Sweet Cherry Saison

The Homebrew Forum

Help Support The Homebrew Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
May 20, 2020
Messages
409
Reaction score
424
Location
East Yorkshire
I've been thinking about something fruity for the Summer and fancied another Saison having done a kit last summer after a bit of worktime procrastination I've come up with this one:

Sweet Cherry Saison

Batch Size 23L

O.G 1.054 (1.060 factoring the Cherries in)
F.G 1.005


Grain Bill
4kg Maris Otter Pale Malt
1kg Wheat malt
100g Special B - Could swap this for Aromatic or Biscuit Malt.
100g Brewing Sugar

Mashed at 63°c for 60 mins (I'm hoping this will give plenty of fermentable sugars and drive the F.G down.

Hop Additions
25g Progress @ 60 Mins
25g Target @ 15 Mins

Other Additions
0.5 Protofloc @ 10 Mins
3kg Sweet Cherries - Secondary fermentation

Yeast
CML French Saison
May add Champagne Yeast to secondary to finish it off.
Fermentation
10 Days at 24°c
5 Days at 21°c

I'm planning on using frozen cherries which I will defrost and empty into the secondary bucket and then siphon the beer in.
I've assumed that the Mash temp wants to be low 60's to make sure the wort is full of fermentable sugars?

Let me know if you think it looks too crazy.
 
Last edited:
I am certainly interested in something like this, do sweet cherries work well? i read people prefer sour cherries more to dump in after fermentation.
 
I am certainly interested in something like this, do sweet cherries work well? i read people prefer sour cherries more to dump in after fermentation.

I have no idea I'll let you know in a month or so.... I found a commercial brewery doing a sweet cherry saison and decided it was the way to go. It will either work or it won't....either way it would have to be pretty bloody awful to not gt drunk round here....
 
If they're the only hops you have available, I'd switch 'em. Target is supposedly more of a harsh bittering hop yet might balance the sweet cherries nicely. Progress may be more in keeping with grassy earthy Saison aromas.
 
If they're the only hops you have available, I'd switch 'em. Target is supposedly more of a harsh bittering hop yet might balance the sweet cherries nicely. Progress may be more in keeping with grassy earthy Saison aromas.
Perfect, thank you I will do that.

I was just using them because I've got quite a bit left from my Christmas brews. I've got tetnang, Herbrucker, Styrian goldings and maybe some challenger and ekg in the freezer.
 
If you weren't adding fruit, my choice would be Styrian Holdings, EKG or Hersbrucker (in that order of preference) for late mid/late hops in a Saison, though I think progress may be good.
 
Will follow this with interest. I've read a few similar recipes, and it always amazes me the sheer quantity of fruit required. 3 kg of fruit seems a hell of a lot!
 
Will follow this with interest. I've read a few similar recipes, and it always amazes me the sheer quantity of fruit required. 3 kg of fruit seems a hell of a lot!
1kg bags of funkin purée are an option. I use them in my sours. 1 bag per 20L batch.
 
Just a quick update, the base beer has been in primary since Friday sat at 25°C. The brew fridge smells amazing. I dropped the Hops slightly to 15g each of Target and Progress, adding 5g of each at First Wort, 10g of Target @ 60 mins and 10g Progress @ 15 mins.

Will follow this with interest. I've read a few similar recipes, and it always amazes me the sheer quantity of fruit required. 3 kg of fruit seems a hell of a lot!

I thought I was a bit light, working on 500g Cherries per gallon of beer. There is nice table here:

https://renegadebrewing.com/brewing-with-fruit/
I'll take a gravity reading on Monday and if its within 3-4 points of the F.G I'll move it onto the fruit in secondary.
 
Just a quick update, the base beer has been in primary since Friday sat at 25°C. The brew fridge smells amazing. I dropped the Hops slightly to 15g each of Target and Progress, adding 5g of each at First Wort, 10g of Target @ 60 mins and 10g Progress @ 15 mins.



I thought I was a bit light, working on 500g Cherries per gallon of beer. There is nice table here:

https://renegadebrewing.com/brewing-with-fruit/
I'll take a gravity reading on Monday and if its within 3-4 points of the F.G I'll move it onto the fruit in secondary.

Thanks - that's a useful article.

Doing a 32litre Cherry Weiss at the weekend and was thinking of 2Kg of puree. Going to offset some of the sourness with 1.5litre of pomegranate juice...
 
I managed to take a gravity reading today and it was down to 1.005. I had a sip and its an understated saison closer to commerical ones I've tried rather than MJ one I let rip at 30°c at the height of last summer which is what I was hoping for. I've had this locked in at 25°c for a 12 day primary fermentation.

I'm going to move the brew onto the Cherries in a fresh FV later today once they've defrosted a bit and give it 5-7 days on the fruit, So far I'm very happy with how this is going, I'm tempted to bottle a couple today for comparison later on.
 
Last edited:
I have cherries in the freezer. I'm going to have a go at this in a few days time.
 
Back
Top