I am making this fruit beer tonight and I was wondering if I could get you opinion. Essentially the recipe calls for 8 lbs of light extract syrup and 10 lbs of sour cherries. The cherries I got come in some kind of sugar water, essentially red juice. Should I allow any of that juice into the wort? Should I rinse the cherries? I was thinking of allowing one jar (1.5 lbs worth) to be poured in with the juice and the rest strained, not rinsed.
Let me know what you think
Fro
This is a Papazian recipe? I always wanted to brew it…
I’d do as you intend.
yes it is a Papazian recipe. Here is food for thought. A fellow brewer just pointed out to me that if I took the liquid out, the weight would be significantly altered, that is to say what I felt to be 10 lbs, might be a lot of liquid weight. I might add a second jar of liquid just for giggles.
Cheers
My copy was lost nearly 20 years ago- would you mind posting the recipe? Purty please… 
8.5 lbs Alexanders light malt extract syrup
1.5 Santiam or Tettnanger hop pellets 9 HBU
0.5 Santiam or Tettnanger hops (finishing)
10 lbs sour cherries
American ale-type yeast
O.G. 1.046-1.050 (11.5-12.5)
FG 1.011-1.017 (2.5-4)
Bitterness 33 IB, Color: Rose
Boil extract and boiling hops in 1.5 gallons for 60 minutes. Remove boiling hops (rinse/sparge) these hops with hot water. Add crushed sour cherries and finishing hops to boiling wort. This should cool the wort to temp of 160 ( I got 179.8) . Let steep for 15 minutes. Do not boil. Then pour entire contents into fermenter bucket. Pitch yeast and after 5 days, remove as much cherries and floating hops as possible and siphon into secondary and finish fermentation.
Probably more than you needed to know,
Cheers
Thanks! At long last- I will brew it!
I would add the whole jar, liquid and all. The sugar may lighten the body some, but I wouldn’t worry about it. There’s going to be a lot of flavor in that juice.
+1
Add the whole jar of cherries with juice.
I’d like to try something like this with an all-grain recipe. Maybe some wheat malt…but I also want to use the Dogfish Native Delaware yeast.
Frozen cherries work great. Better than canned IME.
I did think of frozen cherries, but then they would not have been sour. Whatever sour means… probably not candied?
Oh yeah, good point. Those are generally sweet cherries. Would be nice if they would freeze sour cherries though.
What you might do is make a simple syrup and macerate the frozen cherries in it for up to a week. Then drain and reserve the liquid. Add cherries as recipe states. Then use the cherry simple syrup as priming sugar for bottles or keg.
I get my frozen sour cherries from a local farm. My tree doesn’t get me enough . . . yet.
You might have a farm near you that offers them as well.
I believe the Remlinger brand is available to me if they supply Whole Foods.
I have seen them in the local WF, but I don’t know about a TX Whole Foods.
Cherry priming sugar?!?! oh the possibilities are raging in my head!!!
Sour means … sour, or tart. Certain cherry varieties have a more tart flavor. I’d all juice and all, lots of sugars and flavors in that syrup. Some of the sugars will be from the cherries too.
There are sweet cheeries for eating, then there are the tart pie cherries like Montmorency and Balaton. I really like the Balaton in meads.
http://www.michiganbalatoncherries.com/
The early hot weather caused the trees to bloom, then the hard frosts/freezes have wiped out 90% of this years crop.
Oh no! Sounds like the WA cherries will be expensive this year. The weather has been great so far, my trees are in full bloom.
Michigan does grow a lot of pie cherries, either first or second in the country. WA grows more cherries, but a lot of that is the eating variety. Rainier cherries are one of my favorites for eating. Yum.
Edit - the wife may have just picked up the 4 lb box of dried Balatons for a reason. She also got a 4 lb. box of chocolate covered dried Balatons - double yum!