Cherry Apple Cider Recipes Suggestions

I'm new at this, having just started in January 2012. So far I've made a 5 gallon batch of Apfelwein and a couple 1 gallon batches of mead.

I would like to make a Tart Cherry Apple cider. I liked the Apfelwein, but found it too dry for my tastes. I'd like something that would finish around 1.015 or so.

I want to use bottle pasterized apple juice and a bottled cherry juice concentrate. The cherry concentrate is a 32 ounce bottle that makes 2 gallons when added to water or juice. I also plan on using dark brown sugar instead of the cornsugar.

My question is, should I add the cherry juice concentrate to the primary ferment or wait and add it after racking, or maybe ferment dry and sulfite and backsweeten with cherry concentrate? Also, is Motrachet still the best yeast to use? I want the cherry flavor to come thru without losing the apple flavor.

Bump. Any suggestions please. I'd like to get this started today.

Can't comment on yeast choice but it would seem to me that you would get the most cherry flavor by stabilizing then adding the cherry concentrate in secondary or perhaps add the cherry juice prior to bottling and use it as your carbonation method?

I have never tried using that yeast either. Like you PattyM, I have been brewing cider for under a year. I personally would add some cherry to the primary, let it ferment to 1.02, rack and cold crash. See how it tastes. You still can add more cherry before bottling or whatever you plan on doing. The reason I would add the cherry earlier is to let everything blend/age together. Sometimes adding a fresh juice to a fermented juice clashes. Sometimes. I have been using Nottingham and S-04 yeasts because I find them to leave things tasting sweeter in the end. I also believe that different yeasts and different juices act different. What I mean is that if you find a juice you like, stick with it and try different yeasts with it. I do like the idea of using brown sugar. Never tried corn syrup. White sugar seemed to leave things tasting wine-like. I try not to add much sugar. Maybe some concentrate to help get things between 1.05-1.06 if necessary. Hope this helps. Don't be afraid to try experimenting. It's the best way to learn. I tend to go with my gut as I have learned a bit over the months

Thanks for the suggestions. I was looking at this as a 'variation' to the Apfelwein (German Hard Cider) which uses Motrachet yeast. I ended up using that mostly because I had in on hand. I was thinking of trying the Nottingham though. I went with 5 gallons apple juice' 2 pounds dark brown sugar, 16 oz cherry concentrate and 5 t nutrient. OG was 1.081. Will stop it around 1.020-1.015.

Well cool. You'll have to report how it turns out. I'm all about "variations" on recipes Since you didn't add all of the cherry concentrate, you'll have some left over to add later if you feel the need. It is true like tacticalhooligan stated that adding a flavor later (after initial fermentation), it will be more noticeable in the end. At least by adding it in the beginning, you'll be able to gauge things to your liking. I was actually at the store tonight and was looking for some cherry concentrate but couldn't find any. I did have a nice batch awhile back that had some black cherry juice in it.

I started this on Sunday the 15th and by Thursday the 19th it had already dropped from 1.081 to 1.014... So I guess I will just let this ferment out and probably stabilize and back sweeten with either more cherry juice concentrate or frozen apple juice concentrate depending on the flavor at that point. I want the tart cherry to be prominent but I don't want to lose the apple flavor. I want this to end up about 1.015 and I will bottle it still. If this turns out as I hope I'll post my full recipe here.

This is down to 1.002 this morning. Wow that fermented fast even at 64-67 degrees. I racked onto sulfite and Sorbate and will give it 24 hours and check the gravity again. Headed to the store to buy some frozen apple juice to back sweeten. I still have some of the cherry juice concentrate that went in the primary It sits at about 10.5 ABV right now but doesn't taste alcoholic...also doesn't taste like apple or cherry! I hope to fix this in the back sweetening as well as get it down to about 8%ABV. Sill quite cloudy. The juice I used was unfiltered. I don't have any experience using unfiltered juice. Will it eventually clear?

can someone please tell me what sulfite and sorbate does? and how much you use?

I can't say how well sulfite or sorbate work as i haven't used them,however i have had good results using `super-kleer K.C.` which is a 2 stage finer using `Kieselsol` then an hour later `Chitosan`.
I used this in my 2ndary when i racked my cider.
The packet ran me about $1.50 and is good for 5 gallons worth.

suzanneb: jack keller's site as always, every thing you always wanted to know about sulfite and sorbate but were afraid to ask
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/finishin.asp

i'm a bit late to the party but i also agree with taticalhooligan way above, adding the cherry juice to back-sweeten. i did this once and it came out pretty good, way better than when i racked onto fresh cherries.
as for clearing, unless you have a pectin haze it will clear. if you're just using bottled or concentrate juice, you won't have a pectin haze, so it will clear. that super-kleer / turboklaar stuff works an absolute treat in skeeter pee, never tried it in cider. i don't know if it strips out any flavor? if you can get it into a fridge you can try a few days of cold crashing, should help knock the yeast out of suspension

I have a gallon of cherry juice (from Amish market) that I'm going to mix with 4 gallons of apple juice, tonight. I'll probably add a pound of corn sugar to raise the gravity a bit, then pitch a packet of Montrachet. I think I'm just gonna leave that in the primary for a month and then keg. Hoping for a tasty cider with a mild hint of cherry.