Pasteurizing Cherries

[saluki_brewer]

I am planning on brewing a cherry wit that I found on here using fresh cherries from my parents trees. The recipe calls for putting pasteurized cherry slurry into the secondary. I am thinking about putting the cherries in a blender and then boiling the resulting slurry and letting it cool. Is this ok? I have heard that you can lose some flavor from your cherries by boiling them but I don't see any way around it since they need to be bacteria-free. Any suggestions?

 

[chris19delta]

shouldn't the cherries be prepasteurized when they were canned/bottled? so if you sanitize your blender and use an unopened can/bottle of cherries I'd think you'd be fine.

 

[Tom]

I just asked about the same thing. Some recommended rinsing them and then soaking in StarSan. Heating the cherries can change their flavor. I am going to add the cherries along with the pits.

 

[saluki_brewer]

They arent canning this batch. They are just pitted and frozen so I will need to use them soon. I've heard that using the pits can give it a really bitter flavor. So do you think I am ok just soaking them in StarSan an tossing them in as they are?

 

[KingKegII]

You could also soak them in vodka. StarSan prob won't hurt the flavor, but I'd prefer dumping some infused vodka in my wort vs. infused StarSan.

Cheers.

 

[saluki_brewer]

Haha good point. I think I'll try that. Thanks.

 

[Tom]

You could also soak them in vodka. StarSan prob won't hurt the flavor, but I'd prefer dumping some infused vodka in my wort vs. infused StarSan.

Cheers.

Good idea.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

You could also soak them in vodka. StarSan prob won't hurt the flavor, but I'd prefer dumping some infused vodka in my wort vs. infused StarSan.

Cheers.

+1000

If you fear adding something to secondary will cause an infection because it isn't pasteurized, a vodka infusion will always work. Fruit, spices, herbs, oak... just let it soak for a week, longer if you wish.