Red Salamander Forum - Cherry Wheat Recipe?

merrimanj Beer Sipper (regular member) I like beer Posts: 71	Cherry Wheat Recipe? 09/01/08 at 9:14pm Next week I'd like to try a Sam Adams Cherry Wheat clone, or at least something in that ballpark. Any ideas? Not sure if I want to use actual cherries or not, I'm pretty open.
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Mike Flaminio Beer Lover (established member) Posts: 212	Re: Cherry Wheat Recipe? Reply #1 - 09/01/08 at 10:00pm I just did a basic double batch wheat beer this weekend and split it between American Hefe and Belgian yeast. I plan to rack each on to 6 lbs of Michigan tart cherries. I bought them canned in water. We'll see how it goes.
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merrimanj

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Re: Cherry Wheat Recipe?
Reply #2 - 09/02/08 at 10:36pm

That brings up a question I've had for a while. Can you make a double batch of extract just by doubling the ingredients and still boiling at all the normal recipe increments? I really enjoy the ales I've knocked out with various extract recipes, but I thought if I doubled up on the ingredients, I could produce twice as much beer. Any adjustments needed?

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geislernet

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Re: Cherry Wheat Recipe?
Reply #3 - 09/03/08 at 10:41am

You can, but you will need to make a few adjustments. If you are boiling 5 gallons of wort with 10 Gallons worth of ingredients, you will need to adjust for color, flavor, hop bitterness, and split the concentrated wort carefully between the two fermentors.

Color/Flavor - The more concentrated the boil, the more carmeling effect you will have in the finished beer which will impact the flavor and color. For a pale colored beer like Cherry Wheat, I recommend that you add less carmel malts and/or use a lighter base malt to compensate. Most programs like BeerTools and Pro Mash will adjust for this.

Hop bitterness - The more concentrated the boil, the less bitter utilization you will have in the finished beer. You will need to add more bittering hops and use BeerTools or Pro Mash to adjust for this.

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merrimanj

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Re: Cherry Wheat Recipe?
Reply #4 - 09/03/08 at 6:18pm

Thanks. Generally, I just wanted to know if adjustments would be needed. I'll look into the idea further and try those programs. Mike, keep me posted on the cherries. I was assuming to use frozen berries, or at least freeze them first. You would only put them in the secondary, similar to dry hopping, wouldn't you?? Actually, I think there was just a thread on this recently, so I'll check back there too. Let me know though, I think I'll try it this weekend if I get a chance. -Joe

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Mike Flaminio

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Re: Cherry Wheat Recipe?
Reply #5 - 09/03/08 at 7:25pm

Yeah, when I said double batch, I meant I boiled 12 gallons instead of 6. If you boil 6 gallons and dilute to 12 in the fermenter, for example, you'll need to tweak your hop utilization.

Another option is that Oregon Puree stuff. What's cool about it is it's sterile, so you can just dump it in. I went a different route because they only have sweet, and I wanted tart cherries, plus using Michigan cherries was just something to do. I'm going to put the cherries in a 6.5 gallon carboy and rack on top of them. I'm actually trying to get up the motivation to do it tonight, so maybe I'll have some pics.

My recipe was basically 50/50 Maris Otter-Pale malt and German Wheat malt, w/ 1/2 lb of Crystal 40 per 6 gallons. Then just bittered to a low 12 IBUs. I used WLP320 and WLP550. Pretty simple.

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DanBuonodono Global Moderator I love to make/drink great beer! Posts: 272	Re: Cherry Wheat Recipe? Reply #6 - 09/03/08 at 8:42pm Ok... Where do you get the Oregon Puree??
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Mike Flaminio Beer Lover (established member) Posts: 212	Re: Cherry Wheat Recipe? Reply #7 - 09/03/08 at 9:21pm Quote from DanBuonodono on 09/03/08 at 8:42pm: Ok... Where do you get the Oregon Puree?? Meijer! It's by the canned fruit.
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Mike Flaminio Beer Lover (established member) Posts: 212	Re: Cherry Wheat Recipe? Reply #8 - 09/03/08 at 9:44pm Got it racked over. 12 lbs of cherry, one batch Belgian wheat and one batch American wheat.
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merrimanj Beer Sipper (regular member) I like beer Posts: 71	Re: Cherry Wheat Recipe? Reply #9 - 09/05/08 at 9:04pm Sorry, did you say those canned cherries were sterile? If you found some that weren't, would you boil them first? That wouldn't sound like a great idea.
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tomASS

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Re: Cherry Wheat Recipe?
Reply #10 - 09/07/08 at 3:01pm

Quote from merrimanj on 09/05/08 at 9:04pm:

Sorry, did you say those canned cherries were sterile? If you found some that weren't, would you boil them first? That wouldn't sound like a great idea.

I would hope that coming out of a can they would be sterile. If not you would be buying food that could spoil easily. Most canned goods are at least pasteurized before they seal it up. This kills off all the "bugs" in it. You just have to be careful that you do not get fruits with any preservatives in it as this can hinder or completely kill the yeast that you need!

If you wanted to use fresh fruit you should blanch the fruit, not boil it. Just hold the temp of the fruit at 170 deg for about 5-10 mins. This will kill off anything that should be lurking about

GOOD LUCK!

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tomASS Occasional Beer Fan (beginner) mmmmmmm.....beer! Posts: 10	Re: Cherry Wheat Recipe? Reply #11 - 09/07/08 at 3:05pm Mike, Just curious did you use the water from the cherries too or drain that and just use the cherries? I love cherries and this sounds good!
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plaztikjezuz

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Re: Cherry Wheat Recipe?
Reply #12 - 09/08/08 at 1:30pm

I have never been able to find the oregon puree's at meijer.
all of the canned fruit i find there has corn starch in it, something i do not want in my beer.

i also suggest adding the cherries to the primary once the krausen has dropped, this will eliminate a transfer, give less chance of oxidation.

i also blanch my fresh fruit as apposed to pasteurizing it. then i freeze before adding.

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Mike Flaminio

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Re: Cherry Wheat Recipe?
Reply #13 - 09/12/08 at 1:15pm

Yeah, they are sterile. I drained them slightly. I was using a canning funnel thing with a wide mouth. The water dripped out of it down the carboy, so it was just easier and less messy to drain some of the water. Otherwise, I'd think the water would be good.

At the south Lansing Meijer, they're up on the top shelf by the canned fruit. They also sell some off-brand tart cherries in water. IIRC, those are by the pie stuff. I bought some of those to just eat and they're pretty good too.

Scott is probably right with doing it in the primary. I don't think there is an oxidation issue though. I figure about 40-50% of the total fermentation come from the cherries so there is a pretty good second fermentation. It just seems extra work if you're not going to store them on the fruit for a long while.

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tipsymc

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Re: Cherry Wheat Recipe?
Reply #14 - 05/21/10 at 1:32pm

I realize I'm reviving an old thread but maybe some of us are thinking of a cherry beer with the summer arriving soon. I've used the cherry juice concentrate in the produce section from the grocery store. A few advantages I've found is being able to adjust the amount of cherry flavor by adding in increments until achieving the desired profile. I like not having to deal with whole fruit. Also, it is not an extract so you don't get that medicinal quality. I added after secondary fermentation directly to the carboy taking tastes as I added the cherry concentrate. Once I had the flavor I wanted, I let the carboy finish out in case there was some sugar added by the juice. I didn't do anything to sterilize since the beer already had alcohol that would knock out any bugs.

The concentrate I used stated it was a 50-50 blend of Montmorency and Balaton tart cherry varieties. I'm not sure if there is a sweet variety if that's what you want.

Many brewers prefer Oregon puree. Just make sure it is puree and not pie filing which may have other things added. I don't know if Red Salamander can get it, but there are online stores if it's not available locally.

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