Adding Sour Cherries without Refermentation

[Sc0ttyt^]

In the past, my fruited sours have mostly been made with l. plantarum pitched 12-24 hours after sac, with souring halted using a hop tea addition after about 1 week. I then use whole fruit or juice after the beer reaches terminal gravity and wait for the following refermentation to finish before cold crashing and kegging. I recently got some Oregon Fruit Calamansi puree from a local brewery with the advice to reach terminal gravity, slowly drop 10-15°F, add puree, rest for a couple days, crash and package. I was hesitant, using WLP644 which likes to ferment slowly for a while on me, but followed his instructions. 1.048 SG, 1.013 FG, bumped up to 1.014 after adding puree at 60F, cooled to 50F, rest, crash 4 days after fruit addition w/ no change in gravity. Carbed up a sample overnight and it is really good! Now I know this beer will have to be kept cold and if it sits too long in the keg it may start to overcarb, but I'm ok with that risk.

To the point, I am reaching out for some advice/input on doing something similar with fresh sour cherries. I want to serve this beer at a friends wedding so it will go quick (no risk of overcarb). I think I would wash the cherries, place in muslin bag, vacuum pack, pasteurize, freeze, thaw, mash up, add to fermentor (in muslin bag).

1) How much fruit to add? I've commonly heard 1-2+ lbs/g for cherries, but I assume that a lot of the flavor ferments away in a traditional fruit referment. I'm afraid 2 lbs/g might be overwhelming.
2) How much time? This ties with 1, but I'm thinking if they are really mashed up well, I should be able to get a lot out of them in just a couple days and promptly cold crash to prevent refermentation. Thoughts?
3) Leave pits in or no? I would think there is no benefit to leaving them since I will not be doing an extended aging. I'm thinking remove pits and wash before bagging so I can mash them up easier once they thaw.

 

[Sc0ttyt^]

For anyone interested. I think I am going to do 8 lbs worth with the pits intact. They are already washed, bagged, vacuum sealed, and frozen. I will post updates, but not yet sure when this beer will be brewed.

 

[Skeeter686]

Good luck! I'm curious to hear how it turns out!

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

I recently brewed a wheat beer and added tart cherries. The tart cherries were purchased washed, pitted and frozen in a bucket, 6.5 pounds.

After my beer was done fermenting I got the kegs ready, sanitized alone with two mesh bags. The buckets of cherries were thawed then scooped into the mesh bag dangling in the keg. I'm sure there's an easier way to do that but so far I haven't much luck. This works, just be careful holding in to the mesh beg while adding the cherries.

After the bag is filled any juice us poured in, the top tied off and dropped into the keg. Fill keg with beer, pressurize, the put keg in beer cooler.

 

[Sc0ttyt^]

I recently brewed a wheat beer and added tart cherries. The tart cherries were purchased washed, pitted and frozen in a bucket, 6.5 pounds.

After my beer was done fermenting I got the kegs ready, sanitized alone with two mesh bags. The buckets of cherries were thawed then scooped into the mesh bag dangling in the keg. I'm sure there's an easier way to do that but so far I haven't much luck. This works, just be careful holding in to the mesh beg while adding the cherries.

After the bag is filled any juice us poured in, the top tied off and dropped into the keg. Fill keg with beer, pressurize, the put keg in beer cooler.

Interesting. Sounds like a good idea to me. Have you ever had any issue with the bag of fruit clogging the dip tube? Also, is that 6.5 lbs for a single 5g keg?

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

Interesting. Sounds like a good idea to me. Have you ever had any issue with the bag of fruit clogging the dip tube? Also, is that 6.5 lbs for a single 5g keg?

Sorry, wanted to add more but I was heading out the door.

I have not had an issue with my kegs. Actually once it's added to the keg it ends up floating mostly. So I have used the full 6.5 pounds in a five gallon keg before but this time round I used five pounds. The other 1.5 pounds I added to some bourbon and toasted oak.

Five pounds of cherries gives the beer a nice cherry flavor, 6.5 is stronger on the cherry. Either is fine and not overpowering, at least with the tart.

Please post your results and any questions, send them out!