potassium sorbate in canned fruit...

[Sirthomas42]

I want to make this Chocolate-Cherry Mead (http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/request.asp) and the only marachino cherries I can find in town have potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate in them -- obviously that's not going to work. Is there any way around those preservatives to get the cherries/syrup to ferment?

 

[jcobbs]

You might rack on to the cherries in a secondary after a primary fermentation is done. Probably get more flavor that way anyway.

 

[Sirthomas42]

Hmmmm, that's a good idea, but I'm wondering how much the syrup in the jar contributes to the total fermentable sugars. That is, will adding the cherries/syrup for flavor overly sweeten the mead?

I suppose I could take a sample of the syrup and do some hydrometer math to figure out how much sugar is in it...

*edit* I wonder if it wouldn't be better to do a 5 gallon batch of this... floating fruit seems to do better in a larger container, I've found.

 

[user 54565]

The juice is super sweet, and I imagine that it presents a high amount of fermentables to the overall mead. I debated the same situation, however - do I just follow the recipe as stated, or do I let it get going and then add in the liquid + cherries ... or do I finangle a different way of doing it?

That said, I debated doing a 5 gallon batch of this ... and decided to do 2 one gallon batches. I did one with the local supermarket preservative laden cherries, and I did one with some high end "organic" cherries. I never thought I would buy anything organic unless it was cheaper ... but this is homebrew, by golly - time to get maraschino cherries shipped to my door!

I used Tillen Farms cherries http://www.worldpantry.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prmenbr=207315&prrfnbr=2776937 for my test batch. Seemed the best bang for the buck. I must say that the flavor of these cherries is so far above and beyond the local store bought variety. Oh my goodness, there were layers in the flavor of these cherries, as opposed to a simple "meh" that came from the store bought brand. If I ate them on ice cream regularly, or used them in really any other capacity, I might be a changed man. They really are that good.

I did everything the same, prep work, yeast, etc. The only difference is that, treating the preservative laden liquid like the lemon juice for skeeter pee ... I let the liquid itself sit (in the fridge with a towel over it) for a couple days. I hoped that this might encourage a bit of a release of the preservatives.

As of right now, I have no idea how these are coming along. The reason is because the batch that I started first, with the local store bought variety, finished fermenting much more rapidly than the Tillen Farm's all natural variety ... and it's only about 6 weeks old on average. (7 for the store bought, 5 for the organic style). Judging by the fact that it has cocoa powder in it, and the aging will require ~1 year ... I can give you feedback in another 46 weeks if you'd like. However - both are completely dry (or bordering on such).

I'm also debating using some excess preserve-filled cherry liquid that I have left from when I used the cherries to make jello shots to use as a back sweetener. I'm holding on to it - and figure it will kill 2 birds with one stone. Sorbate my mead as well as backsweeten all at once!

Also of note ... I had to clean my vaulted ceilings when I put a stopper/airlock on this. I kid you not, this went ~15 feet horizontally, and ~15 feet vertically before hitting the wall. Honey + chocolate = harder than heck to clean off walls. And ceilings. And floors. And kitchen cabinets. Etc. Start this in an ale pail ... or use a blow off tube ... or something ...

(Updated link for cherries)

 

[user 54565]

As an additional thought regarding the liquid being a major fermentable:

It seems, to me, that the liquid in cherries is simply a syrup - and the little flavor it has is probably leached from the cherries. So, measure out how much syrup is contained within your jar of cherries, make a similar quantity of simple syrup, and replace it. Then you're cutting down on 90% of the preservatives, while still being able to use cherries from Costco. And like I mentioned before, use the liquid at the tail end to back sweeten. Extra cherry flavor during secondary!

 

[jcobbs]

You know, if you think about eating maraschino cherries, to me you don't really taste the cherry flavor until you bite into one. So I'm thinking you might even consider just draining and/or even rinsing the cherries first. That should knock out most of the sorbate and still leave the flavor. Unless you're counting on keeping the red color.

 

[user 54565]

And the "organic" cherries I used had "fruit punch concentrate" mentioned as the coloring agent. So there is always that ...

 

[Sirthomas42]

I started up a 5 gallon batch of this a couple weeks ago, fermented it dry, then racked over the cherries. To my surprise, sorbate and all, the yeast woke up and started fermenting. It's been fermenting away for a while now. Must not be enough sorbate to inhibit the yeast and preventing it from starting back up.

 

[Sirthomas42]

So, a couple months later, it fermented nearly dry after adding the cherries. I racked off the cherries a few weeks ago, and topped up with what I had set aside. Worked out great!