Preparing Cherries For Beer.

[scrumpy]

hey folks!!

I've made american wheat which I want to put onto cherries in a couple of days, I've decided Im gonna pasturise them in 80deg water for 1min, drain, then put in a sanitized container and freeze for a day or 2, when they thaw out I will put them in a fermenter and rack the wheat beer on top and let sit for another week.

My question is, should i mash them or leave them whole before they are added to the beer?? will the freezing rupture the skins enough to release the juice into the brew?

If anyone can see any flaws in my method let me know, this is my first attempt at using fruit in my beer.

cheers

scrumpy

 

[thanme]

Heya,

I've done brews with strawberries and plums, and I mashed both up after thawing out, and they went very well I skipped the pasturising bit, and basically thawed with the microwave.

 

[barls]

my current batch are sitting whole atm, they are looking a little worse for wear since they have been in there for a month now.
i normally mash my raspberries though, i dont boil or raise to 80 degrees. no real need if they have been frozen