Brewing with Cascara

[Topher]

Hey Brewers,

I've just done a few batches of cascara for a work related thing.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_cherry_tea

So it's delicious chilled and carbonated, is a fantastic use of what was formerly a waste product......and it contains sugar of some description: so I'm about to do some experiments on what happens when you ferment it!

I can't find anything online about actually fermenting this. There are a few people adding this to beers, or spirits (tastes damn good with gin I must say). But I can't find any info on making this into liquor.

A concentrated Tea makes an og of 1030. I think I'll chuck some cider yeast at it first. Then try some Brett.

I will boil the infusion for a while to kill any bugs rather than just make a tea.

Has anyone done this? Will it work? Is this safe? Will I turn into a purple cafenated version of the hulk if I drink it? Am I mad?

 

[Airgead]

Always worth experimenting with new stuff. I'd be a little hesitant to boil the infusion in case you end up extracting a bunch of tannins though. A nice long steep at 70-80 would do just as well at killing bugs and would keep the tannin extraction lower. Or there may be no tannins to extract. Maybe try a small test batch (just a cup or so) that and have a taste to see what the end product is like boiled and not boiled.