Kirsch

[brewnovice]

I have just made a batch of Kirsch for the first time, and after scouring the internet I could only find one vague recipe (abbreviated here to just the importent bits):

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Remove the stems from two pounds of fresh cherries, rinse in cool water and remove the pits.
Place a layer of the cherries in a wide open mouth glass jar with a lid and cover with a layer of granulated sugar. Continue to layer the pitted cherries, covered by the granulated sugar, until you have used up all two pounds of pitted cherries and about a pound of granulated sugar. Place the lid on the container and put in the refrigerator to allow the cherries and sugar to mellow overnight.
The next day remove the cherry-sugar mixture from the refrigerator and add a bottle of unflavored vodka. Make sure the lid is secured very tightly and place the cherry-sugar-vodka mixture in the back of a kitchen closet which is dark and somewhat cool. On a daily basis you need to shake this container so that the cherries, sugar and vodka stay mixed together - but never remove the lid.
After 6 months' time, strain the liqueur from the cherry-sugar mixture into a clean glass bottle with a lid that seals airtight. Now store this bottle of Kirsch liqueur in the refrigerator, allowing it to age for another 6 months.
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I am about a week in to this recipe, but my question is: when complete, will this always need to be stored in the refrigerator? Also will this last almost indefinitely or do these type of fruit liqueurs have a very limited shelf life? Obviously if you buy a commercial Kirsch you would not need to refrigerate, but then a commercial one probably only has cherry flavor not actual cherries and sugar.

Thanks for any advice
Kev

[Dnderhead]

no refrigeration needed,thou some mite drop out and have sediment on the bottom.

[brewnovice]

no refrigeration needed.

Is that because the alcohol inhibits bacteria from growing presumably? Also how long would you expect this type of liqueur to last for realistically?

Thanks for the quick reply
Kev

[Dnderhead]

for long as you don't drink it,

[loneswinger]

This sounds a lot like the strawberry panty dropper recipe only done with cherries. You should check out that recipe in tried and true.

If it tastes good it won't last long unless you make a lot of it

-Loneswinger

[rtalbigr]

I've never had it last long enough to know if it will go bad. Gave out 4 qts at Christmas and I'm already getting my bottles back. I take out a step and just add the vodka in at the same time. You do have to shake it vigorously every day for about two weeks until all the sugar is absorbed. Another way to make this is to just put the vodka in with the cherries for about a month to six weeks. Then pour off the liquid and layer the cherries with sugar. When the sugar is all disolved combine everything except the cherries. It's not quite as sweet this way, which I prefer. Add a little bit of cinnamon and vanilla for a different taste.

Big R

[brewnovice]

Thanks guys, all real good info. I just get paranoid about home made alcohol going off, back about 15-20 odd years ago when I used to do a lot of home brew using mostly the essences from the home brew store, I found that in the sweeter liqueurs like Galliano, Drambuie and Chartreuse after a couple of months (I'm not a big drinker) there would be a strange growth form in the bottle, it looked like a piece of cling-film hovering in the liquid. I never figured out what was causing it. I was always careful to sterilize everything well, so I just guessed it was the sugar going off.

Cheers
Kev

[WeeStiller]

As far as I know, real Kirch is made by distilling fermented unpitted fresh cherries. This site of Portuguese still manufacturers has some info about it.
http://www.copper-alembic.com/distilled ... kirsch.php

[EuroStiller]

@ Brewnovice
The method you described in your intro was taught to me as well but it was called the Polish method. Layering of fruit and sugar and allowing it to macerate for a few days before adding a neutral spirit. Then the whole is left to macerate further before being pressed through a srtaining bag and final filtering.

Kirsch is nice, but if your going to the trouble of working with cherries, go the distance and make Maraschino!! It is only a slight deviation from Kirsch, and good quality Maraschino can be made at home fairly simply.


Maraschino-
Take sour cherries, clean and pit them, save half of the pits. If you have the opportunity to pick your own cherries, pick some blemish free leaves as well. Get some fresh red raspberries whick are usually in season at the same time. You will also need a small amount of orris root. In a fermenting vessel squish the fruit and add some honey, previously dissolved in some boiling water. Don't worry bout starting and ending SG!! You will be doing this by taste and by eye!! Chop the cherry leaves(if using)and stir them in along with the ground orris root. Add a small amount of some Lavalin EC-1118 and KV-1116, previously disolved in warm water. Cherry juice/ must ferments on its own very quickly, but we want some little bit of control over it. When the cherry must is still fermenting but has a bit of residual sugar it is time to distill the fruit must in a water bath. There is NO need or reason to double distill the fruit base! Crack the pits from the cherries and soak them in grain alcohol (better yet grappa) starting the day the cherries are pitted. Soak for at least 30 days then distill, cutting the heads and tails. Use this in combination with the fruit distillate to bring the ABV to 60%. Add a syrup made from 3 parts sugar to 1 part water (Boiled and cooled syrup) to cut the total VOLUME of the fruit /pit distillate by at least half. If the liqueur is still to strong for you, you may add just a little more syrup. Age for at least 2-3 months before drinking to allow flavors to mellow and mingle. If you have access to a small uncharred chestnut barrel, age the liqueur in there.

Hope you get the chance to make both Kirsch and Maraschino. The both are terrific!!

EuroStiller

[EuroStiller]

From The Manufacture of Liquors and Preserves
Translated from the French of J.De Brevans
Original Printing: 1893 by Munn & Co.
McGowan & Slipper Printers, U.S.A.


Section II- FRUIT BRANDIES
Kirsch or Kirschenwasser.-Kirsch or cherry brandy is prepared from the wild cherry ; cultivated cherries give an equally good brandy, but much less perfumed than the wild cherry. The great centers of the manufacture in France are the department of Doubs, Haute-Saone, and Vosges ; in Austria and Hungary, Transylvania, Dalmatia and the Black Forest. Dalmatia produces a kind of kirsch, known as maraschino, which differs from kirsch in the kind of cherry employed. The wild cherry (Cerasus avium) is indigenous in the Forests of the Vosges and the Jura. It is cultivated
chiefly on the eastern slopes, where the altitude varies From 500 to 800 meters. Young trees are also raised in nurseries. There are many varieties of mild cherries, but they are not all of equal value for the manufacture of kirsch. The cherries are gathered when they are perfectly ripe. This operation is performed by hand, and an able picker can gather about 50 kilogrammes a day. The harvest continues from eight to twelve days. The wild cherries are thrown into vats or into casks without heads, placed in a shed or other dry place. The fermentation begins at the third or fourth day at latest, and continues for about a month. This fermentation ended, the wine is racked off and is not distilled until after fourteen days of rest. During this time the fermentation is finished. The distillation is generally performed in an ordinary still (i.e., with an alembic). The marc and the racked off juice are introduced in the neck of the alembic which is then heated. This operation should be conducted with care, to prevent accident. The first portion of the distillate should be of a strength equal to 55˚ to 60˚, and is placed in one vessel, and the second portion, which is intended to enrich the marc, by a second distillation in another.

Though this might help. Was doing some reading online.

EuroStiller