Beer Forum

Hello All,

I have a Belgian Dark Strong that has been in primary for 4-5 weeks and needs moved. I havent taken a FG reading yet, which ill do today, but here are my plans for this. Im going to add some preservative free, pasteurized tart cherry juice that I got from whole paycheck. Then I would like to experiment a bit with some bugs. I have a bottle of orval that I want to use for dregs. So.....two questions.

1. How much cherry juice is appropriate? I dont want it to be overbearing, just a noticeable cherry note with some tartness in the background. The batch is 4 gallons.
My plan is to add juice to the hydrometer sample until I get the right blend, then upscale for the whole batch. However, if anyone has any experience with juice, Id like to hear about it.

2. Do you think the brett brux will muddle the rest of the beer flavor, especially the cherry? I want complexity, but I dont want to mix so many colors that I make gray.

Thanks for your comments ahead of time!

I've always found Cherry Juice to give a cherry-cola like flavor (think Kasteel Rouge). Whole cherries will give you an earthier flavor. I prefer whole cherries, but it's a question of what you want to go for.

IMO I think either will go well with the bret, but I think the cherries will blend better with the earthiness of the bugs. I would consider using lambicus instead. At least according to white labs, it's much stronger with the cherry-pie esters and (just guessing) it would great more harmonious flavors and blend better. That said I do more sour beer tasting than brewing, so just take that as my 2 cents.

After mixing up a sample to determine addition rate of the juice, I ended up adding all 32 oz to 4 gallons of beer. I also added the dregs of 1 Orval bottle. I'll see what happens. I decided to dedicate a carboy to bugs, as I want to start making sour beers, and maybe even 100% bug beers.

I'll update when I retaste the beer. Im guessing it wont be for a while.

thatguy314 wrote:
IMO I think either will go well with the bret, but I think the cherries will blend better with the earthiness of the bugs. I would consider using lambicus instead.

+ 1
brett L. has a ton of cherry character to it, the only downside is that it also spits out more barnyard than brett B or C. I say add all the brett's.