Cranberry/Raspberry

**RugenBrau** · 11-06-2008, 05:52 PM

Ok, After reading all the flavored cider post earlier this year I decided to do some experimenting to see what I could come with. This is the one that was the big hit tonight. I couldn’t believe how fast it went. ( I did save four bottles so I could see what it would be like after 6,12 and 18 months. The other bottle is in there due to my lack of will power. I’d like to thank all you who have posted your recipes on here. I have a few flavored ciders going on here and I’ve stolen bits from all of you. I figure it is only fair to share them

Raymond Point Cider

1. Started out with 3 gallons of freshly pressed juice(2$/gal). They were mostly Macs.
2. Added 3 campden tablets and let sit for 12 hrs
3. Added pectin enzyme and let sit 24 hours
4. Racked the juice off the sediment (This will probably seem strange to many but that was the just the way I was taught. I notice here that most leave the juice on the sediment. I actually think that is easier and safer.
5. Added 1 quart of organic cranberry juice. It was 100% pure cranberry juice, no sugar, and not a blend. The only reason I used organic was because that was all that was available.
6. Added 1 pound of light brown sugar and 4 ounces of clover honey to bring SG up to 1.062.
7. Pitched Cote des Blanc
8. After 4 weeks I racked it off to the secondary tasted pretty good…but tart.
9. At this point I decided to do little experimenting. I was going to use lactose and bottle carb it but the lactose did not seem sweet at all. So I went ahead and sorbated it.
10. I kept fooling around adding sugar until my taster was happy and it came out to 3 cups (dextrose) or 1 cup per gal.
11. It still wasn’t to my liking so I decided to go cran-raspberry route. I added 2 ounces of raspberry flavoring and that was it.

I do have a one gallon batch going that I would like to try to carb. I would also like to try it with the Safale S04 yeast. I have a raspberry and holiday cider going with that and seems to much more fruity and sweet. (I can thank Kevin and his yeast experiment post for finding that one!) My final SG was 1.010. Also I think I’m going to try sweetening the next batch with a combination of sugar and apple juice concentrate.

BeezBrew · 11-06-2008, 06:00 PM

Sounds good, keep us posted how it all tastes. I'm thinking about doing my first cider with a basic recipe of apple cider, enough sugar (white or brown) to bring the OG up to around 1.060-1.070 and use Nottingham. I was reading the Wiki on apfelwein and it states that Notty will quite early when the alcohol rises leaving a semi-sweet cider around 1.020. This is exactly what i want as i will be bottle conditioning them and do not want to backsweeten with lactose or splenda. If you have the chance, i would like to see an experiment using Notty yeast.

**RugenBrau** · 11-06-2008, 06:21 PM

I was going to use Notty but the brew shop was out so I went with the standard Cote des Blanc that I use. Next time I'm going with the recommendation in the post Sticky: Results from juice, yeast and sugar experiments" and trying the Safale SO4. He says that if you cold crash and rack you can stop the fermentation early. I was a little scared to try with three gallons so have a gallons batch going that I am trying it on. I'm using it with the raspberry cider I'm making and it taste great.

**RugenBrau** · 11-22-2008, 05:02 PM

I finally have my camera working so I figured I try to upload a pic to my post.
I just finished bottling off a 3 gallon batch I had going for a friend. As I drink it now I'm finding that the first batch is too sweet. Is that normal to get sweeter as time goes on? I think I'll only add 3/4 C per gal next time to half of the batch and 1/2 C per gallon to the other 1/2.

Tusch · 11-22-2008, 06:00 PM

I know yooper recommends backsweetening to just short of how sweet you like it. That way as time goes, the flavors mellow and mix and they tend to taste a bit sweeter over time.

**RugenBrau** · 11-22-2008, 06:28 PM

I won't disagree with her!

**coldrice** · 12-17-2008, 03:42 PM

I just tasted my latest experiment...started with 5 gal cider, 1/2 lb. buckwheat honey, 1lb. wildflower honey, 2#brown sugar and 3 packs Safale SO4. The idea was to not use preservatives or heat to knock down the wild yeast, but rather overwhelm them with superior *********-it appears to have worked. Its been fermenting since turkey day, so a little over 3 weeks. It has reached sg 1.01 and is in the neighborhood of 8% abv. Its sweet, fruity and tastes like flowers...in other words, its freakin' awesome! It still has that young flavor that is somewhat flat and beery, but you can taste the potential. I'm going to cold crash it (hurray for December) and rack it on top of 4 packs of crushed sterilized cranberries and leave it for probably 2 weeks or so. I'll post the results in a couple weeks probably by starting a new post, as this one will probably have grown so large that it may get lost for anyone who might be interested in benefiting from it in some way. Next week I'm starting a batch aimed at high ABV all from honey with premier cuvee yeast, flavored with some oak chips. Again, I won't sterilize in any way and I will post the results.

**coldrice** · 12-17-2008, 03:43 PM

I don't know how all those asterisks got there, but the missing word is "*********"

**coldrice** · 12-17-2008, 03:44 PM

What The @$%$@!!!! Fire Power

**RugenBrau** · 12-18-2008, 12:33 AM

post a picture. I'd like to see the color of it when it is done. All of my later batches have tended to be darker but still tasty. I gave a bottle to the girl who works in our cider mill. She loved it so I have one more batch to make.