Guys, I am planning on brewing a sour cherry ale and I am having a little trouble finding the 10lbs of sour cherries.
I have heard about the Oregon sour/tart cherry puree. Also, Norther Brewer and mylhbs sell canned puree of sweet cherries (that will change the intended outcome).
Have you used the Oregon puree? How did that turn out? How much of that should I use if the the recipe calls for 10lbs of crushed sour cherries?
What do you think?
I’ve not used them yet but hear Oregon Fruit brewing puree is awesome. I’ve used their other products and they are top notch. Flat Tail Brewing makes a ton of sours and they recommend them. However, unless you can drive to Salem shipping will kill you. They come in 42 pound bags. Another nice thing is they tell you the brix of the fruit. I would use them equal to whole fruit.
If you want fresh montmorency cherries, you’ll probably have to wait until July. They are grown in Michigan and that’s when they are harvested. I get 10 lb every year to brew a cherry stout. Check your major farm markets. They may have some tubs frozen. I’ve not been able to find Oregon tart cherry purée. I have used their cherries and it’s just not the same as using fresh.
Hoosierbrew recommended this to me.
http://www.shorelinefruit.com/cart/6/cherry-concentrate/montmorency-tart-cherry-concentrate—32-oz
This is a high quality concentrate. I used it in a cherry wheat that I brewed out of season. I was very pleased. The price might seem steep but it’s not. 10 lb of cherries will cost you $20-$25.
Also… I used the entire 32 oz in this beer. The beer was very tart, and the cherry was definitely present. It was on tap at my wedding and was a fan favorite.
Yep, good concentrate. Nice tart cherry pie flavor.
I used canned montmorency cherries before but I can’t seem to remember where I found them. IIRC they were 100% cherries and I bought a few cases on line. I also blended some cherry concentrate similar to what was posted above, or might have even been the same brand.
That cherry concentrate looks pretty good. Too bad they don’t have other fruit concentrates like raspberry. It seem like it would be a lot easier to use than whole fruit.
Anyone use the dried fruit? I have heard that Russian River uses dried fruit in their fruit beers.
It’s a cherry orchard that manufactures it… Maybe search raspberry concentrates. I don’t know if there would be a demand for raspberry concentrate though. People make cherry juice out of the montmorency cherry concentrate to help out with joint issues and arthritis.
Ok so I found another option. At Walmart I found Oregon’s canned sour cherries. They are canned in water and pitted. Each can has 14oz.
Do you think this will work? How many cans should I add to 5 gals? The recipe calls for cooling wort down to 170F and add the cherries. Does that sound right or should I add it to secondary? Thoughts?
Btw thanks for the responses.
Add them to secondary. Heating the fruit will set the pectin in the fruit and give you a hazy beer and will cook away some of the fruit character. You will need to use several cans, maybe 4-8 cans depending on how much fruit character you want.
EDIT - I haven’t used the canned cherries. Try something in that range and adjust up or down next time.
Like Jon said, definitely add them to the secondary. Put them in a paint strainer bag and save yourself 7 headaches later lol.
I’ve used canned cherries and didn’t care a whole lot for them. They just didn’t have the same effect as fresh.
What type of ale are you brewing? I use 10 lbs in a stout, but I wouldn’t use that much in a lighter, less roasted beer.
Good catch on the strainer bag, Frank. It’s a giant PITA separating fruit pulp without it.
Very standard recipe
10# 2 row
.5# Munich
.5# Wheat
1 oz northern brewer
.5 tetnanger
.5 fuggle
I never had great luck with those canned cherries. I feel like they lost most of the juice before they hit the cans. I would opt for cherry concentrate if you are not going with a puree.
I used a “vinter’s choice” one recently that I will not be using again. Not a very pleasant cherry aroma.
Finding sour cherries was such a hassle that we planted a couple of trees to grow our own.
I thought about that once. Then I decided that I didn’t want to pit 1000 cherries.
Bottom line is, you’re out of season. They are in season at the end of June and early July. Which is when you’ll get cherries off of your trees.
Did you go with that concentrate?