Tips on brewing a cherry wheat

[tek210]

Doing up a cherry wheat tomorrow and looking for some advice.

Going with fresh, how much do I need?
Tips on pitting?
Tips on cooking?
Tips on mixing into brew?

I am doing a 2 gallon wort into a glass carboy. Probably does not matter but what the hell.

 

[chode720]

If I'm not mistaken a 5 gallon batch would be roughly 8-10lbs fresh. So just scale down for your batch. As for pitting, u can buy a cherry pitter

do not cook the fruit! It will set in a permanent haze from pectins. Instead mash them with a potato masher, and add to a secondary and rack the beer on top once primary stops or has slowed dramatically. Then leave on for 2 weeks to extract the most flavor

 

[KAMMEE]

If you can find them, just pick up a couple 14.5 oz cans of Oregon sour cherries, pour the liquid and cherries in from the cans as its already pasteurized, you don't have to worry about sanitization other than to wipe the can off with a little sanitizing solution. Also, they're pitted so no worries. Just put them right in before you pitch the yeast. I did a cherry stout earlier this year with these and it turned out great, lots of cherry flavor, so I would recommend them for ease of use and flavor potential.

 

[doctorRobert]

Is there a similar can I can use for blackberries? I cant stand cherrys.

 

[rengelma]

What about peaches... I am planning to add 5 pounds of peaches to a stout/porter. I've never done anything with fruit before, but wanted to experiment with local produce. I was planning on mashing the peaches and adding a couple of crushed campden tablets... let that mix sit in the bottom of my sterilized secondary overnight, then rack the beer over the top of the peaches.

I am a little worried that a stout, might be overpower the flavor of the peaches.

 

[OsbornBrewing]

Oregon makes sterilized purees of just about everything berry, Oregon canned goods, do not peaches though. After you figure in time the cans compare to good fresh berries.

As for fresh fruit if you go that route, +1 to the DO NOT cook them. Along with the haze you will start the process to making jelly and it won't be fun to deal with. Follow you normal procedures until finishing the boil, at flameout let your boil die down, when your boil is totally halted, add your fruit, cover the wort and let steep for 15 mins. Make sure your wort stays above 180 but does NOT boil. Chill, pitch, ferment. I do not normally secondary, except when I add fruit, BY ANY METHOD. Even if I've steeped fresh fruit. Fermentation always reactivates in the secondary. Someone else can explain the science. I always notice fermenter activity in the secondary, has to be due to the added sugars from the fruits and resuspending it during racking. I haven't ever skipped a secondary with fruit, someone else will have to test if it's doable.

I use campden to de-chlorinate tap water so I'm not sure what that would do. Leaving it sit overnight in a secondary does not seem very clean to me. I'd want to have more peace of mind with sterilizing in the kettle.

 

[Chipman]

I'm not sure how well the flavors of stout will meld with peach. It's worth a shot though, I've read that using apricot will impart more of a 'peach' flavor than actual peach will! Maybe you could get a few gallon jugs and do a different fruit in each one, for some experimentation.

Frozen bagged whole blackberries went into the secondary for a pale ale for me recently, really complex flavor. Too sour on the finish but maybe that'll mellow out a bit.

 

[tek210]

Well I brewed my batch on Saturday prior to any posts so we will see if I got it right. I had to use frozen cherries, they are out of season. Put the cherries in water, got them to 160 to kill baxteria. Put them in the carboy and then added the wort. Will give it a couple weeks. May move to a secondary prior to kegging. Will play that one by ear. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[lostboysbrew]

Sorry I caught this post a little late, just joined the forum today. One of our first beers was a Cherry Wheat. After many fixes we got it to where we want it. Like you did, we only have used frozen cherries. can't remember the weight amount, but its two bags of "spartan brand sweet pitted cherries" per 5 gallons. We didn't get to technical with them, brewed our "wheat" beer and let it ferment, upon putting it in the secondary, we puree the cherries and but them in our bucket, and filter the wheat into it so that it mixes itself. Gives us a great redish tint to the wheat and a very faint, natural cherry taste to the beer. Makes for a pain the a** when filtering into the keg though. Good Luck!

 

[rengelma]

Wine makers use campden tabs to kill the natural yeasts and bacteria in the grape juice... I used them in my unpasteurized cider before brewing. The instructions say to wait 24-hrs before pitching yeast... so my thought would be to mix the uncooked peach puree with the campden tablets and let it sit before mixing the beer into it. As long as I keep everything else sterile and use an air lock it should work right?

 

[tek210]

Well I may have put my cherries in early I put them in prior to putting the wort into the carboy. What would people recommend for the next steps?

I am 2 weeks from brewing this weekend, should I move it to secondary? Carboy or keg?
Should I take the cherries from the carboy and do anything to them before I move them to the secondary?
Or should I just move all to keg and be done with it?

What are my best options for this weekend?

 

[lostboysbrew]

Secondary has been our best results...........its nice b/c after the primary you get a nice continuation of fermentation.........

 

[tek210]

So into a new clean carboy. What should I do with the cherries? Would I move them over to secondary? Put in new cherries? Or leave them out entirely?