Racking 11.5l Of Hefe Onto Cherries... 2.8kg Enough?

[0M39A]

Hi all,

Have a very basic wheat beer brewing atm (coopers wheat kit, 1kg wheat malt and danstar bavarian wheat yeast).

planning on bottling half of it in the next couple days, and racking the other half onto some cherries.

bought myself 2.8kg of morello cherries. in jars, pitted and skinned.

2.8kg should be enough right?

also, should i mash these (excuse the pun) before adding them to the brew? they should be fine to add without boiling or anything first right?

other thing i was worried about was the extra alcohol from the fruit... any estimates as to how much it will add?

hope it turns out alright, bit of an experiment for the missus

cheers

 

[bconnery]

Hi all,

Have a very basic wheat beer brewing atm (coopers wheat kit, 1kg wheat malt and danstar bavarian wheat yeast).

planning on bottling half of it in the next couple days, and racking the other half onto some cherries.

bought myself 2.8kg of morello cherries. in jars, pitted and skinned.

2.8kg should be enough right?

also, should i mash these (excuse the pun) before adding them to the brew? they should be fine to add without boiling or anything first right?

other thing i was worried about was the extra alcohol from the fruit... any estimates as to how much it will add?

hope it turns out alright, bit of an experiment for the missus

cheers

More than enough. I saw a recipe for a wit with these using 2kgs. I used 2 jars, which I think is 1.4kgs? in a half batch of dunkelweizen recently and there is a definite tart cherry at the end. In a lighter flavoured beer like a wheat I would think 2 jars would be plenty for a half batch.
I just did what I always do with fruit beers. Rack the beer onto the fruit in secondary then rack it off those after a week or so to leave as much of the gunk behind as possible.
It won't add heaps of alchohol but they will dry your beer out as it finishes off a few gravity points so be ready for that...
Be interested to know how it turns out. I still have a jar or two ready for a beer of some sort...

 

[0M39A]

yeah, i just got 4 of those jars. want it to be very cherry flavoured. as i said, is for the missus.

other thing is she would like it to be sweet. doubt this is going to happen unless i add some lactose, but really dont want to do this. hate the stuff. doubt i will, will just tell her to deal with it

 

[Rurik]

also, should i mash these (excuse the pun) before adding them to the brew? they should be fine to add without boiling or anything first right?

If they have been bottled/canned properly than they are pasteurised as part of the manufacturing. Just so long as you have not opend them breathed all over them etc then there is noting else that should need doing.

Rurik

 

[0M39A]

If they have been bottled/canned properly than they are pasteurised as part of the manufacturing. Just so long as you have not opend them breathed all over them etc then there is noting else that should need doing.

Rurik

awesome, its great to get confirmation on things you just assume

 

[Quintrex]

awesome, its great to get confirmation on things you just assume

Bottles should list how much sugar is contained, although it will depend if you add the"juice/liquid", a lot of the semi-lollywater krieks produced
used artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, guess these could be used if you wish to add some sweetness.

Q

 

[kevin_smevin]

2.8 would be way to much i think. I racked 25L of ale onto 1.3kg of raspberries and it was plenty fruity enough.

Your cherries are in a jar so should be sterile as far as i know and that would be the only reason to put them near boiling water.

The yeast will begin fermenting after youve added the cherries but i have no idea how much alcohol it adds. I was very suprised at how much mine kicked on when i added raspberries, it actually foamed up through the air lock!

Another thing you should think about is adding Pectinase to help break down the fruit so it wont cause any haze. You should be able to get this in any decend home brew store. It is used in wine making so check out anywhere that does wine making as well.

 

[bconnery]

yeah, i just got 4 of those jars. want it to be very cherry flavoured. as i said, is for the missus.

other thing is she would like it to be sweet. doubt this is going to happen unless i add some lactose, but really dont want to do this. hate the stuff. doubt i will, will just tell her to deal with it

Unless you made the base beer fairly sweet no it won't. Especially not with those cherries, which aren't really sweet...
My dunkelweizen started relatively sweet, as is normal, but it certainly had a tart finish and was a little dryer by the time the cherries had finished with it...
Very nice though...