[5oclocksomewhere]

I have just received a gallon of Chokecherry juice and naturally I want to make beer with it.  I am thinking of maybe adding some to the secondary in either an american wheat style or stout and maybe saving some for adding to the keg.  I do have a gallon so I may be able to do both.  My question is how much should I use as a staring point?  Also, what do you think of my ideas? any other suggested styles?

[morticaixavier]

what does it taste like?

I'm a little obsessed with sours right now so my mind goes straight there but I suspect it would be good in an American wheat or stout like you suggest. Maybe also a wit beer or farmhouse.

You could make chokecherry syrup, brew a Berliner weisse and serve it with the syrup if you didn't want to commit to a whole batch.

Also mead, I suspect would be tasty, in that case I'd add the whole thing to the primary.

[kmccaf]

What does it taste like? (Edit: I see Mort already asked this. I am still very curious about it.) The Chokecherries I have had come across as very tannic. Personally, I have always wanted to make a stout with chokecherries. Maybe use some American Oak, and Brett C as well. Seems like a lot of flavors that would go well together there.

As for the adding it aspect. Seems like you would want to ferment your base beer, and then make some samples in a glass with it. That would give you a good idea as to the amount you want to use for the full batch.

[chezteth]

I have made some chokecherry wine. It has a cherry - like flavor but it does have quite a bit of tannins. I think it would work well in a sour beer. If adding to a wheat beer I agree with kmccaf in that you should add some of the juice to samples to get an idea of the flavor addition. If you want to back sweeten it you could use some non-fermentable sugar.

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[brewsumore]

If it is good, potent, chalk-full-o-chokecherries juice I would add 1.5 quarts to fermenting 5 gal of beer on the 3rd day of the ferment.  Before I added it I would heat it to 145 - 155F on the stovetop in a clean SS pan and hold there for 15 - 20 minutes (definitely keep it below 160F or you'll set pectins causing pectin haze) to pasteurize it, and once cooled, add it to your fermenter.

It's REALLY good in stout, and you could add more juice to the fermenter for a stout, prolly up to 2 quarts.

If it's straight press from chokecherries, you might reduce it to 1 quart or even less.  I would add, taste, maybe add more.

I use 4 lbs of crushed chokecherries per 5 gal wort, stirred and pasteurized prior to straining/racking to the fermenters, and there's plenty of chokecherry flavor that way.

[speed]

I made a chokecherry saison with 5 lbs fresh cherries, awesome.

[brewsumore]

I made a chokecherry saison with 5 lbs fresh cherries, awesome.

Dude, I haven't seen your moniker in a long time.  Maybe it's me -anyway good to see you on the forum!

[speed]

I check in every day, guess I just don't have much to say.

[brewsumore]

Yeah, I think I talk to hear what I'm thinking - so it sinks in better.  At least it's better than talking simply so that people can hear your voice.