Cherry Wheat

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

crum

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 15, 2005
Messages
65
Reaction score
0
Anybody have a good Cherry Wheat beer recipe? My wife loves that kind of beer and I would like to make her some.
 
5 Gallons -


5.5 lbs. Wheat Malt
4 lbs. Pilsen Malt
1 oz. Tettnang Hops (60 min Boil)
24 oz Can of Comstock Pie Cherries (Heavy Syrup, Pureed)
1 pkg of German Wheat Yeast

add the cherries at the end of the boil (Final 5 minutes). you want to puree them first.


Mash Schedule -
153° F for 60 minutes
170° F for 10 minutes
 
Found this on ***********[font=Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif]Cherry Witbier[/font][font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif]by Scott Russell[/font] [font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif]5 gallons, extract and specialty grain
OG = 1.043

Ingredients:
1/3 lb. flaked wheat
1/3 lb. flaked barley
1/3 lb. flaked oats
0.5 lb. cara-pils
3 lbs. unhopped weizen extract syrup (about half wheat, half barley)
2 lbs. unhopped extra-light dry malt extract
1 oz. Saaz hop pellets (4% alpha acid), 0.5 oz. for 45 min., 0.5 oz. for 15 min.)
Belgian witbier yeast culture (such as Wyeast 3944)
2 lbs. sweet cherries
7/8 cup corn sugar for priming

Step by Step
In 3 gals. cold water, steep wheat, barley, oats, and cara-pils. Raise gradually to about 170° F and remove grains. Add extracts to kettle. Bring to a boil, add 0.5 oz. hops. Boil 30 minutes, add 0.5 oz.hops, boil 15 more minutes. Remove from heat and cool. Top off in primary fermenter to 5.25 gals. and, when cooled to 70° F or so, pitch yeast. Ferment at 65° F for seven to 10 days, then rack onto cherries in your secondary fermenter. Condition on fruit 10 to 14 days, rack to another fermenter to clarify a little (three or four days), then bottle, priming with corn sugar. Age four to six weeks in a cool corner (50° to 55° F).


Alternatives and Notes:

All-grain brewers should mash 3.5 lbs. pale malt, 3.5 lbs. wheat malt, 0.5 lb. cara-pils, and 4 oz. each flaked wheat and flaked oats, in 11 qts. of water at 151° to 153° F for 90 minutes. Sparge with 17 qts. at 169° F. Follow the recipe, except boil long enough to reduce to 5.25 gals.
Yeast: This is a brew that requires a special yeast. The Wyeast culture 3944 is ideal, and I also like to try to use recultured "classic" yeasts, such as Hoegaarden and Blanche de Bruges, whenever possible. I don't recommend using dry yeast.
Fruit: Naturally, the whole idea here is that you can tailor any recipe to your own tastes, so please don't feel limited to cherries. Raspberries, strawberries, mangos, peaches, anything you like might work well. The method I've outlined here and elsewhere for using fresh fruit is the best for my brewing system. Other possibilities include steeping the fruit in the cooling wort for 15 minutes or so and then putting the fruit (in a mesh bag) into the primary; adding fruit juice or flavoring essence to the secondary; and adding fruit essence with priming sugar, or a fruit-flavored liqueur instead of priming sugar, when you bottle.
Spices: The "original" witbiers have a combination of fruit (bitter orange) and spices, usually coriander. My recipe above does not call for spices, but it could. What spices go well with cherries? They'd probably need to be of the pungent/peppery variety, such as cardamom, black pepper, or grains of paradise. Try what you like.
[/font]
 
Wietbier is a Belgian Beer known as white beer.. Not the same as Cherry Wheat.


Here is a Cherry Wheat Recipe For 5 Gallons using extracts.....



6.6 lbs. Wheat Malt Syrup
1 oz. tettnang hops
24 oz can Comstock Pie Cherries (Heavy Syrup, Puree First in Blender)

German Wheat Yeast Ferments at temperatures between 63o - 75o


Boil extract w/ hops for 60 minutes, add pureed cherries with syrup in the last 15 minutes of the boil.
 
ChrisKoivu said:
Wietbier is a Belgian Beer known as white beer.. Not the same as Cherry Wheat.
I can't help it! I'm addicted to Belgian style beers LOL!
Sorry guys I got excited when I found that recipe.
Still sounds Yummy though! :D
 
Thanks for all the replies. I will have to try one of the recipes next time.
Looking through a few books I cooked one up that I hope will turn out good.

3lbs german wheat malt
3.5lbs light malt
2oz spalt hops
4oz cherry extract

Boiled the the malt and 1 1/2 oz of spalt for 45 min. Added 1/2 oz spalt and boiled for 15 min more then added 2 oz of the cherry extract. Did not want to add to much cherry and make a batch of cough syrup. I will add more if need be when I rack it.
 
The problem with cherry extract is it is too strong. Its like using Maraschino cherries. If the syrup content is a concern, you could always use the light cherries or no syrup types.
 
I tend to use cherries by smell, when i got the wort boiling, I just add enough where I get a cherry smell, but mostly malt, and usually, a 20-24oz can of cherries does the trick. If you want to play it safe, I would probably use just a 16oz can.
 
Hey, I found this recipe in a book entitled "The Homebrewer's Recipe Guide" by Higgins, Kilgore and Hertlein. I haven't tried it yet, but it sounds good. I just tried a cranberry ale recipe from the same book, but it won't be ready for another few weeks.

Berry Garcia Ingredients
6 lbs Ireks Weizenbeier Extract
3 lbs Light Malt Extract
1 oz Tettnanger Hops (bittering)
1 package Weihenstephan wheat yeast (#3068)
8lbs assorted berries (the book recommends sweet cherries, sour cherries, blueberries, raspberries, etc)
3/4 cup corn sugar (priming)

Boil extract and hops as normal, ferment in primary for 7 days. Steep fruit in enough water to cover at 150-degrees for 20, add water and fruit to secondary and rack beer to secondary. Ferment for 10 to 14 days; rack to tertiary for additional 2-3 days for clearing (you could also think about using some polyclar). Bottle and age for 10 days.

Hope this helps
 
here is the recipe I was given with ingredients from Strange Brew in Marlboro, MA:

Malt base: 3.3 lb (1 can) Muntons Wheat Liquid, 2 Lbs Wheat DME

1 lb of candy sugar

Hops: 1 oz. Northern Brewer (bittering), 1 oz. Williamette (aroma)

Yeast: Safale US-05 Dry Ale Yeast

Irish moss, cherry extract, finishing sugar

The instructions were botched and I had to make an educated guess to add the candy sugar before the boil was over, and the cherry extract was recommended be added during bottling. Of course they don't say how much to use, so I'll have to call...will update when I get to the bottling stage.
 
Hey, I found this recipe in a book entitled "The Homebrewer's Recipe Guide" by Higgins, Kilgore and Hertlein. I haven't tried it yet, but it sounds good. I just tried a cranberry ale recipe from the same book, but it won't be ready for another few weeks.

Berry Garcia Ingredients
6 lbs Ireks Weizenbeier Extract
3 lbs Light Malt Extract
1 oz Tettnanger Hops (bittering)
1 package Weihenstephan wheat yeast (#3068)
8lbs assorted berries (the book recommends sweet cherries, sour cherries, blueberries, raspberries, etc)
3/4 cup corn sugar (priming)

Boil extract and hops as normal, ferment in primary for 7 days. Steep fruit in enough water to cover at 150-degrees for 20, add water and fruit to secondary and rack beer to secondary. Ferment for 10 to 14 days; rack to tertiary for additional 2-3 days for clearing (you could also think about using some polyclar). Bottle and age for 10 days.

Hope this helps

Has anyone tried this recipe? I really would like to try it this weekend, but I am wondering about adding the whole fruit and water to the secondary. It seems that 8lbs of fruit and the water to cover it would add a signifigant amount of water to the beer possibly pushing the amount in the batch higher. Wouldnt the sugars in the fruit give the yeast something else to ferment? Is that ok for beer?
 
Back
Top