What to brew with Cherry

[Fore]

Hi there. I have a cherry tree, but to date never used the cherries in a brew. I think it's time to give it a go.

I'm looking for recommendations as to the beer that probably suits cherry the best. My cherries are sweet, not sour, so that probably plays a part in choosing the style. Is this as simple as keeping it light with Pils malt and just adding cherries in the boil, or do I need to come at this from another angle, say with wheat?

Thanks for your recommendations and pointers to recipes.

 

[Manxnorton]

Hi pal
Got a link for you to look at
Wild cheery pilsner.
Haven't took deep at the fruit beers and how hard it would be.
Better suggestion & help be up soon from others. :-)
Later
Bri
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/272777/wild-cherry-pilsner

 

[Fore]

Hi pal
Got a link for you to look at
Wild cheery pilsner.
Haven't took deep at the fruit beers and how hard it would be.
Better suggestion & help be up soon from others. :-)
Later
Bri
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/272777/wild-cherry-pilsner

Am I being daft? I can't see any cherries in that recipe. I mean, it looks like it would probably work well with cherries, but at what weight, and when do you add them to the boil (assuming you do)?

 

[IainM]

I vote for a wheat beer. It's hazy already so pectin haze doesn't matter, and there aren't strong hop or roasty flavours that could clash with or obscure the fruit. Plus, it can handle any added acidity and will show off the cherry colour.

 

[dad_of_jon]

I've done few fruity wheat beers but have never hit the style I aimed for. They've all been very drinkable. I've only used syrups and extracts so that I can calculate the ABV correctly.

You normally add the fruit after the main fermentation has finished to get the most fruity flavor. Some soak the fruit in vodka to kill bugs. others boil but say that can give stewed flavours. if you want to know the ABV you do a ball park figure for your type of fruit, it wont be uber accurate as sugar content can vary and add that in.

so as Iainm says a cherry wheat would be great. let us know how it turns out.

 

[Fore]

I've done few fruity wheat beers but have never hit the style I aimed for. They've all been very drinkable. I've only used syrups and extracts so that I can calculate the ABV correctly.

You normally add the fruit after the main fermentation has finished to get the most fruity flavor. Some soak the fruit in vodka to kill bugs. others boil but say that can give stewed flavours. if you want to know the ABV you do a ball park figure for your type of fruit, it wont be uber accurate as sugar content can vary and add that in.

so as Iainm says a cherry wheat would be great. let us know how it turns out.

Thanks. Bugs are an issue, the reason some years I don't even harvest, and I thought boiling would be a good way round this, but boiling is out it seems. Vodka it is then. Might use coffee filter and reuse the vodka in some way :drink:. Not too bothered about precise ABV; I'll just wing it. Will be some time yet.

 

[DoctorMick]

Dues freezing kill bugs? I'm sure I've read about people freezing before adding to the fermenter.

 

[IainM]

Dues freezing kill bugs? I'm sure I've read about people freezing before adding to the fermenter.

Not really. It might kill some, but the main reason for freezing is that the ice crystals pierce the cells and help getting the good stuff out.

 

[Ajhutch]

If you wanted to branch out from beer you could try a mead with cherries too.

 

[Simonh82]

The only cherry beer I've had was a Kriek Boon, a Belgian fruit lambic, which I'm sure would be nearly impossible to replicate. It was really delicious and I really recommend you seek some out.

What you could take way from it, even if you don't try to replicate the spontaneous fermentation and long ageing in oak barrels with the fruit are the quantities that they use. The standard Kriek Boon uses 250g of cherries per litre of beer and the Oude Kriek Boon uses at least 400g of cherries per litre. You may need a lot of fruit to impart a good strong flavour.

I would recommend avoiding adding fruit late in the boil. I made a plum porter with 2KG of plums and after fermentation they were almost undetectable. I ended up adding a natural plum essence which was really potent.

 

[Deadhead]

I made a cherrywood smoked porter which came out awesome, but it is my plan next time to add cherries to it because I think the flavour profile would work really well.

 

[Fore]

The only cherry beer I've had was a Kriek Boon, a Belgian fruit lambic, which I'm sure would be nearly impossible to replicate. It was really delicious and I really recommend you seek some out.

What you could take way from it, even if you don't try to replicate the spontaneous fermentation and long ageing in oak barrels with the fruit are the quantities that they use. The standard Kriek Boon uses 250g of cherries per litre of beer and the Oude Kriek Boon uses at least 400g of cherries per litre. You may need a lot of fruit to impart a good strong flavour.

I would recommend avoiding adding fruit late in the boil. I made a plum porter with 2KG of plums and after fermentation they were almost undetectable. I ended up adding a natural plum essence which was really potent.

Thanks. I'm familiar with Lambic Cherry Kreik, had it last time just a few weeks ago, but I think it best if I avoid the whole Lambic thing. I hear that it can be quite difficult to get the cherry flavour to come through, so a large addition at secondary looks the standard approach. I have pretty much a limitless volume of cherries for free, so that's one big bonus. And I read that adding a Campden tablet into the blended cherries can help to kill the baddies. Just that I have never done a wheat beer before, so basic questions come to mind like, torrified wheat or wheat malt? proportion to malted barley? yeast type? standard brew temp? etc. I doubt it will be too complex though; I'm not trying to target anything, just put the cherries to good use (and please the wife).

 

[Ali]

If you think it may be too much bother there is this product available;
https://www.brewuk.co.uk/cherry-juice.html

I've never used it, so can't comment on if it is any good, or how much yopu need to use; maybe someone else can on here help...

 

[Ajhutch]

Thanks. I'm familiar with Lambic Cherry Kreik, had it last time just a few weeks ago, but I think it best if I avoid the whole Lambic thing. I hear that it can be quite difficult to get the cherry flavour to come through, so a large addition at secondary looks the standard approach. I have pretty much a limitless volume of cherries for free, so that's one big bonus. And I read that adding a Campden tablet into the blended cherries can help to kill the baddies. Just that I have never done a wheat beer before, so basic questions come to mind like, torrified wheat or wheat malt? proportion to malted barley? yeast type? standard brew temp? etc. I doubt it will be too complex though; I'm not trying to target anything, just put the cherries to good use (and please the wife).

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=67980

That thread is by @JFB and he won the December Wheat Beer competition with a Raspberry Wheat Beer - you could probably follow a similar recipe subbing cherries in for raspberries.

I am wildly jealous of your cherry tree by the way!

 

[Fore]

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=67980

That thread is by @JFB and he won the December Wheat Beer competition with a Raspberry Wheat Beer - you could probably follow a similar recipe subbing cherries in for raspberries.

I am wildly jealous of your cherry tree by the way!

That's perfect, thanks!

You probably don't want to see this though...

 

[Ajhutch]

That's perfect, thanks!



You probably don't want to see this though...

Wow! That really is a limitless supply!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[JFB]

That's perfect, thanks!

You probably don't want to see this though...

Wow, beer , crumble, jam.... my misses would probably be tie dying with the stuff as well!!

 

[BeerCat]

I know it's not beer but plum Mead sounds good.

 

[serum]

Cherry sour of some sort or go with wheat.

The Samuel Smith's cherry beer is a wheat beer and that tastes decent but a real lambic kriek beer is the best. It will take ages but you can always split the wheat batch and do some sour and some clean. The lambic base is basically the same as a Belgian wheat beer anyway

 

[OxfordNick]

Heres a picture of the cherry bitter I knocked up at the start of the year - about 1KG of cherries frozen then gentle boiled for about 5 mins, added to a generic bitter kit at the start - I think I used a Youngs harvest bitter & US Safe 05 yeast.

--
Its pretty good now - bitter with a fruity sour finish ; its likely to be exceptional in 3 or 4 months more ... if theres any left...