Cherry beer ideas?

I am working cherry season for the neighbors and have access to all the tart cherries I want. I was thinking about how I could use them in a beer. I’ve read that using fruit in beer can be tricky as it can potentially change what sugars the yeast go after and give you a less than desirable final product. Anyone have any suggestions or advice on using fresh tart cherries in a beer?

Now is the time to read up on Kriek… Brew made with all cherries(?). Being that you are in the most awesome position with them! I had a Kreik from a local up here in Duluth quite a few years ago, and thought it a very good brew. It was pink in color, you could see through it, and I wonder if it was conditioned with Champagne yeast… Very bubbly, like a duvel is… You could carve out a niche! Sneezles61

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I made a kettle soured cherry saison people seem to like

I brew a lot of fruit beers here in summer. Here is what I do with fresh cherries. Pull the stems off and crush the the cherries. Then cook them for about 20 minutes at about 160 degrees. Let them cool down and add to the secondary. You will need about 5 pounds of cherries.

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Sounds easy enough. What is the base beer?

I like to use them in a lot of different beers. Cherry wheat and cherry wit, cherry saison, Belgian strong and dark ales trippels and quads and stouts. So just depends on what you want to brew with the cherries. If you want a recipe I will post some tomorrow

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Me did brew one 3 months ago. Its still in the secondary. I did use 6 lbs of fresh cherries. Did boil them in hot water for 30 min let them cool down and did add them to the secondary. Will let it stand till september. Did lots of reading on how to brew a kriek lambic. And did ask questions on the forum. Seems you can let it stand up to a year. Needs to be ready end of september than my sister on island

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Thank you!

Maybe thats why I thought it had used some champagne yeast… The extra zing you get from the lambic touch… Sneezles61

Did you boil the cherries? When you do that you get the tannins from the seed and skins of the cherries.

Here is a saison recipe for 5 gallons
Size: 5 Gallons
ABV: 6.6%
IBUs: 33

11 lbs Pislner Malt

1 lb. Aromatic

8 oz. Flaked Oats

Hops

3/4 oz. Columbus 13%a, 60 minutes

1/4 oz. Columbus 13%a, 15 minutes

1/2 oz. Styrian Goldings 5%a, 15 minutes

Yeast: White Labs WLP 565 Saison I or Wyeast 3724 Belgian Saison
Mash all grains for 1 hour at 150 degrees.
Add 5 pounds of cherries to secondary

What about pectin haze from boiling fruit? Sneezles61

Currently drinking sierra nevadas ovila quad with cherries…makes me want to try cherries in a bdsa.

If you boil you will get that too. You don’t need to boil the cherries just pasteurize them to kill any wild yeast or unwanted bugs. When you crush them be sure not to crush the seed. You don’t want the tannins from the seed in your beer

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I was reading about adding pectic enzyme to the fruit after crushing and let it sit for a few hours then crush some more to get out more juice out of the fruit specifically apples but maybe cherries. Them but pour boiling water over them and let them sit for pasteurization. That may have been for wine but why not beer.

Actuall did not boil them did write wrong. Just pasturize them when cool did add them to the secondary. Butt real curius how the brew taste. About half of september do keg it. And taste time

As usual you guys have gone above and beyond, thank you! Off to drive the cherry truck and forklift.

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Do tell whats happening in this picture… Sneezles61

Cherries are now harvested by shaking the whole tree with the fruit being caught on canvases and directed to a conveyor. The conveyor moves the fruit into a big tank of cold water. The tank is trucked to a place called a cooling pad where cold water is run into the tank for at least an hour. The picture is the cooling pad. My job was to drive a forklift and move the tanks of cherries from the orchard truck to the pad and when cooled, load them on a semi for transport to the processing plant. The picture is tanks of cherries cooling prior to being sent to the processing plant.

The tanks hold about 1000# of cherries and 1000# of water. I think the farm I worked for harvested about 1.5 million pounds in two weeks. Crazy…
We had two of these running:

Plus a one man::

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That’s cool. Beats climbing up the tree and shaking

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