Medicinal flavor adding Knudsen black cherry juice concentrate?

[-CHRIS-]

I am trying to make a beer similar to Sam Adams Cherry Wheat. I have made a basic American wheat beer recipe with WLP001 and have added 1 bottle of Knudsen Black Cherry Concentrate at the beginning of fermentation. I tasted it 7 days in and it has a medicinal taste.

Has anyone used knudsen juice concentrate after the boil successfully? This is the second time I have brewed it with the same exact taste so I don't think it is bad yeast or an infection from the fermenter.

Thanks,
Chris

 

[stieg000]

I have used pretty much all of the qt. Knudsens just fruit juices with flawless results. Never boiled them, usually pour them straight into the fermenter. Pretty sure the medicinal taste isn't gonna come from the juice. I currently have on tap a partygile from a belgian quad I dumped 2 qts of just black cherry into.

Water issue maybe?

 

[-CHRIS-]

Ok, I thought that juice was good and other people have used it. Nothing has really changed in my brewery, it is all stainless and all my fermenters are stainless and I never have had an infection. I use PBW and Star San for cleaning/sanitizing. I always crush two tablets of Campden as I use town water in my brewing. I have actually brewed this twice with the same results which is maddening. I guess I will deep clean my brewery and brew a different beer to see if I get a different result. I just tasted it now and it is still terrible. I fermented at 63 degrees and jacked it up to 67 degrees on day 7 to finish it off. It is now on Day 10.


Here is the recipe:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=13d-7llDcl6EETVmUdy1KdZ5uGur6Jrbx

 

[jayway]

FWIW I always get a medicinal tone with beers with cherry. It takes me back to not so fond memories of choking down that awful cherry cough syrup when I was a kid. I've always blamed the cherries so I stay away from any beers with it so I suspect the juice.

 

[-CHRIS-]

FWIW I always get a medicinal tone with beers with cherry. It takes me back to not so fond memories of choking down that awful cherry cough syrup when I was a kid. I've always blamed the cherries so I stay away from any beers with it so I suspect the juice.

if I was smart, I would have kept some wort without cherry to taste. I did not taste a medicinal taste when I first brewed the beer, this is why I am wary of some awful biotransformation on the black cherry juice concentrate.

Luckily this beer is cheap to brew, I am PBWing my brewery right now and I will brew again and reserve the cherry juice addition until after fermentation is complete.

Chris

 

[secondbase]

I think some cherry beers can come across medicinal, especially non-sour cherry beers. I'm pretty sure Sam Adams uses a cherry extract for that beer. Have you thought about trying that instead?

 

[jekeane]

Find a judge and give them a bottle to critique. Could be the cherry is giving a cough syrup quality

 

[Jtk78]

I've used it in a cherry wheat and did not experience that. Neither did anyone at my brew club that tasted it.

 

[-CHRIS-]

I've used it in a cherry wheat and did not experience that. Neither did anyone at my brew club that tasted it.

Could you share your recipe/process? What yeast did you use and when did you add the cherry concentrate?

Thanks,
Chris

 

[Jtk78]

Could you share your recipe/process? What yeast did you use and when did you add the cherry concentrate?

Thanks,
Chris

I just went back through my notes and here is the jyst of it;
50% Rahr 2 row
25% dark wheat malt
25% white wheat malt
0.5oz galaxy - boil 20 mins
0.5oz galaxy - boil 2 minutes.
(I do have my own mill, and use a brew bag from @wilserbrewer, so I crush the grain, especially wheat, pretty fine)

Aim for a 1.055 OG.

Yeast was Wyeast 1273 (2nd generation).
- I've noticed this yeast smells like a fruit farm during fermentation, but by the time e the beer is bottled and conditioned, the fruitiness is fairly mild I think it's a great yeast for this type of beer.

This was brewed 05-20-17. Fermentation temp was set to 65F. Below are my notes copied directly from BeerSmith.

5-23-17 - Added 32oz of R.W. Knudsen "Just Black Cherry". Few more bubbles on top of the beer 24 hours later, but nothing spectacular.

5-27-17 - Tried sample. There is a slight cherry aroma. Not much in the way of flavor. I'm going to add another bottle of cherry juice. Purged fermenter with CO2.

5-29-17 - Added one bottle of R.W. Knudsen "Just Tart Cherry". Store did not have "Just Black Cherry ". Purgerd fermenter with co2.

6-04-18 - bottled batch using table sugar to 2.3vol/co2. FG = 1.006. Little lower than i thought.



This was a wheat beer that was against the grain a bit, in that it was ok after 2 weeks in the bottle, pretty good after 2 months, and I feel best at the 5 month mark. I really liked it this fall. Sadly, it was finished in late October. My homebrew club had it in September and October. I never got any medicinal taste from it (I did on a pumpkin ale after 2 months. That tasted like I was licking a band-aid, although only 1 other person picked up.)

In addition to this juice, I have used Simply Limeade and Simply Lemonade in recipes pretty close to this without any medicinal taste. I would be completely confident in using this juice again in a batch.