What to expect adding cherries to my beer

[J187]

I have a Belgian Dubbel fermenting. I"m about to rack to a "S word" and do a cherry addition. It will be 2.5 lbs of sweet cherries and 2.5 lbs of sour. The sour are in a jar with liquid to be drained, the sweet are frozen. I'm thinking I should pit and freeze them all, thaw and mash.

So if i'm correct, the effect on alcohol/gravity will be negligible most likely since there is water as well as sugar and who really knows what that will have as a precise effect. That right?

Also, what about the fermenter? I use a 6.5 gallon bucket and I'm wondering how adding 5lbs of cherries to it will be in terms of headspace and what not. Will be ok to add rack to a "S word", add the cherries, put on a blow off and leave it for a couple weeks?

 

[Captain Damage]

You can do a Google search for the nutrition facts of fresh cherries to find out how much sugar you will be adding. With 5 lbs the amount will not be insignificant and will increase your ABV.

Using your 6.5 gallon carboy for secondary should be fine. A blowoff tube will be safe, but the fruit fermentation will be much less active than a typical beer fermentation. You will probably have only a small amount of foaming.

 

[Matt3989]

Comment on this thread after you've done it please, I'm racking a stout over 5lbs of canned tart cherries, a half lb of cacao nibs and a vanilla bean someone next week. I'd be interested to know what to expect as well.

I'll be using just a 5 gallon secondary, but I'll also be racking a gallon into a separate one gallon glass jug so i can taste the differences.

all my 6.5 gallon glass fermenters seem to hold more like 7.5, so i think you'll be fine as far as head space goes.

 

[Balue]

I do all my fruit adds in a secondary, the only time I do one. And usually it is a 6.5 bucket the little bit of fermentation you get will be enough to blanket the beer for you as long as you are not sloshing it around.

I have also found that the yeast will eat most if not all of the sweetness out of any fruit add and I get just tartness from even sweet cherries strawberries or whatever I have added. If this is what I desire I leave as is if I want sweetness I will back sweeten with some lactose.

 

[J187]

I do all my fruit adds in a secondary, the only time I do one. And usually it is a 6.5 bucket the little bit of fermentation you get will be enough to blanket the beer for you as long as you are not sloshing it around.

I have also found that the yeast will eat most if not all of the sweetness out of any fruit add and I get just tartness from even sweet cherries strawberries or whatever I have added. If this is what I desire I leave as is if I want sweetness I will back sweeten with some lactose.

Thanks. I'm doing the sweet and tart exactly the way Troegs does mad elf.