Fresh Cherry Preparation

[heathd666]

so i searched and only came up with 3 topics with cherry and preparation in the search.

nothing fancy basically a traditional with cherry flavoring
recipe 5 gallon batch
12 lbs northwestern cherries (up front before fermentation)
5 gallons spring water
12 lbs honey or enough to bring to 1.080 sg
x2 packets 71b
12 lbs northwestern cherries (after sulphited and fermentation is ended)
2 lbs honey or enough to bring fg to 1.010 to 1.015
11% alcohol ish once done

nutrients
1 tsp ferm k
2 tsp diammonium phosphate


my question is this. for the fresh cherries should i sulphite wait until they dry cut into 4ths and freeze. or sulphite put into blender and pureee and freeze. other suggestion? these are northwestern cherries it says great for canning or pies. doesnt say sweet when i tasted them they aint sweet but they aint super tart eaither. 1.89 lb so i bought some.

 

[Dadux]

That depends on your preference. If it was me i either
-if brewing in a bucket you dont havr to worry that much about the cap so either freeze thaw and cut in two and add (yeah im lazy) or cut in two freeze thaw and add.
-if using something with narrow neck where fruit cap is something to account for i'd go with puree. You can puree either way but im lazy. Plus, if you add whole or chopped fruit you can put it in a mesh bag for easier removal

Also consider using pectinase

 

[heathd666]

so this is how i believe im going to prepare the cherries. dunk them in a bucket of sulphite solution for a 20 minutes. rinse them with tap water and let them dry. cut in half and pit and remove stems. freeze them overnight. next thing im worried about is pectin enzyme. how to use it with the cherries.

should i add say 2 gallons of the spring water to fermentation pail. added the cherries after they have been frozen and add the pectin enzyme to the cherries and water mixture. let mixture of pectin cherries and water sit for overnight than start adding more water and honey and mix? wait over night and add yeast slurry? or? ive read on some websites to add the pectin with the fruit when you sulphite it but i dont know how that works unless i do it before i freeze them. any advice?

 

[dingurth]

You can add pectin enzyme essentially any time, even at pitch which is when most people do it I think. It can take anywhere from 1-7 days to work (ususally just 1-2 unless you add post ferment), and extreme temps will denature it. 1/2tsp per gallon of your batch.