# 2015 Chokecherry



## wyogal (Aug 23, 2015)

It's been so cool & sunny here that the chokecherries have ripened "all at once." The birds are feasting so we have to work fast. Have been out for the last 3 days and now have about 40 lbs in the freezer. I'll be using these not only for wine but also jelly/jam/syrup and vinegar.

I still have not opened a bottle of 2014. Some of you may remember I put most of that creation into an oak cask, and bottled the rest plain. The flavor coming out of the cask was wonderful, and we bottled it last December. The un-oaked tasted raw when we bottled it.

I've been meaning to taste both of them but the price of beef has been so high we have been eating just about anything else. I guess I'll have to make an elk meatloaf to try it--

Who else is picking/planning to pick chokecherries?


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## HarvestWine (Aug 24, 2015)

My batch is fermenting right now. Trying to figure out how sweet I want it. I like dry wines but all of the chokecherry wines I've tasted have been so sweet and high in alcohol. Mine should come out at about 13%.

Also, has anyone ever added almond flavoring to their wines? I add a little with my syrup. Chokecherry syrup is my absolute favorite on pancakes!


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## Arne (Aug 25, 2015)

We had a late frost here. Most of our fruit plants have had some fruit on them, but not very much. Makes it hard to pick enough to use. Hopefully next year. Arne.


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## lorenae (Aug 25, 2015)

We usually pick about 100 pounds of them, just for wine (we don't eat jelly or jam). This year had some late cool days, and we'll be lucky to get 45 pounds or so. 

I always finish mine dry, and oak about half of mine.


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## fabrictodyefor (Aug 25, 2015)

I'm feeling a little left out.  No choke cherries for me this year. Where I usually pick them, they got hail in the spring, and it hit the blossoms. I've just bottled mine from last year, the choke cherry apple and the choke cherry grape. They are both wonderful, but not going to give any of that away as I'll have to wait 2 years to get any more wine! Hopefully next year's crop of choke cherries will be better!


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## montanaWineGuy (Aug 25, 2015)

Last year was incredible for choke cherries. This year a disaster. Because of the poor choke cherries, the bears are traveling further and becoming a problem.


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## dorfie (Aug 25, 2015)

We had some wet and cold weather during almost the entire bloom time this year, so i only got about a gallon of chokes picked  
Since i don't have enough this year to make my normal chokecherry wine i mixed it with some other leftover fruit, blackberries and blueberries and some mulberry juice to make a mixed berry cherry wine! i think it will turn out good!



HarvestWine said:


> My batch is fermenting right now. Trying to figure out how sweet I want it. I like dry wines but all of the chokecherry wines I've tasted have been so sweet and high in alcohol. Mine should come out at about 13%.
> 
> Also, has anyone ever added almond flavoring to their wines? I add a little with my syrup. Chokecherry syrup is my absolute favorite on pancakes!



HarvestWine, I have added almond extract to my chokecherry before, and it was pretty good! i have only done that one year and it was because the wine was very cherry and tart the almond toned it down some. if you add any i would be very cautious on the amount added, add very small amounts at a time and test between, almond could b very overpowering if there is too much.


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## wyogal (Aug 28, 2015)

We managed to get another 10 lbs or so this last week, but the birds have been ravenous. They went straight into the freezer as we have a business trip in in about 2 wks and I just can't manage the timing  I know I'd screw it up.
Sorry to hear most of you won't be brewing chokecherry this year.

Harvestwine re sweetness: my first attempt last year is quite dry. I was under the impression from the resources I consulted that chokecherries will usually produce a dry red table wine, and the style you refer to has been fortified and back-sweetened.

Lorenae re oaking: I'd love to hear more about your oaking method. I don't have the new cask this year, so I bought some medium oak cubes, but I'm trying to research the amount and time for cubes.

Dorfie: Your mixed berry/cherry wine sounds like it could be great. Please keep exact records so you can share your results!


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## wyogal (Aug 28, 2015)

*bulk vs bottle*

Fabrictodyefor, do I understand correctly that you left last summers' chokecherry ferment in carboys for some months? Is there a difference in taste? Is it just a matter of convenience, or do you plan this on purpose? 

Since a wild fruit like chokecherry is impacted by weather, every year's cherries taste different. 

I think I need to be keeping much better records with lots of notes about tastings and such. There doesn't seem to be a lot of guidance in print about how to identify a characteristic and modify it.


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## fabrictodyefor (Aug 29, 2015)

wyogal said:


> Fabrictodyefor, do I understand correctly that you left last summers' chokecherry ferment in carboys for some months? Is there a difference in taste? Is it just a matter of convenience, or do you plan this on purpose?
> 
> Since a wild fruit like chokecherry is impacted by weather, every year's cherries taste different.
> 
> I think I need to be keeping much better records with lots of notes about tastings and such. There doesn't seem to be a lot of guidance in print about how to identify a characteristic and modify it.



I'm so glad for you that you have some choke cherries, and I always freeze any fruit before it goes into wine, so the freezing part is good! Freezing helps to break down the fruit. Although I simmer my choke cherries, the one batch in apple juice, the other in grape juice. And making notes is very important! And sometimes I am not very good at that. I think I am, until I go back to look something up and find out I didn't write it down. Yes I bulk aged both in a car boys. Started the cc/a on 8/21/14, bottled 7/2/15. The cc/g is not bottled yet. Every couple of months I would rack to a clean car boy and taste test. It wasn't until a few weeks ago when I racked the cc/g that it was ready! It was started 2/14/14. I thought this was the one I would toss down the drain. You know how a choke cherry sucks the moisture out of your mouth? That is what this wine did! So I just left it. The recipe I followed was http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8316 So this one has been bulk aging for 18 months. I just didn't want to bottle it if it was not going to taste good! As soon as I have some time I'll get it bottled. I back sweetened the cc/a, basically amounting to 2 TBS of simple syrup to a bottle of wine. The cc/g I will back sweeten with 1 TBS of simple syrup to a bottle. This is just what I have come up with in my taste testing. It is never a given whether I back sweeten or not. My sister and I taste test a half cup of wine at a time, each back sweetened differently and one not back sweetened. It seems like we always pick the same glass, our taste buds must be the same. But we can usually tell when it is back sweetened too much, just doesn't taste right! So there is really no method, except personal taste to back sweetening! But it is always fun!!!


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## dorfie (Aug 30, 2015)

My chokecherry almost always sits for a year. it's one of our favorites so i want it to be very good when i bottle it! in my opinion it allows me to insure that it is fully clear and gives me the opportunity to adjust things if i feel the need to.
I leave mine completely dry, but i prefer dry reds to sweet, just personal. i think it could make a nice sweet red too. 
and wygirl, ALL fruits used to make wine are impacted by weather! that includes grapes!  
chokecherries i have noted less flavor changes, and more size and harvest changes. say if it is a year with nice amounts of rain near fruit development they are larger etc. i guess i would assume warmer days with enough rain would produce a sweeter cherry. 
I have been trying to select for a larger and more balanced chokecherry, also trying to work with yellow ones, but with no fruit this year, nothing to work with! can't wait for next year!


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## fabrictodyefor (Aug 30, 2015)

Yes, Wygal, I have to agree with dorfie. If you want to tweak the wine at all, maybe it needs a little tannin....or you want to let it sit on vanilla beans....or you want a little oakness, you can do that if it is in a car boy, but not if it is already bottled.


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## wyogal (Aug 31, 2015)

*bulk vs bottle Chokecherry*

FTDF--that is amazing info, thank you so much for your report. You have convinced me to bulk age my 2015 batch for far longer than the 2014. I'm going to have to get more carboys.

Last night we had a beef roast so I finally cracked open a bottle of the oak-barrel-aged chokecherry. My impressions:
1) Very intense cherry odor and taste. Good color, but a little murky. Also a big rose fragrance. Very flowery, who knew?
2) Nice dry flavor with body, what I would call medium-dry, about like a natural red zinfandel in terms of tannins & body. I'm assuming the oak cask helped with the body.
3) I did nothing to adjust the tannins, as CC's are so naturally astringent. It is fine as is.

I was aiming for a general purpose red table wine. I think the nose is very flowery for a red table wine, although it is dry. The second glass wasn't so "startling" of course. 

I would love to have some other input on this: may I send you a bottle?

Laurel

PS: To others reading this: Yes I will send you a bottle too, for shipping only PLUS the promise of a critical evaluation WITH suggestions for tweaking. I am not selling this wine. If you are interested please email me *privately*. I will not respond to requests on this thread, OK?


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## wyogal (Aug 31, 2015)

*dorfie*

Thanks for your comments, I appreciate them greatly. The CC I am talking about from last year was in a carboy for about 2 months and then in a new toasted oak cask for about 5 weeks, then bottled. I'm thinking this year I will let it sit in the carboy for much longer.


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## dorfie (Sep 1, 2015)

I would love to have an oak cask...I have to settle for cubes and spirals. I have always wondered how the flavor compares, if the "micro-oxidation" that casks are supposed to give is actually noticeable. 
I love chokecherries for their natural tannins. i have been trying to set the amounts of fruit used in my wines from otherwise acid level, or tannin level. That way i can try to get the most fruit and flavor in my wine as possible!


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## TasunkaWitko (Mar 9, 2016)

I just put my first batch of chokecherry wine (actually, my first batch of any wine) into secondary. It was supposed to be made in 2015, but life happened and I didn't get it started until the end of February. I believe it is off to a great start, and am looking forward to trying it.

My batch is a one-gallon batch (don't judge me!) made with what looks to be a fairly standard recipe that Yooper (at the HomeBrewTalk Forum) helped me put together, along with some recollections of my dad from when his dad would make wild chokecherry wine. This recipe included 2.9 pounds of chokecherries, 2.25 pounds of sugar and Montrachet yeast at about 72 degrees. I didn't add any grape tannin at the time, but plan to do so in my next batch for comparison. I don't plan to put it on oak or anything like that at this time, but I may back-sweeten a little.

Like most others on this thread, I also had a hard time finding chokecherries here in north-central Montana this last year (2015). My son and I finally found some in one small mountain meadow, surrounded on all sides with barren chokecherry bushes for miles. I don't know how it happened, perhaps some sort of temperature inversion or simple luck of nature, but it provided enough for us to get some syrup made, as well as a small amount that I used to brew a chokecherry-wheat beer that I really liked. The rest went for this wine, and I have enough for a couple more batches.

I was going to open a separate thread on this, outlining my research and learning process during this first batch. I'll try to get it put together by this weekend.


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## dorfie (Mar 9, 2016)

TasunkaWitko said:


> I just put my first batch of chokecherry wine (actually, my first batch of any wine) into secondary. It was supposed to be made in 2015, but life happened and I didn't get it started until the end of February. I believe it is off to a great start, and am looking forward to trying it.
> 
> My batch is a one-gallon batch (don't judge me!) made with what looks to be a fairly standard recipe that Yooper (at the HomeBrewTalk Forum) helped me put together, along with some recollections of my dad from when his dad would make wild chokecherry wine. This recipe included 2.9 pounds of chokecherries, 2.25 pounds of sugar and Montrachet yeast at about 72 degrees. I didn't add any grape tannin at the time, but plan to do so in my next batch for comparison. I don't plan to put it on oak or anything like that at this time, but I may back-sweeten a little.
> 
> ...



Never would dream of judging! sounds like it is a good start! 
the lack of fruit (in my area at least) was mostly caused by cold wet temperatures during the bloom period. pollinators don't like to be out in that weather!


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## fabrictodyefor (Mar 11, 2016)

I am hording my bottles of choke cherry from the 2014 crop, knowing I won't bottle any this year. For me too, it takes about a year before the choke cherry is ready, but I did have a choke cherry grape that took 18 months before I bottled it. I was beginning to think this was the batch that would have to go down the drain. I am so glad I waited and waited. This ended up being a superb wine. I am concerned that we are having too much warm weather now that things will start to bloom too early, then we'll have a spring blizzard and ruin it! Good Luck Tusunka.


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## TasunkaWitko (Mar 11, 2016)

Many thanks - and same to you!

Hopefully we'll be able to get a few this year. I've also got my eyes on trying a batch or two from another Montana/Dakota favourite, the buffaloberry (also known as the bullberry).


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## wyogal (Aug 1, 2016)

Well I've been keeping an eye on our chokecherry crop, and this year it does not look good. We had a low temp night in May when the blossoms were open, so I think the fertilization was only 10-20%. 
They are just now starting to turn to red, & I hope there won't be a "flash" ripening. Our weather has been scalding hot, 90F plus a piercing sun, forest fires all around too. This might very well be the worst chokecherry year since we moved here in 2011. 
We'll see


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## Old Philosopher (Aug 7, 2016)

wyogal said:


> Well I've been keeping an eye on our chokecherry crop, and this year it does not look good. We had a low temp night in May when the blossoms were open, so I think the fertilization was only 10-20%.
> They are just now starting to turn to red, & I hope there won't be a "flash" ripening. Our weather has been scalding hot, 90F plus a piercing sun, forest fires all around too. This might very well be the worst chokecherry year since we moved here in 2011.
> We'll see


Sorry to hear that. Every thing in my valley here in NW Montana is producing a bumper crop, including chokecherries. My wife and her friend picked 10 gallons of berries over a 2 day period. 
A lot of it went into jelly, but I was given a gallon of strained juice to play with. 
I found Wade's recipe from back in 2010 (http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8316), but I'm hoping for something simpler since I'm only doing a 1-1 1/2 gal batch.
Which presents the first question: Can/should I dilute the 1 gal of juice with water, if I'm not going to be adding other flavored juice like Wade did? My normal approach for 1 gal of finished wine is to start with at least 1 1/2 gal, allowing for loss during subsequent rackings.
Advice? Anyone?


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## wyogal (Aug 7, 2016)

Old Philosopher said:


> A lot of it went into jelly, but I was given a gallon of strained juice to play with.
> I found Wade's recipe from back in 2010 (http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8316), but I'm hoping for something simpler since I'm only doing a 1-1 1/2 gal batch.
> Which presents the first question: Can/should I dilute the 1 gal of juice with water, if I'm not going to be adding other flavored juice like Wade did? My normal approach for 1 gal of finished wine is to start with at least 1 1/2 gal, allowing for loss during subsequent rackings.
> Advice? Anyone?



Hi. I would give some consideration to how the juice was prepared. When I extract juice for jelly, I put 4-5 lbs of cherries into a stock pot & add water until it is barely visible, cook & strain. This gives about a quart of juice. 
In comparison, the last two batches of chokecherry wine I have made from whole fruit I have used about 3 lbs of fruit per gallon of must. 
This seems to me (intuitively only) that the processed juice contains a higher proportion of juice than the must?? But I don't know how the flavor intensity would compare between the two.

Have not added other juice to my chokecherry juice, but I have tried with and without oak, and I highly recommend the oak. It adds a lot of depth and also seems to mellow out faster. The vanilla bean sounds like a nice touch, too


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## hounddawg (Aug 8, 2016)

I already know i'm dumber then dirt , i'm from north east Arkansas what is a choke cherry, we have cherry's here both sweet an sour, but until this site I'd never heard of choke cherries, 
thanks
Dawg


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## Old Philosopher (Aug 8, 2016)

hounddawg said:


> I already know i'm dumber then dirt , i'm from north east Arkansas what is a choke cherry, we have cherry's here both sweet an sour, but until this site I'd never heard of choke cherries,
> thanks
> Dawg





> Prunus virginiana, commonly called bitter-berry, chokecherry, Virginia bird cherry and western chokecherry, is a species of bird cherry native to North America; the natural historic range of P. virginiana


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## hounddawg (Aug 8, 2016)

thank you for taking the time to enlighten me and a special kudo for the picture, they look odd like a cross between a Polk berry(poison) and a black elderberry, welp that's the very reason I joined this site was to learn. 
yet again I thank you so much
Dawg






Old Philosopher said:


>


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## Old Philosopher (Aug 8, 2016)

They are quite common out here along the Rocky Mountains. Never bothered with them until this year, but they sure make good jelly!
The first picture shows some really ripe ones. Most often they look more like this:


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## cmason1957 (Aug 8, 2016)

hounddawg said:


> I already know i'm dumber then dirt , i'm from north east Arkansas what is a choke cherry, we have cherry's here both sweet an sour, but until this site I'd never heard of choke cherries,
> thanks
> Dawg



You aren't dumber than dirt. I don't think they grow well much South of the Iowa Missouri line. I'd love to find some down this way. My dad talks about child hood neighbors always making some. He grew up in North Dakota.


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## fabrictodyefor (Aug 9, 2016)

those look awesome Old Philosofer. I was able to score some this year, but they did not look that good! We are in a drought and where I usually pick is barren. I have used Wade's recipe and really like it. I have never tried choke cherry without adding another juice! I've used apple or grape, apple being a little sweeter and the grape tends to be dryer. I simmer the choke cherries in the juice I am going to use, then press the juice out....wygal, do you ferment the whole cherry? I've always been a little concerned that since the pit was so much a part of the cherry that maybe that would not be a good thing. Choke cherries make a very nice wine, but be patient. One batch I made took 18 months before it was drinkable! But well worth the wait!


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## wyogal (Aug 10, 2016)

*@houndawg*



hounddawg said:


> I already know i'm dumber then dirt



The only people "dumber than dirt" are the ones who prefer to remain ignorant rather than ask the question!

OldPh is correct on the botanical name, but there are many subspecies and varieties, and the berries themselves can be very different colors at the ripe stage, and there are big differences in sugar, astringency, and acid. We have at least 3 different native varieties here in Wyoming, and I have seen other cultivars in nurseries. Not to mention variations in climate and micro-climate.

I would be surprised if chokecherries aren't native to the Ozarks, in the higher elevations anyway. Check with your D of Ag county extension agent, he will know.


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## wyogal (Aug 10, 2016)

*whole CC fermentation*



fabrictodyefor said:


> wygal, do you ferment the whole cherry?


Yes I've made 3 batches from whole cherries, fresh and frozen. In those batches I have put mashed whole cherries in a mesh bag, about 2.5-3.5 pounds per gallon. Added the juice from the mash, water & kmeta/enzymes/nutrient, etc, let sit for a day or more, squeezing the fruit bag, then adjust SG with sugar & acid, wait a bit again then pitch yeast. 



fabrictodyefor said:


> I've always been a little concerned that since the pit was so much a part of the cherry that maybe that would not be a good thing.


No, not at all. The poisonous chemical in the pits is viable for a very short time, and easily neutralized by sunlight, drying, soaking, cooking, freezing, just about any kind of processing. The only thing you wouldn't want to do is to swallow large amounts of fresh cherries with pits. The Plains tribes crushed the cherries, pits and all, to add to game meat & dry for "pemmican" a type of jerky. You can put unprocessed pits in your compost, no problem. They break down nicely.



fabrictodyefor said:


> Choke cherries make a very nice wine, but be patient. One batch I made took 18 months before it was drinkable! But well worth the wait!


 I thoroughly agree; it is slow to mellow compared to others. 

But my batches with oak were much better, much earlier. I don't know enough about wine making to tell you exactly why--all I know is I had 5 gal from a batch put in an oak cask for 6 weeks, and the remainder bottled. After 6 mos the oak treated is definitely drinkable, the plain not so much. I now have the 3rd batch bulk aging with oak chips in a nylon stocking for the last 3 months and I'm about to taste it & bottle it....I'll let you know how that has worked if you will remind me in the fall  

Best regards to all


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## hounddawg (Aug 11, 2016)

smoking great ideal, I will.
I live 12 miles into the foothills, black river splits the bottoms from the foothills, I had already planed on asking a nursery if I can grow blue berries, and ya'll have done got me wanting choke berries. 
but beside this wine making, yesterday our highest ranking politician in my county and a very honest an good man not to mention a dear friend of mine was in a car wreck last night, the wreak broke his neck, they are to do surgery in the morning, and he can use all the prayers he can get, he is unlike other politicians he goes outta his way to help the needy and the poor, so please as a favor to me please pray for Dial....
thank you so very much,,
Dawg 







wyogal said:


> The only people "dumber than dirt" are the ones who prefer to remain ignorant rather than ask the question!
> 
> OldPh is correct on the botanical name, but there are many subspecies and varieties, and the berries themselves can be very different colors at the ripe stage, and there are big differences in sugar, astringency, and acid. We have at least 3 different native varieties here in Wyoming, and I have seen other cultivars in nurseries. Not to mention variations in climate and micro-climate.
> 
> I would be surprised if chokecherries aren't native to the Ozarks, in the higher elevations anyway. Check with your D of Ag county extension agent, he will know.


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## hounddawg (Aug 11, 2016)

Try pear juice




t pear juice


fabrictodyefor said:


> those look awesome old philosofer. I was able to score some this year, but they did not look that good! We are in a drought and where i usually pick is barren. I have used wade's recipe and really like it. I have never tried choke cherry without adding another juice! I've used apple or grape, apple being a little sweeter and the grape tends to be dryer. I simmer the choke cherries in the juice i am going to use, then press the juice out....wygal, do you ferment the whole cherry? I've always been a little concerned that since the pit was so much a part of the cherry that maybe that would not be a good thing. Choke cherries make a very nice wine, but be patient. One batch i made took 18 months before it was drinkable! But well worth the wait!


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## hounddawg (Aug 11, 2016)

well i'm not real experienced like most of ya'll but I have fair amount of dealing without enough of one thing to make wine with, just pick every thing you can find, dump all in your ferment barrel and make a Heinz 57, just mix every thing together I often find I really like a Heinz 57 wine, but keep weights of each incase you happen to like it, when I blend I put all my berries and fruits at the very start, I've tried blending after it was wine but that don't come close to blending from the start, and I've learned I like 5 lbs to the gallon menium 
Dawg




Arne said:


> We had a late frost here. Most of our fruit plants have had some fruit on them, but not very much. Makes it hard to pick enough to use. Hopefully next year. Arne.


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## fabrictodyefor (Aug 11, 2016)

wyogal said:


> Yes I've made 3 batches from whole cherries, fresh and frozen. In those batches I have put mashed whole cherries in a mesh bag, about 2.5-3.5 pounds per gallon. Added the juice from the mash, water & kmeta/enzymes/nutrient, etc, let sit for a day or more, squeezing the fruit bag, then adjust SG with sugar & acid, wait a bit again then pitch yeast.
> 
> 
> No, not at all. The poisonous chemical in the pits is viable for a very short time, and easily neutralized by sunlight, drying, soaking, cooking, freezing, just about any kind of processing. The only thing you wouldn't want to do is to swallow large amounts of fresh cherries with pits. The Plains tribes crushed the cherries, pits and all, to add to game meat & dry for "pemmican" a type of jerky. You can put unprocessed pits in your compost, no problem. They break down nicely.
> ...



Thanks for all the info! I did end of with 48 lbs of choke cherries, they are in my freezer. I'll try your method for at least one batch! These cherries were not big and plump....we've not had enough rain either. Would you then go on the high side of you poundage? Thinking that you have more weight in the pits and the cherries are not that big?

I've always put the pulp and pits in my compost, but thanks for the info on the poisonousness of the pits. I was never sure about that. 

3 months on oak seems a long time, I'll ask you again in a couple of months to see how that turned out. I had put a Chilean Malbec on oak chips for a month and it turned out too oaky. But I'm uncertain of the chemistry of wine making, so that may have been my mistake. [on a side note, I have a friend that LOVED the wine....I also had some apple wine that was light on flavor, so I mixed the Malbec and the apple and we love it!]

Happy cherry hunting


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## wyogal (Aug 11, 2016)

*oaking chokecherry wine*



fabrictodyefor said:


> I did end of with 48 lbs of choke cherries, they are in my freezer.


 Wowie-Zowie! I've never picked that many! The earliest varieties here will be ready to pick this coming week I think. Another week for the reds.



fabrictodyefor said:


> I'll try your method for at least one batch! These cherries were not big and plump....we've not had enough rain either. Would you then go on the high side of you poundage?



Yes, sure I would. I think you can easily go up to 5 lbs per gallon. My problem is that unless I switch to a bathtub, I don't have enough primary fermenting space !



fabrictodyefor said:


> 3 months on oak seems a long time, I'll ask you again in a couple of months to see how that turned out.



Well I don't know. I think this is one of those parts of winemaking that makes it an "art." I had that barreled batch in the barrel (it was a brand new barrel) for 6 weeks, on advice of another member who said the rule of thumb was 1 week per gallon of the barrel.

This batch with the chips, I had about 5 gal, did a second racking and then added a small amount of chips -- less than 1 cup dry measure-- in a nylon stocking, suspended it in the carboy. It took almost 2 months before the chips stopped floating. Is that an indicator of anything??? I have no idea.

I think it's very difficult to get accurate info on oaking. Of course the pros don't want to reveal secrets, and I don't blame them. If this turns out way to oaky I will certainly mix it with a plain batch from this year & let it sit a while. Enjoy the rest of the summer FTDF![/QUOTE]


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## wyogal (Aug 17, 2016)

So the chokecherries are gradually ripening. I've been picking a couple hours a day for the last 3 days and have about 25lb.

I know I posted that a lot of blossoms froze in late spring, and that is certainly true, but what did survive those frosts--Wow. I think it is the same situation as in cultivated fruit: if you thin the fruit the remaining set grows larger! Today I picked some ripe chokecherries that were 7/16" in diameter. No kidding--had a ruler with me! I have never seen cc's that big, and I'm older than old.

The other strange effect of this year is that the ripening is much more gradual; usually the season is 7-14 days max. This year there are individual racemes that have wildly varying degrees of ripeness, and it seems much later than usual. Also, the younger trees escaped the frost--they must have flowered later. We don't have nearly the bird pressure we usually do either.

So my AC (adult children) will be here this next week and we will be picking tons. I am thinking I will start a new chokecherry wine thread with as many variations in recipe/treatment as I can manage (just because I need *another* project before I die, right?) Ha!

I'm thinking about adding vanilla beans? cinnamon sticks? whole cloves? Anyone have any other suggestions or advice on spices in fruits? This is going to be a big project for me because my worst grade in college chemistry was about keeping my notebook properly.


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