# Brix and Picking Cherries



## RegionRat (Jun 19, 2013)

The sour Chokecherries on my tree are starting to turn red. They will soon be ready to pick. I would like to pick them at peak sugar content. What brix should I hope to get to before picking?

RR


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## Deezil (Jun 19, 2013)

These guys say you could expect something around 9 Brix

"Each 100 g of raw, pitted chokecherries has 33.62 g of carbohydrates with 9.37 g of sugar. Chokecherries contain several types of naturally occurring sugars, including about 5 g of dextrose, or glucose, 4 g of fructose and 1 g of sucrose."


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## RegionRat (Jun 19, 2013)

Deezil said:


> These guys say you could expect something around 9 Brix
> 
> "Each 100 g of raw, pitted chokecherries has 33.62 g of carbohydrates with 9.37 g of sugar. Chokecherries contain several types of naturally occurring sugars, including about 5 g of dextrose, or glucose, 4 g of fructose and 1 g of sucrose."




Wow, that was quick. I'll start taking reading in the morning.

RR


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## saramc (Jun 20, 2013)

RR....do they look like this?


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## RegionRat (Jun 21, 2013)

saramc said:


> RR....do they look like this?
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Very similar. They are not as ripe yet.

RR


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## Downwards (Jun 21, 2013)

I have never heard of this fruit. Taste like cherries I guess? Are they are variety or different species?


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## saramc (Jun 22, 2013)

Downwards said:


> I have never heard of this fruit. Taste like cherries I guess? Are they are variety or different species?



Prunus virginiana, aka bird cherry, bitter berry and confused with 'chokeberry, aka aronia'. Considered a PITA by many. They are quite common up north. Among my fondest memories of North Dakota (short of the annual Aneta Turkey BBQ, largest in the US & the world at one time) is chokecherry jam, jelly & syrup. The chokecherry is the state fruit of North Dakota.

And the more I look at the photo of my fruit, the more I think they are NOT chokecherries. No fruit on my two trees this year anyway. I need to go to local extension/ag office to get them identified. They are some kind of shrubby bushy cherry.


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## RegionRat (Jun 22, 2013)

Deezil said:


> These guys say you could expect something around 9 Brix
> 
> "Each 100 g of raw, pitted chokecherries has 33.62 g of carbohydrates with 9.37 g of sugar. Chokecherries contain several types of naturally occurring sugars, including about 5 g of dextrose, or glucose, 4 g of fructose and 1 g of sucrose."



Well I dont think the cherries I have are Choke Cherries. I just check the sugar content on 3/4 ripe fruit and it is at 11 brix . 

The tree is maybe 10 years old and we always just called them choke cherries cuz of the tartness. I will post a picture when I get a chance and maybe one of you can I identify them for me. 

RR


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## Downwards (Jun 23, 2013)

Reminds me of a fruit my brother in law is growing, a native to southern CA called Catalina Cherry.


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## Arne (Jun 23, 2013)

RR, bet you have pie cherries. Arne.


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## RegionRat (Jun 24, 2013)

Downwards said:


> Reminds me of a fruit my brother in law is growing, a native to southern CA called Catalina Cherry.


I Googled that type. I think those are a little darker then the ones I have.




Arne said:


> RR, bet you have pie cherries. Arne.


In the past we have always made pies and jam. This yes we are going to add wine!!


RR


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## Arne (Jun 25, 2013)

I make quite a bit of pie cherry. I use 20 plus pounds of cherries for 5 gal. Have to use two buckets or a large container for 5 gal. as the cherries take up quite a bit of room. I also pit all my cherries, I have found an old antique hand crank pitter that makes it pretty easy. With the pits in there is a bitter taste that takes a long time to go away. Ater pitting, I don't notice the bitter taste. Don't do much of anything special, Split the nutrient, some up front and the rest part way thru the ferment. Pectic enzime up front, some tannin. Get your s.g. up to where you want it and ferment away. Needs some sweetening afterwards, but it is really good. Robins are out stealing my cherries, best get the net on the tree. They are not quite ripe yet. Bout time for fresh fruit wine. Arne. This is for sour pie cherries.


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## RegionRat (Jun 25, 2013)

Arne said:


> I make quite a bit of pie cherry. I use 20 plus pounds of cherries for 5 gal. Have to use two buckets or a large container for 5 gal. as the cherries take up quite a bit of room. I also pit all my cherries, I have found an old antique hand crank pitter that makes it pretty easy. With the pits in there is a bitter taste that takes a long time to go away. Ater pitting, I don't notice the bitter taste. Don't do much of anything special, Split the nutrient, some up front and the rest part way thru the ferment. Pectic enzime up front, some tannin. Get your s.g. up to where you want it and ferment away. Needs some sweetening afterwards, but it is really good. Robins are out stealing my cherries, best get the net on the tree. They are not quite ripe yet. Bout time for fresh fruit wine. Arne. This is for sour pie cherries.




According to my sister they are, 'Pie Cherries." I plan on picking on Thurs. I don't know what the brix is now but I am sure it is up there. I will check tonight.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFpFUWQruJQ"]This is the pitter I have always used.[/ame]. I am on the look out for the crank style you mentioned. Do you think I could use my steam juicer? If not, do you put in a mesh bag and add a little water. Or should I just 'ferment on the skin" like grapes punching down the cap every day and then press them? 

I will be fermenting along the lines you mentioned, pretty straight forward.

Pics to follow.

RR


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## Arne (Jun 26, 2013)

Yep, I put in a bag, add some water. Catch the juice as you are pitting, it goes in too. I have seen the pitters like you have. They look to me like they will take a long time to use. My pitter leaves a few, but not too many. Think you can probably use your steam juicer. I have never used one so don't know for sure, but lots of people on here use them. Don't know if it will bring that bitter taste out that I don't like either. Anyway, good luck with the cherry wine. A quick hint, if you can find the berries, make twice as much as you think you want. It has this habit of disappearing. Arne.


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## RegionRat (Jun 28, 2013)

Arne said:


> Yep, I put in a bag, add some water. Catch the juice as you are pitting, it goes in too. I have seen the pitters like you have. They look to me like they will take a long time to use. My pitter leaves a few, but not too many. Think you can probably use your steam juicer. I have never used one so don't know for sure, but lots of people on here use them. Don't know if it will bring that bitter taste out that I don't like either. Anyway, good luck with the cherry wine. A quick hint, if you can find the berries, make twice as much as you think you want. It has this habit of disappearing. Arne.



The pitter is slow but it does get it done. I have made the decision that I am going to steam juice. I used the steam juicer on a batch strawberries and on some cranberry. I was concerned about the wine clearing. I just looked and they are clearing just fine. 

People have mentioned that the bitterness comes from fermenting with the pits. I wonder if I can get away with steam juicing with the pits. Maybe I will do a one gallon batch that I steam juice with the pits. There are definitely enough cherries.

RR


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## RegionRat (Jul 1, 2013)

Okay. We have 2 cherry trees. A big one and a small one. I have been keeping track of the brix. The sugar in the smaller tree was a little ahead of the larger tree for what ever reason. The brix in the smaller tree make it up to 11.5 and the the brix on the larger tree was 10. The fruit on the smaller tree all look great so we was planning on picking the next day. When I woke up all the fruit was gone. All that was left was pits sitting on stems where the fruit used to be.

I never payed attention to it before but I did notice one or two cherries partially eaten from time to time. I now think it was the birds testing the fruit to see the amount of sugar present. Well I think they had a feast in the morning and got ALL the fruit before I could. I think that answers my question as to what brix to harvest. Most of the fruit was still on the larger tree yesterday. The brix was 10.3. We spent a little time picking the ripper fruit and ended up with about 4 gallons of fruit. I did not weigh it. There is still a lot of fruit left if we fell like picking more in a few days

It is in the steam juicer now. I decided to juice it pits and all. The juice flowing is very tasty. I will pitch yeast tomorrow. 


Any input or suggestions would be appreciated.

RR


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