Kriek

[Effect]

Just had my anniversary with my girlfriend and we decided to go to the Belgium Beer Cafe in Adelaide.

I had Kriek - the belgium sour cherry beer they have on tap there - thought it was absolutely amazing.

Is there an AG recipe for this beer or something similar? Does this come under the lambic style beers?

And if we really need sour cherries, can we get them here in adelaide or would cherry juice be enough?

Thanks
Phil

 

[mika]

You're looking at a complex beer that takes a lot of effort and alot of time to produce. Start with google and go from there.

 

[Effect]

yeah - had a look on google - isn't as easy as just adding cherries

I think I will come back to this in a year or 2 with more brewing experience

 

[bconnery]

If you want to make a 'true' kriek, a fruit lambic, then sure, it isn't that easy, but it can be done.

However, if you want to make a strong belgian ale and then add some of the cherries then you could easily end up with something very nice.

I've just bottled a dunkelweizen with some of the Morello cherries added in secondary to half the batch and it is turning out very nice.
Good solid choc hint underneath with a tart finish and cherry flavour. Very tasty...

 

[Effect]

that sounds a bit more feasible - will keep that in mind.

 

[brendanos]

Don't be discouraged Phillip! Search for "lambic", "sour brown", "flanders red", or something along those lines on the forum and see if you think any of them are within your capacity/patience. There are various fruit options - fresh, frozen, tinned, concentrate, essense, or any combination of the above. If it's all a bit too much, you could brew a tart wheat beer and blend it with your cherry of choice.

 

[Interloper]

As a Kits & Bits/extract brewer one of most interesting beers I've made was a coopers real ale base with 500gms of raspberries and 440gms of black cherries.

Whilst this is nowhere near the amount of cherries used in the Kriek, it came out as a very complex, fruity, colourful and delicious beer.

Sour, but crisp, excellent nose and by god is it popular with my mates. I was a bit worried it wouldn't turn out (see my horror story here) but this is something I'd do again in a hearbeat - and I would triple the fruit I reckon. 1kg in primary maybe and another 2kgs in secondary would be ideal.

I say go for it and if you can lay your hands on cheap cherries or even buy a shitload of tinned sour and black and even some frozen ones you will not be disappointed with the result - it ain't no kriek I know, but it will be a complex and fruity beer that will be very unique.

 

[Muggus]

Any sort of wheat beer makes a reasonably good base for a fruit beer.
A Belgian style wit beer would probably be pretty good with the sharpness of the yeast.

 

[Flex Broker]

Also, Phillip, iyou probably had the BellVue kriek at the cafe. If that's the first kriek you've had it's probably worth mentioning that it's not very strong in terms of lambic character. Traditional lambic beers are pretty funky - super sour and with a whole lot of other weird flavours going on. I'd suggest trying to get hold of some more commercial examples before you embark on making your own. A typical lambic takes minimum a year to make. Commercial breweries probably take about 3-4 years. If you end up going ahead with it, read 'Wild Brews' first. A great book and very detailed on how to make these beers.

I reckon you could get a similar thing by going with a nice cherry wheat beer. Use a Belgian wit yeast to get the appropriate tartness and aroma, and add cherries. Cherry juice would do the job, but you will get the best results from whole cherries.