Sweet Black Cherry wine

[Bob Wilson]

Is it necessary to have the cherries pitted when making wine? and also does anyone have a good 5 gallon sweet cherry recipe?

 

[Tom]

Yes I would PIT. for 6 gal collect about 30# pit them and put in 2 straining bags. (you will need 2 fernmenting buckets due to the volume of the cherries)
3 tsp of pectic enzyme
6tsp acid blend
enough sugar to 1.085
water to 6 gal
24-36 hr later add Cote des Blancs yeast from starter
yeast nutrient

 

[Luc]

You should pit ALL stone fruit before fermenting starts.

Luc

 

[Wade E]

I pit bigger fruit but did not do it with my cherry wine and it was just fine, Vintners Harvest wine bases usually come with pits also and they work fine. DO NOT PRESS any fruit with pits though or you will extract a lot of nasty stuff doing that.