Cranberry/Raspberry

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!

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.

Bring your carboy!

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?

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

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!

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.

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...

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.

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?

Coldrice, I'm curious how yours is coming along? I added a little extra sugar to my last batch and it is a little darker, in fact it is not very appealing to look at. I,m hoping it clears up a bit. I don't know if it is the extra sugar or what. You used more sugar so I,m curious what your is like. MayDay63 said his was a little darker also. Let me know

its really funny that you're asking me now, as I just racked it last night. I actually decided to cold crash a few weeks ago when we had a cold streak here in coastal Delaware. It was at about 8% ABV when I did it and it tasted pretty sweet. My intent was to preserve some of that sweetness because I knew I was going to add a good amount of cranberries, which obviously are pretty freakin tart. I really wrestled with syphoning the cranberry pulp...I think i should have pureed, then cooked them to begin with because I actually ended up passing most of it through a fine strainer which was a very time consuming experience...oh well. The flavor was very nice, but young of course which makes it difficult to imagine what the end product will be like. I actually decided to add Campden tabs as a precaution. Its absurdly cloudy and will probably take a couple rackings at least to get it clear and righteous. So far, though, I don't regret anything that I've done and I believe it will come out really nice as i have no signs leading me to believe in the contrary.

PM me your address and I'll send out a bottle of mine to you. I need another opinion. I'm just finishing up a Raspberry/blueberry/pomegrante cider ....very unhappy with it. i wantted to carbonate it but said the hell with it and sorbated today. I'm going to try to sweeten it up with apple/raspberry concentrate. I'm afraid I ruined it with too much blueberry/pomegrante juice.

Hey, sorry I didn't get back to you until now I was in the Virgin Islands (so I'm really not that sorry!). My cranberry is cloudy as all get out, I'm thinking about adding pectic enzyme (which I'd have to order) but I'll probably just let it sit for another 2 weeks or so. If it shows signs of clearing I'll probably just rack it again and let it age out. Forgive my ignorance, but I don't know what PM means-though I'd be glad to do it if I have the capability. It sounds like a good time.

Hi Rugenbrau,

I followed your recipe (incl. the brown sugar and honey) in a batch I started at thanksgiving. I just sampled it....it still cidery looking (light brown, opaque), and is still sweet. It's in my basement, which is currently about 40 degrees. Wondering if the fermentation stalled. Should I bring it up to a room where it would be around 50-55 degrees?

Hey brother, use this link and save it in your bookmarks for reference WineMaker Magazine - Yeast Strains Chart if you used cotes de blanc you're going to want to bring it up to a higher temp. I ended up adding pectic enzyme and a pack of premier cuvee yeast to my cranberry because the safale 04 didn't finish the job on it, plus it imparted a very sweet almost cloying flavor. I am hoping to dry it out a bit. The pectic enzym takes a long time to work, though I can definately see slow improvements. I am in no rush, but I think it would be cool if you, Rugen and myself all sent each other a bottle of our product when its all said and done with. Good luck!

Let me know when your ready. I'll be glad to exchange. I've been gone for a couple of months so everything has fermented out pretty dry(I am assuming that- I haven't tasted any yet) I sweeten mine but I'll pull some off before doing so since you like yours on the dry side. I might even carb a few bottles

I made this and it came out pretty good. Still a little to tart. Are you still making it or have you changed it at all? Any suggestions?

wow you really re-awakened an old thread! I never did make any exchanges with anyone... I have learned a ton since then but for what its worth my batch came out pretty nice. i ended up adding premier cuvee yeast (which I'll never use again) to that batch which was started with s-04 (which I'll also never use again!) and it finished around 10.5% ABV if memory serves (it usually doesn't but I'm too lazy to get up right now). i primed it and bottled in champagne bottles. the last one i tried was probably 7 or 8 months ago though I've had one in my fridge since then. one thing I've learned with ciders/cysers/meads is don't drink them for a long long long long long long time. the key is to forget about them completely. its always so tart. the first cyser i made was 3 years ago and it now tastes like one of the best chardonnays i have ever had with a appley honey-like finish when you exhale through your nose. it was just 5 gal cider, 4 lbs wildflower honey (both local) and cotes de blanc yeast. it RULES. the point, i guess, is this: if you want to carb something, it won't be sweet unless you use a (bastardized) unfermentable sugar, or if you force carbonate with CO2 (also lame). lalvin dc-47 is the best choice for these applications and their ec-1118 is also good. what i will do for residual sweetness from here on out is continually rack off the yeast cake over a period of 6-12 months, and add a small amount of honey and monitor the gravity the whole time. when the gravity stops changing you know the yeast has petered out. adjust sweetness to taste and bottle still. if you want bubbles just swish it around really vigorously in your mouth before you swallow, there will be plenty of bubbles i promise...

Just saw this ....I didn't even know it was still alive. I have made some changes that I will talk about later. I stilll make it but with modifications. more later.!

coldrice said:

wow you really re-awakened an old thread! I never did make any exchanges with anyone... I have learned a ton since then but for what its worth my batch came out pretty nice. i ended up adding premier cuvee yeast (which I'll never use again) to that batch which was started with s-04 (which I'll also never use again!) and it finished around 10.5% ABV if memory serves (it usually doesn't but I'm too lazy to get up right now). i primed it and bottled in champagne bottles. the last one i tried was probably 7 or 8 months ago though I've had one in my fridge since then. one thing I've learned with ciders/cysers/meads is don't drink them for a long long long long long long time. the key is to forget about them completely. its always so tart. the first cyser i made was 3 years ago and it now tastes like one of the best chardonnays i have ever had with a appley honey-like finish when you exhale through your nose. it was just 5 gal cider, 4 lbs wildflower honey (both local) and cotes de blanc yeast. it RULES. the point, i guess, is this: if you want to carb something, it won't be sweet unless you use a (bastardized) unfermentable sugar, or if you force carbonate with CO2 (also lame). lalvin dc-47 is the best choice for these applications and their ec-1118 is also good. what i will do for residual sweetness from here on out is continually rack off the yeast cake over a period of 6-12 months, and add a small amount of honey and monitor the gravity the whole time. when the gravity stops changing you know the yeast has petered out. adjust sweetness to taste and bottle still. if you want bubbles just swish it around really vigorously in your mouth before you swallow, there will be plenty of bubbles i promise...

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Hahahaha, your bubbles comment got me... Anyway, the S-04 yeast sounds like it would be great for this or for other fruit centric brews. It also sounds like the fruit flavor it is preserving is more of a tart fruit flavor is that right?

no what i was trying to say is that i wouldn't use s-04 again... for anything. lalvin d47 is the way to go for apple wines and meads. as far as tartness, its mostly a matter of how long it has conditioned after fermentation, and to what degree fermentation has completed. you can cold crash or add sulfites to stop the metabolisis of yeast and preserve some of the natural sugar content- though I never have. I like things dry, its just a matter of waiting for it to become palatable. using a goodf amount of honey also creates the impression of sweetness on your palate, without it actually being there. but remember the more honey you use, the longer you must wait...

Some of the changes that I have made to recipe are very simple. I've nixed the campden and K-meta. I can notice a definte difference in the taste. I obviously can't add any sugar to sweeten it up so it is a little drier that I like but still good.
A friend of mine told me he jacks up the sugar in his cider to about 1lb/gallon and uses WLP002, an English ale yeast. He says it poops out a little early and leaves some sweetness. Perhaps I'll try that.
I still have 5 gallons that I made two years ago that is sweeter than hell. I added Splenda, which I will never do again. I have been making graff and will bottle some this weekend. I'm going to try to blend different amounts inbottles and see what happens. This has been one long never ending experiment.

I forgot to add that I have had success with bottle pasturization but it is difficult to get consistency between batches

RugenBrau said:

I forgot to add I have had success with bottle pasturization but it is diccicult to get consistency between batches

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What is bottle pasturization?

Go to the Cider forum and check the sticky at the top by Pappers. I do mine in a large pressure cooker with the top on, BUT THE BLOWOUT SEAL MUST BE REMOVED. This way if a bottle breaks/explodes it is contained.