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Rainier cherries and another cherry question.

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M

McJeff

NewBee
Registered Member
May 17, 2013
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Farmington, Maine
Here in maine cherries aren't a big thing like other fruits. So I don't have much experience with cherries outside of what I get from Walmart. Came across Rainier cherries, I really like the taste of them. They are a lot less tart than normal ones. Has anyone used them in a mead?

My other question as I was researching cherry recipes, a lot of the recipes say leave the seed in for tannins. Would you still freeze/thaw/crush to expose the seed or leave em whole?
 
I have read on here a bunch that sweet cherries taste like cough syrup. I have used tart Montmorency Cherries and it turned out pretty nicely. I would still freeze your cherries because it breaks the cell wall making the juice/flavor more accessible.
 
From my experience...don't use anything except tart cherries!!!! You will end up with cough syrup. Do a one gallon batch with sweet cherries and you will accomplish two things:
1) boost your confidence that you can indeed make robitussin
2) guarantee you'll never use sweet cherries in mead again. Lol
 
Squatchy said:
I have read on here a bunch that sweet cherries taste like cough syrup. I have used tart Montmorency Cherries and it turned out pretty nicely. I would still freeze your cherries because it breaks the cell wall making the juice/flavor more accessible.
Click to expand...
I used Montmorency cherry juice, but my batch still turned out like cough syrup. It’s several years old and has improved, but is still barely drinkable, at best. It is one of my early experiments.

First, it’s too high in alcohol. This is where I learned to that yeast will always break your heart, as it easily surpassed the upper ABV “limit” for that strain of yeast. It went completely dry instead of stopping at a semi-sweet melomel. It is still too "hot". Hence, I now back sweeten.

What was your cherry juice/water ratio? I used 100% juice (no water at all) and enough honey to get the desired ABV. It has way too much cherry flavor, if that is possible. Diluting it with an equal amount of traditional mead really helps.

I may try it again someday if I get a good recipe.
 
I recently made a mixed berry melomel (1.5 gallons) using Knudsen brand juices (tart cherry, dark cherry, and blueberry). I used more tart than dark cherry juice, but it still had a wonderful balance. A little bit tannin helped immensely.

Had some wine drinkers taste it, and they thought it was a merlot. Hahaha fooled them! They had no idea mead could taste that way.

I can post the recipe if anyone is interested.

"Wine gives a man nothing, it only frees up what was locked in frost."
 
theDREWery said:
As a warning, cherry seeds contain arsenic. Either pit them or just use the juice!
Click to expand...

ive read in many places cherry pits are fine for up to 4 weeks or so as long as you don't crack the pit.

http://www.bjcp.org/mead/melomel.pdf

under preparation it reads...

Stone fruits, with the exception of cherries, should be pitted and frozen. (Cherry pits lend a very nice character to melomels if removed within 4 weeks.)
 
I've used the pits of plums and cherries with no adverse effects.

I made a cherry batch last year with a mix of tart and sweet, maybe 3:1. It turned out fine.
 
I've been using 2 quarts of FruitFast tart cherry juice concentrate per 5 gallon batches. It's a mix of Montmorency and morello cherries. Never had to adjust pH and has always came out with a balanced taste after aging on Hungarian oak.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk
 
We Washingtonians love our Rainier Cherries but they are best for fresh eating and salads. I gave them a try for mead about three years ago and was terribly disappointed. Very lackluster and not flavorful at all. Looked great but....The dark type of cherries do the best. Vans, black hearts, etc. Pie types.
Enjoy the Rainier's.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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