Cranberry/Raspberry

**RugenBrau** · 11-13-2008, 08:33 PM

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 added K-meta 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. FG was 1.010
11. added two ounces of Raspberry flavoring
12. Bottle it and wait

This actually started out as stictly a canberry cider. It was just a little too tart so I tempered it with the raspberry flavoring. I've made it twice and each time my friends have whipped right through it. In fact I have another 10 gallons going now by request. I have a few bottles set off to the side to see how it ages. I really wouldlike to try it with the safale SO 4 yeast. It seems so fruity. I have a plain raspberry cider going with that right now and it seems pretty good. I'd also like to try to slightly carb it. If you ry this let me know how it comes out!

mayday63 · 11-15-2008, 09:17 PM

Hey Rugenbrau,

Tom here. I'm interested in trying this or similar....esp. if you can hook me up with $2/gal. cider. And I'll be happy to show you the beer brewing process....come down over xmas break and we'll brew a batch.

**RugenBrau** · 11-17-2008, 02:15 PM

Bring your carboy!

coldrice · 11-25-2008, 03:51 PM

I am actually planning on making a 5 gal batch tomorrow with fresh cranberries and Safale SO4 yeast, as chance would have it. Any advice?

**RugenBrau** · 12-11-2008, 10:25 PM

Coldrice,
I'm curious did you do up a batch? How is it going? Sorry, but I just noticed your post here.

coldrice · 12-12-2008, 01:53 PM

Yeah, I did. It is fermenting now. 5 gal UV pasteured local cider, 2# light brown sugar, 1# local wildflower honey and 1/2# local buckwheat honey. I used 3 packs Safale SO4 yeast. My hope is to have enough active cells to knock down the wild yeasts...it smells like its working. This time I did not heat-sterilize my cider like I did last time, i didn't want to kill the flavor, nor did I use Campden tabs as I am somewhat anti-preservative. I will probably crush and heat-sterilize 4 12 oz. packs of fresh cranberries and put them into the bottom of my secondary and rack on top of it in 3 weeks or so. I'll be sure to let you know how it works out!

**RugenBrau** · 12-15-2008, 03:27 PM

Mine has been getting great reviews when I take it to parties but i notice a bit of acidity or bite. If I open it and let it sit for a few hours it seems to go away. It seems to me that it is coming from the raspberry flavoring. I'd like to try adding raspberries to the secondary to see if that is an improvement.

coldrice · 12-16-2008, 02:34 PM

Hey, Rugen...who's ur favorite online supplier for brewing goods? My local guy is very beer-centic and he's missing a lot of things I want...I think adding fruit in the secondary is the way to go, let me know how it turns out. Do you have any experience using champagne yeast? I want to try a 3rd batch before my local cidery sells out...

**RugenBrau** · 12-18-2008, 02:05 AM

I used champagne yeast but it always ferments out so damn dry that I cant stand it. I'm finding the fruit ciders are best with Safale 04 with a good cold crash. I've got 10 gallons now that I cold crashed twice,set back in the basement, and it has not started back up . It is still bulk aging. I don't know if I would dare bottle it without keeping it cold.(unless I used plastic). I'm in the middle of the Finger Lakes in New York right in the center of wine country.There is a small supplier called Fall Bright. You can find them online. They do very little with beer. They press and sell juice to home winemakers and they are great. However they don't press apples, but as luck would have it the lakes make it a great spot for apples. I've been getting my juice fresh at 2$ a gal. Thats tought to beat.

coldrice · 12-23-2008, 01:37 AM

Why don't you just rack it and let it sit a couple more times? Or, whats the harm in letting it ferment out all the way to begin with? Doesn't Safale4 always finish fruity anyway?