Real fruit in brews

[ray m]

Today I went to the warehouse club store & bought 4 pounds of dark sweet cherries, with every intention of making a nice, dark cherry ale in the fall. I have never used real fruit yet---too sceered because of things I have read about bacterial infection, tannins extraction from the pits, etc. First question is should I freeze these cherries until I'm ready to use them? (probably a stupid question since that's the only way they'll keep for 2 or 3 months). Next question is preparation---what do I need to do to these babies to prepare them for my brew? Then, do I put the cherries in the primary or secondary? I know a tertiary frementation is usually required when using real fruit in order to aid in clarification. I would appreciate any and all advice on this one, guys---I have no idea what I need to do here. Thanks loads in advance!!

[Beerconnoisseur]

The July-August 2003 issue of Brew Your Own has a great article on this. What they recommend is that once you are ready to brew, clean the cherries in cold water, remove stems, leaves, etc. Then, mash them with a potato masher in a bowl, and add them in 2 separate steps. First, at the end of the boil, adding the cherries in a bag to the hot (but not boiling!) wort for 15 minutes will kill off any stray micro-organisms (bacteria, yeast, etc.)

Once you remove the bag, you will want to place it in the primary fermenter, fruit and all, for 5-7 days. Just try not to agitate the bag, since you don't want pectins introduced.

Hope this helps.... and get that subscription to Brew Your Own... they have some great recipes, and back issues are available! ;)

[ray m]

That helps me, beerconn...do I remove the pits from the cherries after I mash them in the bowl? Also, I ferment in glass...can I add the cherries to the carboy without the muslin bag? I do get BYO, but I suppose I didn't read that article very carefully because of my previous aversion to using real fruit! That issue is somewhere in a landfill now...:(

[Beerconnoisseur]

I would assume that you would remove the pits as well. One thing you might be able to do is add the cherries to a drawstring bag normally used for hops (used only for this purpose), tighten the string, and then wedge this between the stopper/glass. However, the article did mention skimming the krausen off the top every day or so, which would be tough to do in glass.

The upside is, a plastic fermenter for primary fermentation will not cost you much money at all, even if you have to purchase one. :)

[fuji6100]

I had a bad experience with some strawberry wheat beer earlier in the year, but I learned a lot from it and could do a much better job last time. I put 6 pounds of puree'd strawberries into my brew pot just after shutdown. I let them sit for 15 minutes to pastueurize and then put the entire thing into the primary fermenter. Primary fermentation was so violent that it blew the lid off and I lost 1 1/2 gallons of wort to blowoff. Also, what remained, lost all of the nice pink color, and got a highly bitter taste to it. The beer SMELLS wonderful, but is like drinking sour-strawberry-pucker.

What I would do different next time :(1) Not Puree the fruit, but rather blanch it in some hot (180F) water for ten minutes, and then kind of mash the fruit manually a bit with a spoon. That would help keep the beer from being so hazy. (2) Not put the fruit in until primary fermentation has finished, but before secondary. (In other words, wait until the krausen falls, then dump the fruit into the primary, wait for THAT to go through fermentation, then rack to secondary) (3) Use a lower OG beer (I used 1.060 for my wheat BEFORE adding the fruit) The alcohol level of my beer was over 7%, which was very noticible in the aroma, and the taste. It should have been a lighter beer.

Anyway, I hope my experience helps. Good luck and let me know how it goes, I"m also interested in doing a cherry stout sometime.

[Beerconnoisseur]

Originally posted by fuji6100
Anyway, I hope my experience helps. Good luck and let me know how it goes, I"m also interested in doing a cherry stout sometime.

FYI, the July-Aug 2003 issue of BYO has a recipe for a cherry stout.