Home Distiller

If you have chokecherries you might want to give this a try. Years ago I had read that whiskey and chokecherry play well together. The recommendation there was to make ice cubes from chokecherry juice and use those in your whiskey glass. I have done that and it is good but of course the concentration changes as the whiskey level goes down and the ice melts.

So this weekend I juiced some chokecherries I had picked last summer. For the whiskey I used some HBB sugar head that has been on a toasted and charred oak stave for 9 months. The sugar head was aged at 61 abv. I used the chokecherry juice to proof it down to 80 proof. I think the tannic properties of chokecherry work very well with the caramel and vanilla flavors of the whiskey. Something different you won't find on a store shelf.

Just an update: I looked at the 4 bottles I had made up. All have formed a foamy looking layer at the top which it firm. The juice had been strained through coffee filters so had very little pulp. I am guessing but I think that they might be proteins or pectins which formed up stuck together to make the foamy mass when put in the presence of ethanol. Looks like it will be easy enough to remove leaving a very non-cloudy drink behind. But I wish I had mixed in a wide mouth jar and left it for a day or two as it would be easier to remove from such a jar than a bottle.

I must say the dark purple, almost burgundy color of the flavored whiskey is quite nice.

Fermented Choke cherries were common when I was a kid. Not distilled but fermented and cleared. Was a nice drink

Dancing4dan wrote: ↑Tue Nov 22, 2022 8:16 pm Fermented Choke cherries were common when I was a kid. Not distilled but fermented and cleared. Was a nice drink

I have a nice recipe for chokecherry wine but it takes a lot of chokecherries. Someday I might pick enough.

subbrew wrote: ↑Tue Nov 22, 2022 8:52 pm

Dancing4dan wrote: ↑Tue Nov 22, 2022 8:16 pm Fermented Choke cherries were common when I was a kid. Not distilled but fermented and cleared. Was a nice drink

I have a nice recipe for chokecherry wine but it takes a lot of chokecherries. Someday I might pick enough.

Some years are easier than others. Every once in a while the trees are black with choke cherries and it is easy to pick enough.

subbrew wrote: ↑Tue Nov 22, 2022 8:52 pm

Dancing4dan wrote: ↑Tue Nov 22, 2022 8:16 pm Fermented Choke cherries were common when I was a kid. Not distilled but fermented and cleared. Was a nice drink

I have a nice recipe for chokecherry wine but it takes a lot of chokecherries. Someday I might pick enough.

would you care to share the recipe, we just had a huge picking last night

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/wi ... ne.121092/

To give credit this recipe is from Yooper at homebrewtalk


This is for a 15 gallon batch! For a smaller batch, just cut the ingredients in half/thirds/etc. I used a big rubbermaid bin for primary (make sure you know where 15 gallons is on the container!) and three 5 gallon carboys for secondary.

45 pounds chokecherries
28 pounds sugar
5 dark grape concentrates- 1 pint bottle (available in winemaking shops)
7 tsp pectic enzyme
5 tsp yeast nutrient
5 tsp acid blend
15 crushed campden tablets
3 packages of champagne yeast (Lalvin's EC-1118 works great!)

OG: 1.100
FG: .990

Destem chokecherries and freeze (this helps break them up easier). Place them while still frozen in large mesh bags, and thaw in primary. As they thaw, smash them up by hand or with a mortar and pestle, but don't crush the pits! You only want to break up the skin on the fruit. Dissolve the sugar in 5 gallons of boiling water and pour over fruit, stirring well. Add water, to top up to 15 gallons. Add the yeast nutrient and acid blend. Dissolve the crushed campden tablets in hot water, and pour over the fruit, stirring well. Cover with a towel. 12 hours later, add the pectic enzyme. Check the OG, and adjust to get it from 1.090-1.100.

12 hours after that, add the yeast. Cover loosely with a towel. Stir the must several times a day, knocking the fruit under the liquid. The fruit will keep trying to float- stir it down, and also stir any "cap" that forms. When fermentation slows (an SG of 1.010-1.020), pull out the bags of fruit, and squeeze well. Let them drain back into the fermenter, and throw out the fruit when draining stops. Pour and strain into carboys. Airlock. Don't top up until fermentation slows down a bit more. When fermentation slows, top up to 15 gallons with water.

Rack whenever lees are 1/4" thick, or in about 4 weeks. Thereafter, rack every 45-60 days or whenever lees are 1/4" thick. Top up with water to minimize headspace. After approximately 6 months, and no more lees fall, rack onto 5 ounces French medium toast oak chips, soaked in a bit of brandy. After approximately 6 weeks, taste for oak flavor. If adequate, rack off of the oak and bulk age.

Bottle and age one year.

This wine is a "big" red, and suitable for a dinner wine. If you want it a bit smaller and fruitier, you can cut the grape concentrate, lower the OG to 1.085, and not oak it. Stabilized and then sweetened, the lower OG version is a light red fruity wine.