# Vishnick - Sweet cherry wine, or maybe it's a liqueur - Advice for bottling?



## halcyon1234

A bit of history: Growing up, there was always this jar in the back of the fridge. It held a few cups of very wrinkled cherries, floating in a dark red liquid. It was vishnik, and that same jar had been sitting in a family fridge for decades.

My family calls it wine, but I suspect it's a liqueur. It's very sweet, and very potent. It comes out only on very special occasions, and is usually served no more than an ounce at a time. If you're lucky, you'll also get to eat one of the cherries.

I got married two years ago, and I thought it would be special to have vishnick for the toast. A year before that, I finally asked my father for the recipe for the vishnik. (It'll list it below). It takes sour cherries, Morello if you can get them. In Ontario, there's a two week period in the summer when they grow, and only on a very few cherry farms. My wife and I tripped down to the Niagara region, picked a few baskets. Washed, removed the stems, the 3/4 filled 4x 8 gallon jars. Topped them with sugar and lemon juice, then just left them on top of some bookshelves for the next year.

The recipe worked perfectly. It was sweet, tart, full of cherry flavor.

The only problem was I made, possibly, too much. My wedding had 80 guests in total, and everyone got 1 oz of the stuff. 80oz from, a couple dozen gallons left a lot over. And I made a second batch from the same cherries.

So here I am, with a whole bunch of mason jars full of a sweet wine that may not be a wine. The next batch is almost done. I can keep it in the fridge pretty much forever, but it takes up too much space. I'd love to bottle it, keep it in the cellar, and/or give it away as special gifts.

Any advice for a recipe like this? Can I bottle it? Are there any special considerations as far as equipment or procedure, or is it the same as bottling a regular wine? Any reliable way of figuring out its proof without using gunpowder? =)


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## halcyon1234

The recipe, BTW: Take washed/stemmed cherries. Put in jar. Cover with enough sugar, not so the jar is filled, but so the top layer is covered. Squirt fresh juice of 1 lemon in. Leave for a couple days, then mix to ensure lemon juice is everywhere. Leave sealed for 3 months. Test, adjust tart/sugar levels. Leave for at least another 3 months. When it's ready enough, enjoy with your great grandchildren one day.


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## ICELIA

That sounds like an awesome thing to try. 
Is there a particular kind of cherry to use? 
I want to give it a shot.


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## ICELIA

Oh, and I would imagine it would be best bottled in fancy 100ml or so bottles. 
And then a really ornate label. 
Treat it like real Balsalmic and should be a great gift!


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## bob1

yep it can be bottled. Carboy it about 3 months then bottle.


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## halcyon1234

ICELIA said:


> That sounds like an awesome thing to try.
> Is there a particular kind of cherry to use?
> I want to give it a shot.



I'm not sure. I think it was a Morello cherry, but according to my father, any sour or semi-sour cherry will do.

I emailed the cherry farm I went to in 2009 to ask what kind they grow.


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## halcyon1234

Got the answer: They're Mount Morenci Pie Cherries


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## ICELIA

halcyon1234 said:


> Got the answer: They're Mount Morenci Pie Cherries



This is intriguing, I am so trying this later this week.  thank you for sharing your recipe, I wonder if it could be adapted to other kinds of fruit as well?


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## halcyon1234

ICELIA said:


> This is intriguing, I am so trying this later this week.  thank you for sharing your recipe, I wonder if it could be adapted to other kinds of fruit as well?



Post back in a year when it's ready. =)

I bet blueberries would work really well.


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## bob1

This is exactly what I have a Mount Morenci cherry tree for and pies of course. This is how I was taught to make wine. It works with most berries.


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## ckassotis

So I'm intrigued by this recipe. So are you capping the jar after adding the cherries and sugar? I guess I'm wondering where the wine/liqueur comments come in. I'm not seeing any fermenting going on. Perhaps you are going to get lucky and get some wild variety of yeast, but otherwise you're ending up with cherries in sugary syrup. Am I missing something here?

You do mention that it's potent, so I must be. I'm reading your post though and thinking wow, the brix must be up near 40 with that going on. What is going to ferment something that high?


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## bob1

My last batch I sprinkled some ec1118 over them. 3/4 cup sugar per pound of cherries put in a bucket and set somewhere where they can warm a bit. Shake the bucket 2 times a day until fluid level quits rising. Decant off the liquor and carboy. Repeat 2 more times with the same cherries adding the liquor to the original batch then add something to shut down fermentation. Yes it should be strong and sweet.


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## ckassotis

Hrm. So the original recipe doesn't call for a yeast, but I didn't see how that would work. I like this idea. So you add the EC1118 and then seal it and place it somewhere? Just wondering about the lack of oxygen for the yeast to get going/work ideally. 

Is there something else going on for those people that aren't talking about adding a yeast?


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## g8keeper

ckassotis said:


> Hrm. So the original recipe doesn't call for a yeast, but I didn't see how that would work. I like this idea. So you add the EC1118 and then seal it and place it somewhere? Just wondering about the lack of oxygen for the yeast to get going/work ideally.
> 
> Is there something else going on for those people that aren't talking about adding a yeast?


 
well i have to admit, after reading the original posts, i did happen to do my own research about this on the web, googling visnik, or however it's spelled...i came to find out that it is more of an infusion/cordial more than anything else....it is essentially "drunken fruit", or in this case, cherries....what had been omitted in the original post is that vodka is added in the jars, along with the cherries and sugar...in time what happens is the cherries infuse the vodka, giving it flavor, and the sugar is for sweetness, not fermentation....and as for the lemon juice, i can only assume that is a preservative to help the cherries maintain their color throughout the process....i was curious myself where the alcohol came from myself, but after reading, i know understand more about this product...hope this shed more light on the subject...


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## ckassotis

Ah hah. That is a whole lot less interesting, if that is the case. 

Thanks for the info though!


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## BernardSmith

*Vishniak*

I began a batch of vishniak about 10 months ago macerating the cherries in vodka at about 65-70 degrees but after about a month I strained the liqueur and removed the cherries and stored the carboy in the freezer. The flavors really improve the longer the bottle sits.


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## ckassotis

So you're removing the cherries? The original post makes it sound like they stay in for good. Sounds like you're just doing an infusion, and not even a particularly long one.


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## BernardSmith

*an infusion - yes.*

I treated the process much as if I was making a version of limoncello, substituting chopped cherries for lemon zest. Not sure I know what the advantage would be to leave the cherries in for months or years. The alcohol would surely have pulled all the color and flavors and essential oils within the first few weeks. No?


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## BernardSmith

*an infusion - yes.*

I treated the process much as if I was making a version of limoncello, substituting chopped cherries for lemon zest. Not sure I know what the advantage would be to leave the cherries in for months or years. The alcohol would surely have pulled all the color and flavors and essential oils within the first few weeks, don't you think?


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## tonyt

I make a recipe for every Holiday season that was handed down from my Father-in-Law, Bob. He and his older brother, Milo, made "Cherry Juice" as young men in Nebraska 70 odd years ago. Said their ancestors made it too. 

His recipe is to take a gallon glass jar, add two packages of frozen cherries or the equivalent of fresh cherries. Add 4 cups of powdered or granular sugar and fill with Tennessee Whiskey or Kentucky Bourbon. Stir - shake daily until the sugar is completely dissolved then weekly for 4 - 6 months. Then strain out the cherries, I use coffee filters. Cherries are good over ice cream. I serve in cordial glasses.

He got me drunk on my A$$ more than a couple times on "Cherry Juice" . . . and that was BEFORE I married his daughter. Now I serve it to my son and son-in-law. Here's the label I made for it. Bob is on the left, Milo on the right. I Photoshopped the picture of them as there is no picture of them together.


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## Deezil

It sounds very similiar to a limoncello & is basically the same process except that the lemon peels are steeped in the liqueur with the simple syrup being added later instead of all mixed in to sit..

I looked limoncello up on google, checked the wikipedia page & it had a link to a drink called 'Cherry Bounce' - same thing y'all are talking about..

Sounds good tho


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## bob1

nope mine was fermented and vodka is used to stop fermenting. There are natural yeast on them they will ferment on their own.
When goggled ran across it

http://pragmaticattic.wordpress.com/2009/07/26/vishniak-uppdate/


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## ckassotis

Yeah, I think there is a whole lot of confusion here. It sounds like a lot of people are doing cherry infusions, but that isn't what this point was originally about. Nor does it seem like it is what the vishniak/vishnick etc of old was. 

So the issues I have heard are as follows:
-No yeast would readily ferment something that high in sugar
-Sanitization would remove any wild yeast that may be present

So, nowhere do I see any mention of campden, so we aren't killing off any wild yeasts. This would allow for fermentation of any wild yeast that are potentially on the cherries. I'm not sure that you would be able to wash them beforehand - remember that grape-using winemakers aren't washing grapes prior to crushing/press. Nor the ones who are letting them sit outside to naturally ferment. 

So the only other unresolved issue is the crazy high sugar. I'm, not actually seeing any comments about an actual amount of sugar used, so I don't think we can assume that we are putting more in than a yeast could possibly tolerate. It might mean we need a well-documented bench trial by someone here, with pics, etc. I might just give this a shot myself. Something like the trial in the website that bob1 linked. An infusion vs. the supposed real thing, and see what happens. Get some actual S.G. readings, etc etc.


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## ckassotis

If you follow a link in the above-linked post, you end up at a more detailed explanation:

http://pragmaticattic.wordpress.com/2009/07/19/homemade-sour-cherry-brandy-visinata-or-vishniak/#more-1017

They are definitely not adding the vodka up front, but later on after some sort of fermentation has already happened. 

Super neat sort of detective work this guy has done. Hard to find the truth in an old tradition sometimes!


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## bob1

we did not use to sanitize the berries. I did rinse mine in sulfite the last time. thats why I added the yeast. If you just clean them and set in a bucket they will ferment. I know that we are told it is not supposed to but it does.


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## ckassotis

This is super interesting. Not sure where I will find sour cherries though - I probably just missed the season. Hrm.


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## Deezil

Reading through the first two posts again..

Says theres a few cups of cherries floating in liquid, so the jar is by no-means full of cherries... The liquid its floating in - just the juice from the cherries + the 1 lemon?

Also says that theres just enough sugar added to cover the cherries - now just because i know how old cooking recipes were written, this makes me wonder - do they mean that they shook the sugar down into the cracks between all the cherries until the top layer was actually covered, or did they just sprinkle a layer of sugar over the top layer of cherries?

Most non-grape, ripe fruits usually fall somewhere between 1.030 & 1.045 SG, plenty of room for most of the sugar to ferment and leave enough behind to keep the sweetness..

I'm gonna try it..
Just wonder if anyone knows the answers to these tidbits, so i can go for authentic

My best guess is to add a couple cups of cherries to a mason jar, sprinkle enough sugar in to dust the top layer & stir it every day for a while... I'm sure it'd ferment and sounds delicious, just wonder if anyone here seen how older generations made it


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## Deezil

The guy in the link that Ckassotis gave plays with a ratio of 2 cups cherries : 1 cup sugar..

Might have to try it a few different ways - someone mentioned bench trials

Wonder how it'd make as an F-pack to a cherry wine


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## ckassotis

Deezil said:


> Wonder how it'd make as an F-pack to a cherry wine



Well once it is fortified with the vodka or whatever, it will be pretty high alcohol for an f-pack for a wine. However, I would be pretty interested in using it as an f-pack of sorts for a fruit port. That could be pretty darn interesting. 

As for your other comments, I think it is just the juice of the lemon (though other recipes I don't see that) and the cherry juice that is fermenting. It sounds like the cherries are going to release a good deal of juice from the sounds of it, and sort of shrivel up. So they end up taking up considerably less space. I like the idea of the lemon, adds some acidity and some preservation quality in there for the initial bit. 

One comment that I saw had the sugar added so that they put a layer of cherries and then covered it with sugar, kind of like lasagna, all the way to the top. The comments also said to be sure to shake it twice a day or so.


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## Deezil

ckassotis said:


> Well once it is fortified with the vodka or whatever, it will be pretty high alcohol for an f-pack for a wine. However, I would be pretty interested in using it as an f-pack of sorts for a fruit port. That could be pretty darn interesting.
> 
> As for your other comments, I think it is just the juice of the lemon (though other recipes I don't see that) and the cherry juice that is fermenting. It sounds like the cherries are going to release a good deal of juice from the sounds of it, and sort of shrivel up. So they end up taking up considerably less space. I like the idea of the lemon, adds some acidity and some preservation quality in there for the initial bit.
> 
> One comment that I saw had the sugar added so that they put a layer of cherries and then covered it with sugar, kind of like lasagna, all the way to the top. The comments also said to be sure to shake it twice a day or so.



Sorry  I'm a port fan, i just naturally think along those lines

And cherries do have a good deal of juice in them, but i didnt account for the shriveling factor so maybe it is pretty full in the beginning - just not in the end

The lasagna idea isnt too bad of an idea either

I think when i try it, i'll try the 2 cups cherries : 1 cup sugar & shake/stir


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## ckassotis

Absolutely! Love port! The thought of a cherry port with this stuff has me drooling a bit. Excuse me while I clean up my desk a bit. 

You have any thoughts on the cherries? Sour cherries are supposedly only in season late June-early July. So I'm wondering if I'll need to put this off for a year. Or perhaps try a different type of cherry. Any thoughts on that?


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## Deezil

Personally, i'll probably try it with sweet cherries.. But thats just what i was raised on / what i like & what i can get my hands on...

Probably a difference in the finished product, but not sure what it'd be..

I also wondered if you could substitute the sugar with honey


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## bob1

1 lb sour cherries
3/4 cup sugar 
Layer them this way then give a good shake. 
I just sprinkled the yeast then shook it.
By next day it will be fizzing. 
You must watch the liquid level once it stops rising
get it off the cherries and add fresh sugar of the same
amount before.


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## ckassotis

Sort of off-topic, picked up some Rainier cherries the other day. Always been curious about them. Quite expensive, and interesting-looking. Perhaps because I grew up on the standard sweet cherries, these were just way over the top to me. Each one was like a little creamy treat. Sounds delicious, but was so over the top sweet that it didn't even taste remotely healthy, despite being a fruit. Might give this a shot with some sweet cherries myself. Can anyone speak to the impact of sweet vs. sour cherries in this?


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## Deezil

So I'm trying it, and covering it here
We'll see how it goes!


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## bob1

Checked that out Deezil. I never pitted them just pulled stems and rinsed them good.


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## Deezil

Yeah i know i just didnt wanna deal with the pits later & these cherries hold up pretty good even when they've been canned so the halves should still be solid by the end of this... i know i did a few things differently but shouldnt change the results too much


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## ckassotis

You don't want to rinse them well if you are going to try to ferment them naturally. If you want to add your own yeast, that is fine, but you don't want to get rid of the natural yeast that you need to prevent them spoiling.


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## Deezil

I didnt rinse them at all myself, but i did just double the recipe in my 1-gallon 

now its..

12 cups cherries, pitted
6 cups sugar
1 cup + 2 tablespoons lemon juice

Add 6 cups vodka when the sugars gone
Let sit til christmas

1-gallon is full to the shoulder.. There's room to ferment / add vodka
Off she goes!


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## ckassotis

Fantastic. Any updates on this? Does it appear to be doing anything? Not sure if you'd be able to tell very easily. Pic of the doubled recipe?


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## saramc

*add neutral high proof alcohol*



g8keeper said:


> what had been omitted in the original post is that vodka is added in the jars, along with the cherries and sugar...in time what happens is the cherries infuse the vodka, giving it flavor, and the sugar is for sweetness, not fermentation....and as for the lemon juice, i can only assume that is a preservative to help the cherries maintain their color throughout the process


 
I make fruit liqueurs every year and I use either fresh or dried fruits, actually prefer dried fruits with the exception of my plum recipe & then I just love to use fresh plums. I use fruit, sugar and high-proof neutral alcohol like Everclear or vodka (or a combination of both). They are ready after 90 days (the longer the fruit remains intact, the better--you can even bottle it with the fruit added), though I allowed my plum liqueur to remain on the fruit for more than six months. I then removed the plum pulp and canned it in pint jars with a cinnamon stick--makes awesome ice cream topping. The plum is adored by my mother-in-law as a cough syrup (she does not drink alcohol but will not hesitate to ask for a "refill"--she knows my recipe and refers to it as her "medicine" LOL). To date I have made fresh plum, dried apricot to which I added a small airplane size bottle of Butterscotch Schnapps--think Buttery Apricot liqueur, dried tart cherry, toasted pecans and a blueberry ginger. Out of the ordinary, I made milk liqueur (a well known liqueur in Lithuania made with whole milk-vodka-sugar-citrus & I added a vanilla bean..my photo attached) and a chocolate milk liqueur(tastes like a malted milk ball, made with whole milk-quality dark semisweet chocolate melted instead of grated, plus citrus..my photo attached)--recipes are easily found on the internet, and they are ready in as early as just 10 days and will be crystal clear after straining/running thru coffee filter. I saved the "drunken cream cheese" that remained in the coffee filter and used the chocolate in the filling for tiramusa (best ever!) and used the cheese from the milk liqueur with homemade yogurt and marshmallow creme and served as an adult-only fruit/graham cracker dip!! Also attached a photo of three liqueurs bottled (I actually need to filter one more time since they have dropped some sediment), from left to right, chocolate milk, milk, and fresh plum liqueurs.

I typically like to weigh the fresh fruit, use 1/2 the amount(in weight) of sugar...for every 3# of fruit I will use 750ml of alcohol. If using dried fruit, I measure by cup, and for every cup of dried fruit I use 1.5 cups alcohol and 0.5 cup of sugar. 

Delicious stuff--all the way around. My mother asked me just yesterday to make her an apricot rum raisin liqueur...I have the fruit, just need to get some rum and plan to use turbinado sugar in this one.


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## JoshDivino

Very interesting, I'm going to have to try this myself! Sounds like a real delicacy in the family!


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## Deezil

ckassotis said:


> Fantastic. Any updates on this? Does it appear to be doing anything? Not sure if you'd be able to tell very easily. Pic of the doubled recipe?



Just to reiterate.. 

12 cups sweet cherries, pitted
6 cups white sugar
1 cup + 2 tablespoons lemon juice

It bubbles through the airlock about once per 10 minutes

You can see the bubbles around the rim - those started on the 2nd day.. The foam building inbetween the cherries just started today, but last night i broke up the "disc" of sugar that had gathered at the bottom of the 1-gallon, & since i broke it up, it hasnt reformed so i think everything is suspended in the solution now.

Smells like a cherry cola, minus the cola


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## Deezil

5 days in..
And still foaming & bubbling
The cherries are sinking into the liquid more now than before
Definitely fermenting though, smells amazing


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## ckassotis

Very cool! Love the pics. Super excited at how this turns out for ya. Are you doing anything to do on a daily basis besides stirring it up 1-2 times a day?

I am thinking that once my Chardonel starts fermenting I might have to just give this a shot!


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## ckassotis

Can't quite tell - did you toss an airlock on that? Just some cheesecloth or something?


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## Deezil

I've had an airlock on it from the start because i didnt inoculate with any yeast nor did i use anything for protecting the mix, but i give it a good stir more than a couple times a day (bottom of the bung gets wet from stirring) and i've only taken the airlock off maybe twice to smell it.

I was working on a batch of blackberry jam a couple days ago.. But i couldnt stir the grit out of it - sometimes it happens with the first crop of berries for some reason - and it wasnt setting up right.. So i left it on the counter to stir some more.. Well im pretty sure all the bubbles coming out of it now are co2 and not air i've whipped into it.. So i maybe have a blackberry liqueur coming shortly as well - the only differences; it had pectin addedbut pectic enzyme can fix that when fermentation is done, its had a cup of corn syrup added but its still just fructose and glucose so it should ferment out fine, and i havent measured the batch yet - but knowing theres 1 cup of corn syrup and 4.5 cups of sugar, i can subtract that from my total to figure out how many berries are really in there - so i can apply the 2 cups fruit : 1 cup sugar : 1 cup vodka ratio


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## halcyon1234

Looks great, Deezil! That's exactly what my batches end up looking like.

@others (mass reply): I haven't fortified it with any other liquor, but I might try that with one of the batches. I have done a limoncello before, but this is slightly different. Instead of extracting the cherry essence with liquor, this is producing liquor from cherries (and sweetening it with a lot of sugar =) )


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## Deezil

I started the blackberry version tonight out of the gritty jam & added more berries to the total of about 5lbs - which is about how many cherries it took to get 12 cups - so the ratios are basically the same.. Interested in seeing how this one turns out, and then i might try mixing a little for a blackberry-cherry, since thats my favorite wine anyway


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## ckassotis

Hey Deezil, any update/pics? How are they looking? Still fermenting?


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## Deezil

The cherry liqueur is done fermenting, the cherries look like your fingers after climbing out of a swimming pool.. Havent cracked it open cause i dont wanna ruin the co2 layer.. Gonna top up with vodka sometime this weekend..

Cant tell if the blackberry is still going or not..


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## saramc

My Mom just reminded me there is a Danish and German version of this called Rumtopf (aka Rum Pot)....fruit, sugar, and a high proof rum. They start it in the Spring and add more seasonal fruits to it as they are available and by holiday time there is one delicious concoction available. They take their RUMTOPF so seriously you can even find Rumtopf crocks. Various recipes exist on the internet.


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## Deezil

Yeah sara i had suggested something like that on pg 3 and got corrected 
"Cherry Bounce" is the "rumtopf" cherry version basically..

But rumtopf uses multiple types of fruit - as they come in season, soaking in rum, in a cast iron crock pot all year... It's a tad different than this as this actually requires fermentation before the fortifying..

It all sounds delicious tho, if ya ask me


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## halcyon1234

Deezil said:


> The cherry liqueur is done fermenting, the cherries look like your fingers after climbing out of a swimming pool..



Yup, that's how I remember seeing them. =) Don't forget to have a cherry with each glass of wine. You can probably get a buzz just off eating one.

After my last batch is done, I think I'll try making cherry jam out of them.

BTW: I saw in your pics that you pitted the cherries. I hadn't, mainly because I was too lazy to pit so many gallons of cherries. =) Do you use any special equipment to do your pitting?


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## saramc

halcyon1234 said:


> BTW: I saw in your pics that you pitted the cherries. I hadn't, mainly because I was too lazy to pit so many gallons of cherries. =) Do you use any special equipment to do your pitting?


 
I use a cast iron cherry pitter, looks like one of the clamp on counter style sausage grinders. Got mine for $5 at a yard sale years ago and am amazed at how much they go for on the market now. But would still be worth the investment if you work with alot of cherries or olives.


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## Deezil

Thats how i did it.. 

Potato peeler with a pointy tip.. Pointy tip goes in where the stem attaches to the cherry - spin it around the seed & the seed'll come right out, then i'd put the cherry in the measuring cup to measure out the ratio

Took probably 30 minutes to do 5lbs, but i was horsing around as well.. Me and a friend did 20lbs of cherries in an hour last year.. Doesnt take long, but can be a bit messy until ya get the hang of it...

I'll get a cherry pitter one of these days, when i find one i trust... They dont always get the seed out, or sometimes they pulverize the cherry while doing it.. I'm a hands-on kinda guy 

Edit: You could also just cut the cherry in half like a peach - along the "crack".. and the seed'll be right there... That'd leave you with clean-cut halves under the airlock - i have some cut like that as well


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## ckassotis

Very cool, appreciate the updates! I am interested in the seed discussion. Some of the earlier posters mentioned that having the seed in there added something to the finished product. I'm curious if that is true. Purely from an enjoyment perspective, I would rather not have to deal with the seed in the finished product when I'm trying to eat/drink it!


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## Deezil

Just a nifty little observation..

Was taking a good look at the cherry liqueur last night, and noticed that the cherry pieces have gone a bit translucent, and there appears to be co2 bubbles within the cherry pieces

It's still degassing, too


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## bob1

why depit? you dont need to.


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## Deezil

Just preference

Didnt wanna have to spit the seeds out later, nor did i want them bringing anything to the final product although they may not


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## ckassotis

Any updates on this little legend a year later? Cherry season again!


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## halcyon1234

Never got around to bottling it. I really need to get on that.

I was able to make a second batch out of the same cherries. It's just as good. Now I have a bunch of cherries sitting in the fridge waiting to be turned into jam and pies. Adult jams and pies. =)


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## ckassotis

Interesting, thanks! I got three little mason jar batches going the other day. One I pitted the cherries, one I left untouched, and the other I left untouched but added a bit of lemon juice as some of the recipes call for. The pitted one seems to be up to some adventures, but the whole cherry ones seem to just be sitting there. Not sure if I should be expecting more, or if it takes the untouched cherries a bit more time to get going.


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## kzimmer0817

saramc said:


> My Mom just reminded me there is a Danish and German version of this called Rumtopf (aka Rum Pot)....fruit, sugar, and a high proof rum.


I realize that the last message on this thread was 7 months ago, but I have a reason for asking this. I was able to spend 6 weeks traveling around Europe during the summer of 1981. While there, I found some relatives of mine in Celle, Germany and spent 5 days with them. They served me an alcoholic beverage that tasted to me just like an alcoholic Ludens Cherry Cough Drop. He said that it was from Denmark. He used the term _ölig_ (pronounced close to ER-lig) which means "oily" in German to describe it. It wasn't the consistency of water, but it wasn't quite as thick as a cordial. After about 1 1/2 glasses of it, I could tell that I was going out. I had only had my first beer a few weeks earlier at the Hofbrauhaus in Munich.

Anyway, I have inquired at a couple package stores about what this could have been. I was told that it might have been a brandy.

In reading this thread on Vishnick, it sounds a lot like whatever this was that my relatives served me in Germany. Might anyone here have an idea?

Regardless, I want to try this recipe.

Thanks,
Keith


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## Deezil

My batch using sweet cherries, Bings, was definitely alcoholic, definitely cherry, and definitely still sweet. I didn't give it time to age like I would have liked, as it - and a blackberry counterpart done in the same fashion - both became 'f-packs' for a blackberry-cherry melomel I still have, from 2011.

I need to repeat this, and let it age
It's worth it..


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## ckassotis

My three little jars (above), are still sitting there waiting for me to do something with them. I was actually just thinking about them the other day! I did top them up with vodka after 1 month, as recommended, but as they weren't rotten by then, I'm assuming they fermented. They all looked different, but none smelled rancid. Now they've been aging for ~7 months now, so I should take a look and see what I got!


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