Cherry types for a Kriek??? Please share your wisdom Kriek makers!

[TipsySaint]

So i have 7 month old Flanders Red i'm thinking of adding cherries to...Kriek it up a bit...

I'm in Maine and cherries aren't the most common fruit around so this is probably going to take some searching to find the right stuff....

given that info...what are the best varieties of cherries for sour beers?

from what I've read, sour cherries are the ticket, but what varieties are sour?

Bonus questions:

1.Are there any sour cherries that are available/grown in Maine/NH?

1a. If yes, what are the varieties that can be had?

2. How many lbs per gallon?

3. If they are canned will i still need to freeze them?

 

[robotinc]

I have used dried Montmartre cherries with great results. Try to find them without sunflower oil as it kills the head retention. Michigan grows several types of sour cherries, not sure another the northeast.

I used 3 lbs in 5 gallons. You'll need more fruit if using fresh

 

[stpug]

The ideal situation for a kreik is a lambic base beer with sour/tart cherries (morello, montmorency, north star, etc) at about 2 lbs per gallon. I would bet that montmorency are available across much of north america. Fresh with pits is ideal; frozen with pits is just as ideal; fresh or frozen without pits is good; canned pulp is fine. Pits are said to impart a subtle almond-like (arsenic) character, but pits from fresh sweet cherries can be subbed if wanted.

 

[Wahoo]

From allagash.com:
"Allagash Coolship Cerise is our coolship beer, aged on cherries for six months, in oak wine barrels. We use 100 lbs of fresh Maine cherries (a blend of Montmorency and Balaton varieties) per oak barrel. Coolship Cerise is pale red in color with cherry and spice in the aroma. Cherry, oak and spice punctuate the flavor of this tart beer. A tart, dry finish makes Coolship Cerise remarkably drinkable. 8.1% ABV "

 

[TipsySaint]

wahoo,

I never even thought of cerise! i'll contact the brewery and see if they will tell me where they source their cherries! by the time the cherries are out by beer should be good and ready for them!

 

[MileHighBrewer]

No attack at the member who posted it above....but i always see this reference to oils and head retention with sours.....its sour beer....head retention is almost always gone....who is really concerned about that 10 seconds of tiny thin head in a sour? Honestly asking. My opinion, use what you want or can get. Leave big pillow heads that last all the way to the end for wits.

Some brewers try a blend of sour and dessert cherries to try and get closer to the cherries used in Belgium, which are extremely rare. I am going to try and source balaton this summer, as I'm not a big montmorrency fan, tastes too much like cherry pie to me. I recently kegged a lambic with a blend of montmorrency and raspberries that really mellowed out the pie spice character, but still had a strong CHERRY presence.

 

[Wahoo]

In my opinion, milehighbrewer, one should absolutely strive for good head retention on a sour. The best sours in the world have no problem keeping a head (surely helped by high carbonation).

Sure there are plenty of sours that have a soda-like head that immediately dissipates. Speaking for myself, I consider that a flaw when it occurs in my own beers.

 

[MileHighBrewer]

Outside of gueuze, I've never noticed much head. In traditional still lambic, there's zero. In America outside of super carbed stuff like JP...never noticed. Just my opinion though. I find it completely useless as a judge of good sour.

 

[electrolight]

Jester King blends Montmorency and Balaton cherries for their cherry sour.

 

[mnick12]

No attack at the member who posted it above....but i always see this reference to oils and head retention with sours.....its sour beer....head retention is almost always gone....who is really concerned about that 10 seconds of tiny thin head in a sour? Honestly asking. My opinion, use what you want or can get. Leave big pillow heads that last all the way to the end for wits.

Some brewers try a blend of sour and dessert cherries to try and get closer to the cherries used in Belgium, which are extremely rare. I am going to try and source balaton this summer, as I'm not a big montmorrency fan, tastes too much like cherry pie to me. I recently kegged a lambic with a blend of montmorrency and raspberries that really mellowed out the pie spice character, but still had a strong CHERRY presence.

Agreed montmorrency has a very "cough syrup" type of flavor to it that I do not really enjoy on its own.

On a different not has anyone used meteor? I just planted one of those along with a kirsten sweet and some montmorency.

 

[brwagur]

There are TONS of bing cherries all around me here in Idaho, anyone have experience with them? I know they're a dessert cherry but they have an absolutely gorgeous color and are super tasty fresh.

 

[robotinc]

Bing cherries are mostly sugar, do after that ferments out the flavor isn't as strong as the sour types

 

[brwagur]

Dang, that's what I was worried about.

 

[BrewHound]

Dang, that's what I was worried about.

Why about drying or cooking down the bing cherries if you're worried about the level of intensity from fresh fruit? IMO this would be a fun project to play around with. Make your base beer and then split it into multiple secondaries with either various fruits or fruit that has been prepped differently prior to racking. Then blend to taste at bottling. Or not! Brewing with locally available ingredients is why we have many of the named styles that we have now.

 

[butterpants]

I'm about to undertake something similar to the OP.

I decided on a blend of tart and sweet Cherries. The tart were easy to find in cans.... Orgeon Fruit, walmart has them and they are packed in water. Perfect.....but all the sweet cherries I can locate canned are in heavy syrup. I'm not sure chucking that much extra sugar in would be a good idea. Thoughts?

Any place that has canned sweet cherries in water? I really don't want the puree they sell at the LHBS. Used it before and it sucks.

 

[stpug]

I'm about to undertake something similar to the OP.

I decided on a blend of tart and sweet Cherries. The tart were easy to find in cans.... Orgeon Fruit, walmart has them and they are packed in water. Perfect.....but all the sweet cherries I can locate canned are in heavy syrup. I'm not sure chucking that much extra sugar in would be a good idea. Thoughts?

Any place that has canned sweet cherries in water? I really don't want the puree they sell at the LHBS. Used it before and it sucks.

Sweet cherries should be showing up in markets within a few weeks for your area. Can you wait that long to get from fresh, local sweet cherries?

 

[butterpants]

Fresh sounds nice. I'm not sure how local they'll be but just seeing them at the store would be nice.

Best practice for preparing fresh, whole? Wash, halve and freeze until brew time?

 

[youreanimpulse]

I've had good luck freezing Bing cherries whole and thawing then mashing them a bit before adding them. I used the pits too, you get a little almond character that's nice.

 

[MeanDeuce]

Not to derail from the original post, but I was thinking of doing something similar to Allagash Nancy. The website doesn't have a ton of info, but was thinking of some kind of 100% brett primary, with lacto and pedio from Allagash dregs. What would be the base beer and should I add the cherries during primary or wait until that was subsided?

 

[VolFan]

I buy frozen 5 lb bags of sour cherries from Gordon's Food Service, if there is one near you check them out. I have made Kreik and cherry wheat beers with them and have been very pleased. Price is fairly good and available year round.

 

[finsfan]

Not to derail from the original post, but I was thinking of doing something similar to Allagash Nancy. The website doesn't have a ton of info, but was thinking of some kind of 100% brett primary, with lacto and pedio from Allagash dregs. What would be the base beer and should I add the cherries during primary or wait until that was subsided?

Wait to add after fermentation. Adding the cherries will kick up a small second fermentation, but I would think adding them in primary would push a lot of the aromas or flavor you are looking for out of the beer.