Sour Cherry Blonde (2024)

This will be Sour Blonde Beer using home grown Sour Cherries from my crop last year.  These are a dark fleshed variety like those used for Kreik Lambic in Belgium.  They are sour but also have a fairly rich cherry flavor to go along with that (unlike the lighter fleshed Montmorency variety).  I am using about 13.5 lbs of fruit in this batch (they've been frozen which will help them expel their juice better).

I'll use about 5 gal of beer in this batch.  I'm shooting for a blend with a fairly mild flavor and light sourness as the fruit will likely dominate at this ratio.  I'll choose beers based on a recent tasting of my 13 fermenters

I have chosen the following beers:

• Fermenter #5:
• Overview:
• Aged with ECY01 Bug Farm
• Includes beer fermented with lacto
• Mix of Pilsner and Raw Wheat malt bill
• Lightly hopped
• Aged in glass carboy with silicone bung
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:  Strong overripe fruit and a bit of almost medicine smelling brett character
• Appearance:  Light gold and very clear
• Flavor:  Lightly sour with a fruity character.  Get a bit of earthy and mineral like flavors as well.  The finish is a balance of acidity and fruit flavors.  I also get a bit of bready character in there.
• Mouthfeel:  Light bodied and very dry.  Had a mild bit of prickliness on the back of the throat as well
• Overview:  This a boldly flavored beer with a pretty nice level of complexity.  The acidity is at a nice balanced level in this one as well
• Volume:
• 2 gal
• Fermenter #9:
• Overview:
• Aged with ECY 34 Dirty Dozen.  This is the second pitch
• Includes beer that has been lacto fermented
• Grainbill is a mix of Pilsner and Raw Wheat
• No hops in this batch
• Aged in a bucket fermenter with a vented silicone bung
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:  Musty and earthy along with a bit of fruit
• Appearance:  Light gold and a little bit cloudy
• Flavor:  Lightly sour up front.  Has a fruity flavor (citrus like) and a bit of a musty character.  Also get a bready like character and some mineral flavor. 
• Mouthfeel:  Light bodied and dry.  Has a fairly sharp acid bite on the back of the throat on the swallow
• Overview:  Pretty bold with a nice fruity character.  Not the most complex beer but it has enough other things going on to make for an interesting beer to drink
• Volume:
• 2 gal
• Fermenter #12:
• Overview:
• Brewed with Bootleg Biology Funk Weapon #3
• Grainbill was a mix of Pilsner and Raw Wheat.  To attempt to better simulate a cereal mash I drew off a quart of very starchy wort from the cereal mash and added this to the boil
• Includes beer which fermented with lacto
• No hops in this batch
• Aged in a bucket with a solid bung
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:  Fruity and slightly musty smelling
• Appearance:  Golden and quite cloudy
• Flavor:  Very lightly sour with a citrus like character and a bit of mineral flavor
• Mouthfeel:  Light bodied with a light prickliness
• Overview:  Fairly mild in flavor without a whole lot in the way of complexity
• Volume:
• 1 gal

I plan to let this beer sit on the cherries for a few months before bottling

Blending Notes:

• 2/25/24:
• Added the cherries to the fermenter
• Siphoned the 3 beers onto the cherries

• Setup the fermenter with an airlock