# Sour cherry recipe



## Thatnewguy (May 20, 2018)

So I have 13 pounds of frozen pited sour cherrys. Anyone have a good recipe?


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## salcoco (May 21, 2018)

check out winemaking.jackkeller.net


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## Scooter68 (May 31, 2018)

A tad on the late side with this but here is the recipe I use for my tart cherry wine. I just started a new 3 gallon batch today so here is exactly what it consists of.
1 Gallon Bing Cherry Juice (A Commercial product from concentrate with no preservatives)
3 x 16 oz bottles of Tart Cherry Concentrate. Each bottle is supposed to make 1 gallon of Tart Cherry Juice
Water to bring volume to 3 gallons (I used Purified water from Aldi's)
1/2 tsp Fermaid K
2 tsp Pectic Enzyme
8 Tblsp of Acid blend to reach pH of 3.42
Simple syrup (2-1 Concetrate) to bring SG to 1.096
Final Starting volume was 3 1/3 gallons

That SG should provide an ABV of 13.26% however I use water for topping off of my carboys so by the end of aging I am guestimating ABV will be closer to 12%

Starter for my Yeast ( EC-1118)
4 oz water (Same type as above) 2 oz water heated to about 120 then cooled with the juice and additional 2 oz water In the end the solution was warm to hold but not hot)
1 oz of the must
1/8 tsp Fermaid K
Added 2/3 package of EC-118 and stirred

Set aside while I did another stir and readings on the Must.
Yeast was bubbling lightly in about 10 minutes

Pitched yeast and covered bucket with a cloth and string to keep cover on.

This is May 31, 2018 and the yeast was pitched at about 7:30pm - I'll check in on it mid-morning tomorrow and update when I see or smell indications of fermentation. Room Temp 78 Degrees

UPDATE 9:30 AM June 1, 2018  1/8" foam on surface nice fermentation aroma. Moved to basement where temp is now 69 Degrees.

Hope this helps anyone looking for a Tart/Sour Cherry Wine Recipe
My first batch was done the same as this but with a target ABV of 15.5% as a dessert wine.

*One last word - Regarding Jack Keller recipes. The consistent assessment of his recipes is that they are short on flavor and long on Alcohol. Note the most them call for 4-5 lbs of fruit per gallon. All the fruit wines I've done with one exception (Black Raspberry) lacked depth of flavor even with 5 lbs/gallon. I would ALWAYS go to at least 6-8 lbs of fruit (Pitted/destoned/prepped) per gallon.*


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