Cherries

AGbrewer

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
Joined
Oct 19, 2018
Messages
473
Reaction score
358
Points
63
How to incorporate the cherries?

Fresh or Dried?
Boiled or soak in whiskey?
Primary or Secondary?
Ounce/Grams of Cherries to add per 1 gallon?

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/995272/gibcs-5-half-with-cherries-

I've done this base recipe at least 4 times now (with a couple tweaks here and there) and have landed on this variation as the latest iteration. However, I do want to add another dimension to half of this batch...Cherries.

There are only two breweries that made a Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout with cherries (e.g. Bruery Cherry Pie, Goose Island Mon Cheri) that I really liked. I've tried several other ones over the years and most of the time, I get a cough syrup flavor from beers that add cherries to them, but not those two. They were almost like a homemade cherry pie or perhaps some Luxardo Marachino Cherries (not the fake bright neon pink ones in the supermarket). Hard to describe the flavor, but they were tasty.

Thoughts and suggestions from anyone that has experience with making a cherry beer?
 
I made a cherry IPA for the holidays. I added 48 oz of Black Cherry juice from my local supply house and added it in when pitching a 5 gal batch. I was short on Cherry juice so added some unsweetened cranberry juice to make up the difference. It was really good.
 
I made a cherry IPA for the holidays. I added 48 oz of Black Cherry juice from my local supply house and added it in when pitching a 5 gal batch. I was short on Cherry juice so added some unsweetened cranberry juice to make up the difference. It was really good.

Interesting idea about the juice rather than the actual fruit itself.

I have some dried tart montmorency cherries that I was planning on rehydrating with bourbon for a few weeks.

Did you consider the SG difference in your recipe as well?

Also, what was the actual flavor like? Was it like eating a dark raw cherry or was it more like a cherry flavoring?
 
Yes, I factored in the SG. I wanted a 7% ABV so adjusted the grain down a little. The flavor was really good, not artificial. I think the cranberry added a little tartness to it. I thought it was a little sweeter than I would have preferred. The people I gave it to thought it was good and said it was right for them, especially for a holiday drink. Definitely a good clean cherry flavor, possibly because the cherry juice wasn't boiled with the grain or hops. The color was really nice also. I used a simple grain bill.
 
I added 64 oz of sweet black cherry juice after fermentation died down. Ended up great.
 
Yes, I factored in the SG. I wanted a 7% ABV so adjusted the grain down a little. The flavor was really good, not artificial. I think the cranberry added a little tartness to it. I thought it was a little sweeter than I would have preferred. The people I gave it to thought it was good and said it was right for them, especially for a holiday drink. Definitely a good clean cherry flavor, possibly because the cherry juice wasn't boiled with the grain or hops. The color was really nice also. I used a simple grain bill.

I may have to split this batch even further. Perhaps I could do an exBEERiment with dried cherries, cherry juice, and raw cherries to see which one tastes best better when added to the primary.
 
I must admit, 48 - 64 ounces seems like a lot of juice. But then again, it is going to ferment out a bit.
 
I checked my numbers. It was 48 oz of cherry and 12 oz of cranberry, so that is about right. It depends on how prominent you want the flavor. I made a Brut IPA and added the cherry at fermentation so most of the sweetness was taken out. For a RIS you will have a lot of other flavors so may want to back off a little. Not too much though, it might get lost with everything else going on.
 

Back
Top