cherry glut! need wine recipe please

[eye1der]

just picked about one eighth of the cherries from my tree and ended up with about 20 kg!!!! i have experience brewing and think ive enough kit..food grade dust bin! ive a nice burgundy yeast and nutrient. looking for a good recipe please

[shirlthegirl43]

Would you like a medium wine or a sweet one?

[shirlthegirl43]

I have just found a dry one too.

[eye1der]

hi shirl,
if it a cut and paste job il have the lot please.
or if its a typing job then the medium, they are sweet black cherries btw..
steve.

[shirlthegirl43]

These are half inched from the wine making forum I belong to....

These recipes offer a wide leeway in the quantity (from 4 to 8 lbs) and types of cherries required.



Cherry Wine [Dry] (1)

4-5 lbs fresh or frozen sweet cherries
2 lbs finely granulated sugar
7-1/2 pts water
2 tsp acid blend
1/4 tsp tannin
1/2 tsp pectic enzyme
1 tsp yeast nutrient
Montrachet wine yeast
Stir sugar into water and put on to boil. Meanwhile, sort, destem, and wash the cherries, rejecting any that are unsould or moldy. Put the cherries in a nylon straining bag, tie, and place in primary. Without breaking the stones, crush the cherries with your hands or other means. Pour the boilling water with dissolved sugar over the crushed cherries. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to cool to room temperature. Add all remaining ingredients except yeast. Stir well, recover, and set aside for 12 hours. Add activated yeast and recover. Stir daily. After two weeks, remove bag and drip drain (do not squeeze). Transfer to a dark secondary and fit airlock. After two weeks, rack, top up, and refit airlock. Rack again in two months and again two months later. When specific gravity registers dryness (0.990), rack into bottles and store in dark place for one year. Server slightly chilled. [Adapted from Terry Garey's The Joy of Home Winemaking]



Cherry Wine [Sweet] (2)

6 lbs black cherries
3-1/4 lbs sugar
7-1/4 pts water
1 tsp yeast nutrient
wine yeast
Bring water to rolling boil. Destem, wash and crush the cherries in the primary without breaking any stones. Pour the boilling water over the cherries. Cover and set aside for 48 hours. Strain through nylon straining bag. Bring water to a boil and pour over sugar. Stir until dissolved and add remaining ingredients. Cover thoroughly and ferment in warm place for 14 days. Pour into dark secondary and fit airlock. When clear, rack again. After two months, stabilize, sweeten if required, wait 10 days, rack into bottles, and store in dark place. [Adapted from C.J.J. Berry's First Steps in Winemaking]



Cherry Wine [Dry] (3)

8 lbs morello cherries
2-1/2 lbs sugar
1/2 tsp tannin
1 tsp pectic enzyme
7-1/4 pts water
1 tsp yeast nutrient
Port wine yeast
Bring water to boil. Meanwhile, destem, wash and crush the cherries in the primary without breaking any stones. Pour sugar over cherries. Pour the boilling water over the sugar and cherries and stir well to dissolve. Cover and set aside until cool. Add remaining ingredients and ferment 5 days. Strain juice into dark secondary and discard pulp and stones. Rack after 30 days and again when wine clears. After two additional months rack into bottles and store in dark place. [Adapted from Leo Zanelli's Home Winemaking from A to Z]


Cherry Wine [Sweet] (4)

8 lbs sweet eating cherries
3-1/2 lbs sugar
1-1/2 tsp citric acid
1/2 tsp tannin
1 tsp pectic enzyme
7-1/4 pts water
1 tsp yeast nutrient
Port wine yeast
Bring water to boil. Meanwhile, destem, wash and crush the cherries in the primary without breaking any stones. Pour sugar over cherries. Pour the boilling water over the sugar and cherries and stir well to dissolve. Cover and set aside until cool. Add remaining ingredients except yeast, cover and set aside for 12 hours. Add activated yeast and ferment 5 days. Strain juice into dark secondary and discard pulp and stones. Rack after 30 days and again when wine clears. After two additional months stabilize, sweeten if required, wait 10 days, rack into bottles, and store in dark place. [Adapted from Leo Zanelli's Home Winemaking from A to Z]

[shirlthegirl43]

cherry wine (medium) CJJ Berry

2 kilos red cherries
1.3 kilos sugar
1 teaspoon pectic enzyme
4.5 litres water
yeast and yeast nutrient

Stone the cherries. Crush the fruit in a bowl or polythene bucket and pour over it six pints of boiling water. mash well with stainless steel spoon. When cold add the pectic enzyme. Leave for two days, stirring daily, then strain onto sugar and crushed nutrient tablet, stir well. Add yeast, stir well, and leave for 24 hours, closely covered, in a warm place. Then pour into fermenting jar, top up to bottom of neck with cold water, and continue as usual.

[eye1der]

they should cover it, cheers shirl.
prob's do the number 2

[ohbeary]

Ok I know it should be plums but have you considered "Slivovitz" if'n y' cn manage th' distllation part comrade!, or with your glut maybe worth an experiment?, Plum sauce?.

12oz fresh ginger grated
4 heads garlic minced
8lb cherries
2lb sugar
2 star anise or 1 tsp 5 spice
1/2 pt rice wine vinegar/ cider v
pinch chilli flakes
1/4 pt light soy sce

simmer all until it taste's ok 45 mins? rub through a wire sieve, return to heat and adjust seasoning/sweetness, should taste a little rougher than you would like! bottle up and store in cool dark place, useable in a week or so.

[eye1der]

intresting recipe, will try that with the next batch as ive already used all the cherries in the wine!...50 l of it !

[Hilary B]

Another one for 'next time' of course is 'cherry brandy'.
I think that is supposed to be made with morello-type cherries......

[eye1der]

right shirl, sort of followed the second recipe but made it x4!
heres what ive done
30 lb sweet black cherries
28 pts water
8 kg bags of sugar
4 tsp yeast nutrient
1 sachet burgundy yeast.

i de-stalked the cherries and washed in a mild campden solution in the sink after this i scooped them out in a colander and rinsed them under the tap before crushing them by hand into a sterilised 50l food grade bin(with quite tight fitting lid) while i was doing this the water was put on to boil in my very large stock pot (43l capacity)when the water was boiling and all the cherries were in the bin i poured over the water and covered with the lid.i left the bin for 48 hours. next i strained the juice through a 400nm mesh bag back into the stock pot discarding the solids. the must was then brought to the boil before i added the 8 kg of sugar and the yeast nutrient. i strained this back into the newly sterilised bin through a 800 nm mesh and left to cool to blood heat before adding the yeast(over night!!!) the o.g was 1102.im going to leave in the bin for two weeks before i rack into a 30 l carboy fitted with an airlock for the secondary fermentation
the must was a really fetching dark purple colour and was very well flavoured...cannot wait for this one to be ready!...christmas drinkys sorted!
please point out any obvious mistakes as its been over 15 years since i brewed anything...

hilary,
theres still plenty on the tree..would like this recipe please, is it like cherry b? love that stuff with lemonade!

[Hilary B]

I am not exactly sure of the 'proper' proportion of sugar to cherries to brandy, because when I make liqueurs I do it in a 'no measure' method (I have done a few types of plum, including sloes; cherries should work much the same), but I THINK you would want about 3-4oz sugar to each lb fruit.
Pack fruit into jam-jars, filling pretty full. Pour sugar over, put on the lid and SHAKE HARD, place somewhere warm (sunny windowsill or airing cupboard equally suitable) for 48 hours, shaking 2 or 3 times during that interval, then add enough brandy to top up jars. Keep warmish for another week stirring (as best you can) daily. Hopefully by this time the sugar will all have gone into solution, then just store for at least 3 months (cellar conditions) before straining out the fruit.
I am pretty sure that 'classic' cherry brandy is made with sour cherries, so you may need to counter sweetness (one way is to use whisky instead of brandy, or maybe add a pinch of citric acid....).

[ohbeary]

aaaaaaargh!, if you boil cherries or their juice you will get a pectin haze in your finished wine, please add some pectolase/pectolic enzme/rohament p, it will I hope sort out the pectin, if it makes good jam, cold process the fruit...... how much are you getting out of this brew? it does sound impressive, and I am jealous of your 43ltr stock pot, you swine!!!

[Hilary B]

I have found a couple of trees which I think must be Mirabelle cherry-plums. The tree is rather like a damson, the fruit (just becoming ripe) is cherry-sized and golden yellow, but has the texture of a plum.
Gonna pick a carrier-bagful at the weekend, and see what I can make from them!

[eye1der]

aaaaaaargh!, if you boil cherries or their juice you will get a pectin haze in your finished wine, please add some pectolase/pectolic enzme/rohament p, it will I hope sort out the pectin, if it makes good jam, cold process the fruit...... how much are you getting out of this brew? it does sound impressive, and I am jealous of your 43ltr stock pot, you swine!!!

its in the primary ferment now(4 days) , when do i add the pectolase?? dont tell me its knackered