Upcoming plans - cherry wine!

[Srimmey]

There is a cherry tree in my back yard. I have no idea exactly what kind of cherry it produces… maybe Rainer. It’s doing good this year. Last year was exceptionally weak for the tree, only 1-2 cherries made it. The rest got moldy on the branch so I trimmed it last fall with the idea to let more light into the middle.

I plan to make some cherry wine this weekend or next (depending on when the cherries peak). Below was what I was thinking of doing, please advise as needed…

1. Pick cherries, immediately pull stem, pit and freeze.

2. Next day (or weekend, depending on if I pick on a Sunday) juice the cherries with press. I am hoping for 1-3 gallons of juice.

3. Add sugar or honey (or some other sweetener?) to get gravity to 1.08 - 1.09.

4. Add some fermaide O. I usually use a tonsa clac for mead. Maybe cut it half since it’s mostly cherries?

5. Pitch yeast, I’m out of gofirm and don’t feel like buying more. I was thinking of just rehydrating in some of the juice with nutrients already mixed in.

I have several yeasts on hand, I was thinking of using QA23. Other choices are… 71b, d47 & ec1118.

All in price of $0. No plans for back sweetening, just ferment/rack/clear/bottle. What do you guys think? Suggestions?

 

[Maylar]

Rehydrate in warm water. Instructions are usually on the packet.

 

[Srimmey]

Rehydrate in warm water. Instructions are usually on the packet.

Shouldn’t i give it some sort of sugar to start chewing on as well?

 

[Maylar]

Shouldn’t i give it some sort of sugar to start chewing on as well?

No. Rehydration is different than making a "starter". Follow the instructions on the yeast packet.

 

[Srimmey]

In the freezer they go! There is about another 1/2 gallon to pick next weekend when they ripen, then I will see how much juice I get.

Any suggestions on if I should do 100% juice or add water?

 

[cottonwoodks]

When I made cherry wine last year, I didn't make juice from it, but instead fermented the cherries whole and then strained them out. It's one of my favorite wines. I made it from cherries I found in my freezer (from 2016 and 2019!)--Montmorency pie cherries. The wine has a lovely cherry taste and aroma.

 

[Erik the Awful]

I didn't make juice from it, but instead fermented the cherries whole and then strained them out.

How did you go about that? Does that keep more of the cherry flavor? Better yield?

 

[Rodent]

and for those who have a need to pit cherries in the future, I highly recommend you look up the "chopstick + wine bottle" pitting method. I pitted 70 quarts of Rainier cherries on Monday to make a batch of jam and load up the dehydrator. took less than 90 minutes once I got the technique down.

for reference I used a cherry pitter from Ace Hardware and managed to pit about 100 cherries in 30 minutes using that tool I have now designated to a yard sale

 

[Srimmey]

and for those who have a need to pit cherries in the future, I highly recommend you look up the "chopstick + wine bottle" pitting method. I pitted 70 quarts of Rainier cherries on Monday to make a batch of jam and load up the dehydrator. took less than 90 minutes once I got the technique down.

for reference I used a cherry pitter from Ace Hardware and managed to pit about 100 cherries in 30 minutes using that tool I have now designated to a yard sale

View attachment 822980

I’m going to look this up. I ended up getting 3 gallons of cherries from the tree which amounted to 13 pounds after cleaning, removing pits and stems.

It took me about 3 hours, I got it down to about an average of 1 cherry every 5 seconds

 

[cottonwoodks]

How did you go about that? Does that keep more of the cherry flavor? Better yield?

I don't know about better yield, but the flavor was VERY cherry! And it was really easy.