Cherry Gose...how much cherries?

[phishheadmi]

So I'm just finishing up primary on a batch of cherry Gose. I did a 12 gallon batch (10 gallon finished product), which I split into halves...half was boiled as usual and put into ferment. Second half was "kettle" soured with L. Plantarum for about 60 hours, then boiled, hopped, etc as usual.

Both are done in primary and I'm ready to add cherries. How much cherry do you think is too much in this? I've seen recipes that call for 1 LB per finished gallon. I have 10 LBS of beautiful, local MI tart cherries, but that seems like an awfully lot!

Second, I have the cherries in the freezer now. How would you add them? Straight from freezer to fermenter? Would you go right into primary, or dump them into a fresh fermenter and rack onto them as a secondary? Any reason why I would or wouldn't want to pit the cherries? Would there be much benefit? Seems like maybe breaking the skin like that would allow for more flavor penetration.

Just never used cherries before and would appreciate any suggestions!

 

[S-Met]

I don't have prior experience with cherries, but I have used other stone fruits.

I would pit if possible. Stone fruit seeds have trace amounts of a compound that becomes Hydrogen Cyanide when ingested. Though, You would need to ingest probably a bucket worth of seeds to be dangerous.

I'd also consider adding fruit, pulp and skins to secondary and rack onto it. Skins will add color and tannins. Taste it weekly and adjust from there.

 

[RPh_Guy]

The cherry pits add really excellent flavor in my opinion. I would not remove the pits.

 

[phishheadmi]

Thanks,

You'd go with the full 10 LBS, split between two secondaries?

 

[RPh_Guy]

0.5 to 1.5 lb cherry per gallon is typical.

Agree with using secondary.

 

[toddo97]

Why not decide on an amount (I vote for at least 1 lb/gallon) to do the majority but then use a few 1 gallon containers that you can try less and more amounts for deciding on future batches. I think a 2lb/gallon would be a fantastic small batch!

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Belgian brewers typically use 200g/l (ie 26.7 oz per US gallon) of fruit for cherry beers, but can go up to 400g/l (53.4oz/US gal) - their favourite Schaerbeek cherries do have particularly low flesh:stone ratios though, so they're adding a lot less fruit per gram compared with newer varieties.