When to add the fruit?

[ReuFroman]

I am making my first fruit beer, a Dark Cherry Stout. I am looking for that dark coffee, choco flavor with a sweet cherry flavor on the front of the taste as well as the back. I love full flavored beers. I want the sweetness of the cherries to come through but not be over powering to the stout taste. I am planning on a half lbs of cherries for a 5 gal batch.

When would you put the cherries in?
A.) Last 10 minutes of boil?
B.) Primary?
C.) Secondary?
D.) Eat the cherries. Fruit beer is for (insert funny but off-colored slur here).

 

[atchinator]

I would add them to the secondary.

That's what I've done in the past and what I just did for a Blackberry Porter that's still in my carboy.

I like to let the beer ferment and then rack to a secondary. I add the fruit to the secondary before racking the beer. Ideally, I don't want too much more, if any, fermentation to happen (with the sugars from the fruit).

Half a pound of cherries seems a little light, but maybe I'm wrong. I haven't tried cherries before. With my blackberry porter, I'm using about 5 - 7 pounds of blackberries (for a 6 gallon batch) that I froze and then brought back to room temp. I freeze them to, hopefully, try and kill off any bacteria.

 

[avidhomebrewer]

I used about 5# of cherries for a 5 gallon batch of stout and barely noticed the cherry flavor. Having a fruit flavor overcome the power of the stout flavor would be difficult, assuming you added 'normal' amounts of fruit (~10#). You won't get much, if any, flavor from 1/2# of cherries in a 5 gallon batch. I'd go for around 10#/5 gallons.

 

[ReuFroman]

So 10# in the secondary. I am new to hb. Any other recommendations?

 

[WolvinMaine]

Freeze the cherries before you put them in. It helps to break down the fruit. You can dump them in frozen if you want, then rack on them, easiest way to do it. Figure 1-2# of fruit per 1 gallon of beer as a decent starting point. You can buy cherry extract at most homebrew stores if you don't get the right aroma/flavor, but these never really taste right, generally a bit flat.

 

[wheels4]

I did like the others and put strawberries in the secondary. I added 1 lb. per gallon on the second batch and it was great(only used 1/2 a lb. per gallon on the first and very little strawberry came through). This was also in a blonde so I would think you would need more in a stout. Either way put some in and adjust next time .

 

[ReuFroman]

I am thinking 1.5 lbs per gallon now, with help.