Bozzy cherries from Christmas are fermenting...

[Jonny69]

Boozy cherries from Christmas are fermenting...

I got a big jar of cherries in kirsch for Christmas. I have eaten about half of them and went to have a few this morning and they have started to ferment

Basically the whole jar is bubbling and the cherries have swelled up.

I ate one to see what it's like and it's fizzy tasting and very alcoholic. The 'kirsch' they were in turns out to be mainly syrup and only a disappointing 5% booze, but it tastes like extremely strong cider now.

My question is what do I do? Can I rescue them? Can I dump a load more sugar in there to make it sweet again once it's finished fermenting and revel in my own home brewed fruit?

 

[Ahleckz]

You need to get milk sugar (Lactose) or another non fermenting sugar - if you just put normal sugar in it then chances are that'll just ferment too. Sweeteners, like Splenda, work too but are quite expensive.

You can get packs of milk sugar from your local home brew shop, will be a few quid for 500g. 500g is easily enough to sweeten a few gallons of booze.

 

[PermaBanned]

Or you could just enjoy them as they are

 

[Jonny69]

Or you could just enjoy them as they are

They are a bit fizzy and dry tasting now though, need sweetening up

I've got the lid loosened by the way, so hopefully no explosion in the J69 kitchen tonight

 

[Fourstar]

Depending on the strain yeast can tolerate between about 5% and 20% alcohol.

You could just keep adding sugar till it stops fermenting then sweeten to taste.

If they still taste nasty feed them to friends

 

[Jonny69]

Are they safe to eat though? When I did homebrew it ended up very cloudy with yeast in suspension. How do I get the yeast out?

 

[J.B]

You can buy yeast killing stuff (probably not a technical name)

Eventually the yeast will ferment itself to death, adding sugar will speed up that operation.

You could try putting it in the fridge and this might make the yeast go dormant, drinking live yeast is always a bad idea.

 

[Ahleckz]

Best thing would be to pour the jar out into a fine seive over a big bowl and maybe then give the cherries a very quick rinse. With the juice/kirsch, leave it for a bit and the yeast should sink to the bottom and then you can just remove the juice and add it back to the cherries... Hopefully...

They should be totally fine, they just naturally fermented so nothing really has been added to the mix. Yeast can play havoc with your insides if you have too much though...

You're after campden tablets if you want to cease the fermentation immediately. Like the milk sugar, available from Home Brew Shops and are pretty cheap - though I've never used them in my brewing. As J.B. said, putting it in the fridge should have the desired effect, you'll either make the yeast dormant or totally kill it depending how cold your fridge is.

 

[NickK]

Are they safe to eat though? When I did homebrew it ended up very cloudy with yeast in suspension. How do I get the yeast out?

It depends on the yeast.. the flocculation (how easily it falls out of suspension). Often for beer the yeast drops out during ageing.

 

[Jonny69]

Well the fermantation is nearly finished. I added a load more sugar and off it went again

I reckon it's about 16-18% based on old home brew I made. I'm going to let it stand for a few weeks once it's done, lift the cherries into a new jar and pour out as much of the liquor as I can without disturbing the yeast at the bottom. Then it's just a matter of sweetening to taste

 

[J.B]

instead of pouring, try syphering it, we used to find this was the easiest way not to disturb the yeast and leave as much as you can in the bottom.

 

[Jonny69]

I seem to have chucked my small syphon pump unfortunately. I guess I could give it a go with a length of silicone tube.