cherry in beer

[keithshead]

Hi,

I'm going to be making a Cherry Belgium Wit beer at the weekend and i have a question; what would be best? Thawed out frozen cherries or a cherry concentrate?

I will be brewing about 10litres how much cherry should i use?

[trucker5774]

I am also playing with a few variations. I have just started a strawberry beer. I made the wort as normal and into the FV for 3 days. (dropped from OG 1046 to 1018) I then "stewed" the fruit at 80C for 20 mins then cooled and added to FV. I used 150g of fruit per litre. Other people add the fruit to the boil for the last 10 mins. I have heard of freezing but not sure what it achieves. I also believe tinned fruit in syrup will give the same results.

[Mountain]

Yep, I agree with Trucker. You'll need at least 1.5kg for 10 litres.

The 'stewing' method worked very well with my Cherry wheat. I used fresh cherries all reduced at Morrisons. It was just luck that I went in when the had loads reduced.

I sterilised a slotted spoon to remove pips and some of the pulp a day before bottling. As far as I know the pips are usually left in to give a bit of 'woodiness'.

It has improved greatly over 3 or more months and is a real hit. Only got 3 bottles left. I put it in the small Chimay bottles as it's not really a pint type of beer!

[6470zzy]

What you are looking for is a nice tart(sour) cherry. Frozen is quite fine, in fact I find them to be better for the simple reason that the walls of the fruit after freezing are more readily permeated by the wort.

Cheers

[keithshead]

Anyone tried the fruit flavourings?