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
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.
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.
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.