First time making a Kriek

[Probably_Confused]

So I've got a cherry tree with an overabundance of fruit. I'd love to try a Kriek with them, but I've never done anything like that before. Does anybody have some experience with Krieks who could point me to a decent recipe, or even a kit would work. How about using whole fruit instead of syrup or concentrate? How should I go about this?

Thanks

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

Have you used the cherries to make anything before? I have a cherry tree in my yard also, but the cherries are too tart to use for most things.

A kriek is basically a lambic with fruit added. All grain or extract?

Either way, you'll want about 40% wheat 60% pils malt. Add some old noble hops (year+ old), some brett yeast or the lambic blend from wyeast, and you have yourself a recipe. Ferment it for a month or so then add the cherries to secondary. Allow it to sit on the cherries for 3-6 months and bottle.

 

[Probably_Confused]

Thanks for the info. I'm mostly doing partial-mash, but on new styles or ingredients I usually go to extract just to remove some variables. These cherries are a bit tart, but I've used them in a dark stout before with reasonable success. The stout flavor profile is a lot bigger though, and I wonder if the tartness will overwhelm in a beer like this. But, there's really only one way to find out.

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

I'm all for experimentation, but for a beer that takes this much time to make, I wouldn't suggest using the cherries you have. The beer will have enough sourness from the yeast that adding more will probably be overwhelming. I suppose that's what homebrewing is all about though. More power to ya for having the guts to do it.

 

[erock2112]

Maybe Brett C for funk without so much sour and let the cherries take care of the sour?

 

[SumnerH]

I'm all for experimentation, but for a beer that takes this much time to make, I wouldn't suggest using the cherries you have. The beer will have enough sourness from the yeast that adding more will probably be overwhelming. I suppose that's what homebrewing is all about though. More power to ya for having the guts to do it.

I dunno, I'd guess Probably_Confused's cherries are more likely to be too sweet than too tart.

From what I gather, for a kriek people seek out the sour cherry (Prunus cerasus), which is much more sour than most wild cherry strains (Prunus avium) and the sweet table cherries (Bing, etc) cultivated from it that most supermarkets carry. From everything I've heard, using sweet cherries in a kriek is likely to disappoint.

 

[King of Cascade]

The tart cherries are what you want to use in a kriek. use the 50% wheat/pils extract and pitch the roselare blend or other sour blend, freeze the cherries to break down the cells then put them in the fermenter in a few months.

 

[Brew-boy]

Yes you want the tart and not sweet cherries for sure. I have my Kriek still on the bugs since 12/08 and the pellicle still has not dropped.

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

I guess people are missunderstanding what I meant by sour cherries. The cherry trees that grow around my area aren't good cherries. It's not something you can just pick off the tree and eat. Therefor, I've always assumes they're not good for cooking with or using in beer. I always buy my cherrys. When I mean "too sour", I mean...horribly sour.

 

[King of Cascade]

I guess people are missunderstanding what I meant by sour cherries. The cherry trees that grow around my area aren't good cherries. It's not something you can just pick off the tree and eat. Therefor, I've always assumes they're not good for cooking with or using in beer. I always buy my cherrys. When I mean "too sour", I mean...horribly sour.

Yeah...tart cherries

 

[SumnerH]

Yeah, those sound like the perfect cherries for brewing with.

The general rule with cherries is that if you'd happily eat it, it's no good for baking/brewing.

The Bing and Rainier and whatever sweet cherries that you normally buy and eat aren't ideal for krieks or pies. Unless you live where they're grown, you usually have to go to a specialty market or mail/internet order to find the montmorencies or morellos or other sour varieties that are needed for baking/brewing.

 

[Homercidal]

I had a Kriek running behind the neighbors house when I was a kid. Used to catch frogs along it all the time. What fun we had!

We caught 50 of them one day and kept them in an old washtub with a board sitting on top. That night as we 'camped' in the back yard, my friend's older brother and sister snuck over and got a couple of them to toss into our tent. But my dog scared them and his brother stubbed his toe on the washtub and there were frogs all over the yard and street in the morning. Many got run over by cars.

Good times!

 

[MarsColonist]

2 lbs per gal, and tart cherries work best, like Montmorency cherries

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

Well, I suppose I'll have to try using my cherries in a beer then. All this time, I had thought they weren't good for cooking with.