well tried my cherry today..

[BeerLuvnGrl]

my cherry has been conditioning for about two weeks and well i got impatient and wanted to try it..

when bottling the last 2 bottles got a little more air in them so we marked them so we would know. .i put 2 in the fridge.. one with the extra air one without..

the one that got more oxygen was OVER carbonated and it really affected the taste..lots of bite from the carbonation..but it had GREAT head retention..

the other one (which is the pic)... not yet ready.. needs more carbonation for sure...not much head retention at all...

when i racked for bottling i did put the priming sugar on the bottom and racked on top of it to make sure it was distributed well...could this have something to do with it?

any other guesses ??

i can definately taste the cherry in it though im glad its not super overpowering...thought id share the beer with ya!

 

[Truble]

when you say you put the sugar on the bottom, did you boil it in water to create a solution first? apologies in advance for the simplistic question.

 

[Truble]

also, what temp has it been sitting at and how much primer did you use/how big was the batch?

 

[Beer Snob]

Actualy with my cherry wheat (one last bottle!!!!) that was about how much head retention I had too. The carbonation was great though, so I had guessed it had nothing to do with carbonation..... do you taste an apropriate level of carbonation with the one in the pic?

Just thinking.... even when I get a commercial sam adams cherry wheat there is not too much head retention..... could it be the cherry?

 

[BeerLuvnGrl]

it was about a 3 gallon batch...close to it anyway.. i split my wheat batch into 2.5 gallons of raspberry and about 3 gallons of cherry..

yea.. i boiled the sugar in water first..what i did was because i use 3/4 of a cup for 5 gallons i just cut it appropriately for 3 gallons.. then i took the water/sugar solution and put on the bottom...(after boiling and cooling) and racked on top of it

its conditioning at about 73-75 degrees...

the one in the pic was kinda flat.. not quite enough carbonation..it was good but i could tell it still needed some time to condition...

yea the sam adams to me doesnt have much head retention either.. i like it though..

 

[RichBrewer]

I wouldn't sweat it yet. Give it some more time to fully carbonate. I've had some brews take over 3 weeks to fully condition.

 

[Truble]

sounds like you did everything fine. the only reason I asked the water question is because I had a friend that just jumped the sugar in the bottle bucket. He ended up having some grenades, and some with no carb at all because the sugar did not dissolve fully prior to bottling.

 

[BeerLuvnGrl]

not sweating it.. just ready to drink it!

putting the sugar right in the bottom would definately cause a problem...lol

 

[Truble]

Yeah. LOL is the reaction when he told me too!