Cherry Wine
Homemade cherry wine is an easy way to put up a big cherry harvest, and it works with sweet black cherries or tart pie cherries.
Servings: 20 servings, makes 1 gallon (about 4 bottles)
Equipment
Ingredients
If using Sweet Cherries (Black Cherries)
- 5 to 6 lbs black cherries
- 2 lbs sugar
- 2 tsp acid blend
- 1 tsp yeast nutrient
- 1/8 tsp tannin powder
- 1 packet wine yeast see notes
- water or more cherry juice, to fill the carboy
If using Sour or Tart Cherries
- 6 to 8 lbs tart cherries
- 2 1/2 lbs sugar
- 1/2 to 1 tsp acid blend optional
- 1 tsp yeast nutrient
- 1/8 tsp tannin powder
- 1 packet wine yeast see notes
- water or more cherry juice, to fill the carboy
Instructions
- Sanitize all your equipment before you begin.
- Juice the cherries (see notes), then stir the sugar into the juice until it's completely dissolved. Heating usually isn't necessary.
- Stir in the acid blend, tannin and yeast nutrient, and pour the mixture into a narrow neck carboy.
- Dissolve the wine yeast in a little water and let it bloom for about 10 minutes, then add it to the carboy.
- Add water (or more cherry juice) to fill.
- Cap with a water lock and allow the mixture to ferment for 1 to 2 weeks in primary until vigorous fermentation has slowed. If the mixture bubbles up into the water lock, remove it, clean it out and re-apply.
- Rack the cherry wine into a clean carboy, leaving the sediment behind. Re-cap with a water lock and let it ferment another 4 to 6 weeks, or longer.
- Bottle the cherry wine and let it age in the bottle for at least a month, or longer, before opening.
Notes
Juicing cherries: Left unpitted, cherries can go through a steam juicer (45 minutes to an hour), be frozen and then thawed (a few days start to finish), or be gently mashed with the sugar to pull their juice into a syrup, without damaging the pits (about 24 to 48 hours).
Pitted cherries: If pitted, the cherries can go straight into a brewing bucket with the other ingredients and ferment there. Don't use a narrow neck fermenter for this, since it will clog. Open ferment in the bucket for about 5 to 7 days before straining out the cherries and carrying on with the ferment. If you're using just the juice, you can start in a narrow neck fermenter.
Sweet or sour cherries: Black cherries have a more concentrated flavor, so I'd use 5 to 6 lbs (weighed whole) for a gallon of cherry wine. Sour cherries hold much more water, so use 6 to 8 lbs and add 1/2 pound more sugar. Sour cherries are also much more acidic, so you can skip the acid blend or add much less.
Wine yeast: Most wine yeasts will work. Good choices are Lalvin 71B, Red Star Premier Classique (formerly Montrachet) and Red Star Premier Blanc.
Yeast quantity: One packet of wine yeast is enough for anywhere from 1 to 5 gallons. The batch buttons on this card multiply the yeast along with everything else, so if you double or triple the recipe, still use just one packet.
Fruit weights: A quart box of cherries from the farmers market weighs about 1 1/2 lbs.
Nutrition
Calories: 246kcal | Carbohydrates: 63g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 0.4g | Saturated Fat: 0.04g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Sodium: 0.5mg | Potassium: 253mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 60g | Vitamin A: 73IU | Vitamin C: 8mg | Calcium: 15mg | Iron: 0.4mg
