doesn't like cherries. She likes - bah! - fizzy mojitos and citrusy "malt beverages." I'm hoping to educate her.

 

[Synovia]

does anyone know how you could accurately duplicate the full cherry flavor of the cerise?
"Adding fresh cherries at five separate stages of fermentation achieves the ultimate balance between tartness and bitterness"
i can only imagine with 5 additions possibly... 60 min, 20 min, 5 min, flame out and secondary? does anyone have any ideas what quantities would be ideal for this?

I think they're just adding them in secondary a couple times. I would think the later you add them (IE, the more alcohol there is still around) , the more residual sugars you keep.


There's also the possibility that they're back sweetening with cherries, which is tough to do unless you're kegging.

 

[jimevans_2000]

I'm not sure that it's a wheat beer at all - I would swear I could taste some maltiness. I think it's only available in May-June-July-Aug, so I'll sample it again when it's available here in the Deep South.

 

[mal209]

Synovia- could you comment on back sweetening? i do keg (got sick of bottling after 1 brew) and would be interested in what your thinking for the cherries.

 

[brendanb]

yeah...my girlfriend is bugging me to make some of this for her.

anybody know of any clone recipes?

 

[Ekim2112]

That's an interesting brew, I just tried for the first time. And seeing as how I have a fermenting bucket AND a glass carboy now, I might try some secondary experiments.

Has anyone gotten anywhere replicating this one?

 

[KruegerBock]

I have not had it yet but will definately look for it the next time I go to the store.

 

[thisone]

I'm not sure that it's a wheat beer at all - I would swear I could taste some maltiness. I think it's only available in May-June-July-Aug, so I'll sample it again when it's available here in the Deep South.

there's definitely some maltiness in it from what I remember

oddly enough, before I even knew this topic existed, I wanted to try something like Cerise so I experimented with adding some tart cherry juice to an Oktoberfest style ale that I brewed. while the ale was a little too robust, the malty taste from the Munich worked well with it like it did in Cerise

 

[Wheatmeister]

Big cerise fan here. Word to the wise, Don't add those cherries to the boil!! If you do, add them late, real late. If you do, you pull out unwanted tannins and an earhty flavor your not after. Add sterilized cherries to the primary and secondary in stages. If you use fresh cherries you'll want to pastuerize them, what i do is I blend them up after pitting (basically leaving you with a pitcher of a cherry smoothie) and pastuerize, add to the secondary and rack on top. You can do this in your primary also, or both. The more you cook/boil the cherries the more fresh cherry flavor your removing - replacing with an earthy plum-like flavor which is good in dark chrsitmas ales but not so much in cherry wheats, etc..

 

[SnidelyWhiplash]

Haven't had it but anyone have a clone recipe for this? I wanted to make a cherry wheat much maltier and wheatier than SA, and also with more real cherry flavor than the nyquil. also would be nice to make it a deep red, but im more worried about flavor.

my current recipe is
5 lb red wheat malt
1lb flaked wheat
2 lb honey malt - i heard this or real honey helps bring out cherry flavor and add a little sweetness
3lb munich - to add some bready malt flavor
4lb tart cherries - blend, freeze, dump into secondary

think that will come to 1.075

 

[Wheatmeister]

Haven't had it but anyone have a clone recipe for this? I wanted to make a cherry wheat much maltier and wheatier than SA, and also with more real cherry flavor than the nyquil. also would be nice to make it a deep red, but im more worried about flavor.

my current recipe is
5 lb red wheat malt
1lb flaked wheat
2 lb honey malt - i heard this or real honey helps bring out cherry flavor and add a little sweetness
3lb munich - to add some bready malt flavor
4lb tart cherries - blend, freeze, dump into secondary

think that will come to 1.075

Yo Snidely - I see your in Cbus, nice. Keep me updated on how this goes, be sweet if it turned out like what your after. I'm friends with a few other Cbus Homebrewers maybe we can tade some beers....keep me updated

 

[WIBeerGeek]

I tried getting some sort of baseline for my blog, for a review of Cerise, but its been almost a week and I haven't heard anything.