Cherries in beer

[dmoldow]

Anyone have success adding cherries into fermenters? Any tips would help. I was thinking maybe a porter with the toasty and chocolate notes would be a good pairing for the fall

 

[Brewmex41]

You can freeze them and dump them straight in the fermenter. Or soak them in a mason jar with enough vodka to cover the cherries and add the whole mix. It shouldn't be enough vodka to mess with the flavor or ABV much.
I think a safe bet is one pound per gallon, then adjust from there.

 

[CastleHollow]

I made a double chocolate cherry stout that just took a silver medal in the SHV category of the Dominion Cup. I used about 2# of (thawed) frozen dark sweet cherries in the primary for 10 days, and 2# in the secondary for 21 days. It also scored well at NHC. Judges say that the cherry flavor was pronounced on the finish.

 

[dmoldow]

So just frozen cherries from the grocery store or specific brand. I saw those from Oregon I think but they are pricey

 

[CastleHollow]

Yes, that's what I used. I think they were just a bag of the Kroger brand, iirc the cherries themselves were from either Oregon or Washington.

 

[Skrazybrews]

I added about 2#s to a gallon of belgian blonde. They went into the secondary, should be bottling this weekend. I pitted them, froze them, tossed them in a chopper to get them mashed up and then dumped them in.