Cherry Weisse recipe question

Beer Recipes
1

I’m going to give the Cherry Weisse (Cherry Weisse - Beer Recipe - American Homebrewers Association) recipe a try from the HBA Members area.  The directions say:

Allow primary fermentation to reach completion and then transfer to a secondary vessel containing the cherry juice (note: the cherry juice adds a half gallon of liquid to the fermented brew and will also impact mouthfeel, tartness and alcohol in the end). Allow enough time in secondary so that any restart in fermentation from the cherry juice subsides.

I’ve never brewed with juice before. I don’t think there’s any way around “any restart” in fermentation since secondary isn’t being stabilized so I think I need to make sure not to get any juice with preservatives in it. Anything else to consider for the juice?

  • ascorbic acid probably OK?
  • probably want “just juice” with no added sugar?
  • no stuff made from concentrate?

Thanks!

2

You are correct - you want the juice to ferment out so you aren’t left with a sweet beer. If it were me, I wouldn’t bother with a secondary - I’d just add the juice to the primary fermenter. You definitely don’t want anything with sorbates in it. Ascorbic acid would be fine. The ideal is 100% juice (i.e., no sugar added") and “not from concentrate”. If you can only find something from concentrate it’s not the end of the world, but I’d try to avoid added sugar if at all possible.

3

Good to know. Thanks!