Brewing on Cherries

[jcaddy35]

I'm planning on brewing a Mad Elf clone next week and had a couple questions:

1. I'm planning on using a mix of tart and sweet canned & pitted cherries, should I puree these or just dump them straight from the can into the secondary?

2. Should I transfer the brew out of my primary after 8 days or 13 days? (I'll be away in between the 8-13 days)

This will be my first time using fruit in the secondary, and I was not sure whether to make the transfer earlier or later, and if that affects the secondary fermentation over the fruit.

Thanks!

 

[ThatGuyRyan]

I have only used Oregon puree for my Cherry stouts and since they are sterilized at the factory I just dump them in to the secondary and then rack directly on top. I then usually secondary for about 4-6 weeks and start pulling samples after the third week or so. I usually rack from primary when fermentation is about 90% complete when using fruit.