Honey Peach Cider
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Sometimes yea. Just give it enough time to ferment out, floc out, and clean up and it should go away in a week or two.
KeyWestbrewing...
How sweet does this cider end up?? I started on a batch a few weeks ago. It's my first time making cider. My batch has been fermenting for about 3.5 weeks (it had a slow start). It is now in a secondary fermentor. I would like to clear it up a little. And potentially lager. Also, I was unable to get the Notty at my local supply store so I used Wyeast #4021 Pasteur Champagne. I would like my cider to have a bit of a peach flavor. Though, I'm afraid of using 2lbs of honey. I have created bottle bombs before with beer. Haha...it was just hard to enjoy that beer without creating a huge mess. Though, I'm definitely willing to pasteurize.
How sweet does this cider end up?? I started on a batch a few weeks ago. It's my first time making cider. My batch has been fermenting for about 3.5 weeks (it had a slow start). It is now in a secondary fermentor. I would like to clear it up a little. And potentially lager. Also, I was unable to get the Notty at my local supply store so I used Wyeast #4021 Pasteur Champagne. I would like my cider to have a bit of a peach flavor. Though, I'm afraid of using 2lbs of honey. I have created bottle bombs before with beer. Haha...it was just hard to enjoy that beer without creating a huge mess. Though, I'm definitely willing to pasteurize.
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Greymen said:
With Notty the results are semi sweet. Not as dry as strongbow but not as sweet as woodchuck. Using a champagne yeast will give you very different results, mainly much drier. The juice and honey you backsweeten with are a huge part of the overall flavor so I wouldn't omit either. As long as you check a bottle a day then pasteurize you won't have any bottle bombs.
So I bottled in 22oz bottles as christmas gifts for coworkers on Sunday night. Hoping it will carb up by Wed or Thur and I can deliver Monday. Still working on the label with a drunk elf/santa on it. Mine finished right at 1.000 on the dot. Started at 1.044 so I figure about 5.6% abv. I snuck a few tastes during bottling and it seems very promising. I left it in the primary for around 45 days and it bottled very clear. It may have helped that it was in my garage and the starting temp out there was around 67 but in the last 2 weeks it has been in the 50s. I'm looking forward to trying some more variations on this. Have you ever just racked out of the primary then dumped another batch on top of the yeast cake? Was thinking about that but have never done it before so I decided not to. Why ruin $25 in juice to save $2 in yeast.
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Sounds about right. From there I usually use 1L of juice to backsweeten which brings the ABV right around 5%. Glad to hear things seem promising for you.
I have just poured another batch on top of an old cake but I will note the amount of lees leftover from doing this makes me not do it anymore. It wont ruin anything but you lose some volume. Also FWIW washing the yeast from the lees won't work, save your time and just get a new pack of Notty.
I have just poured another batch on top of an old cake but I will note the amount of lees leftover from doing this makes me not do it anymore. It wont ruin anything but you lose some volume. Also FWIW washing the yeast from the lees won't work, save your time and just get a new pack of Notty.
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Usually its about day 4 in the bottle when I pasteurize... what day are you at? How sweet it turns out in the end depends on how much you backsweeten so that may not change at this point.
Only on day 2 last night, but I usually start checking after 48 hours, just in case. Yea I didn't measure the honey exactly as it was coming out of a 60lb bucket so I think I may have used one scoop too many. Was hoping the carbonation may eat some of the honey in the bottles but I don't know if it will be enough to make a discernible difference. Oh well, live and learn.
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Thats how I usually do it as well. I'd rather open a bottle or two before its ready then let it overcarb and make it so I cant pasteurize. For honey I usually use a lb, I've used 2 in a 6 gal batch and it was way too sweet for me. Some of it ferments out but not even close to all of it. You'll find your wheelhouse after you make it a couple times.
4 days and we're just beginning to carb up. I think it will be ready on Saturday but I will check again tomorrow just in case. Yea I agree with you with the one lb of honey. You should put an edit in the recipe post. Next time it is one lb of honey and some blackberry juice if I can find it.
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Definitely check one daily at this point since it carbs up pretty quick and 1 day can make the difference between overcarbed or not. Edited the OP on the honey. The blackberry sounds like a good idea, the base of the recipe lends itself to all kinds of variation. Actually doing an apple pie version right now which is great.
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Glad to hear they enjoyed it! Kinda funny... I give out homebrew, cigars, or pork jerky to my friends for xmas lol. Seem like good gifts to me
Glad to hear they enjoyed it! Kinda funny... I give out homebrew, cigars, or pork jerky to my friends for xmas lol. Seem like good gifts to me
Pork jerky, eh? A few buddies and I are heading south for swine this spring. I may have to get that pork jerky recipe from you if it's not a family secret.
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Easiest thing in the world. Marinade the pork strips in your favorite brand of mojo for 24 hours, season with Badia Complete Seasoning and a little salt/pepper and that's it. Its like a Cuban take on pork jerky and is just awesome.
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Backsweeten when you bottle.
Just made a batch of this. Can't wait to try it. I used some yeast nutrient in it. Though when I went back to the original post I see it didn't call for any. Oh well can't hurt. Maybe it'll ferment quicker.
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Good stuff man I hope you enjoy. I usually don't use nutrients since I use dry yeast which already has some. Doubt it would hurt though.
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You'd take it before adding though honestly I don't even do that anymore. It usually finishes up at 1.010 are a bit lower.
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They should be good to go as soon as carbed. Sounds like the batch may have gotten oxidized though because it definitely shouldn't taste like vinegar.
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Opening the fermenter a bunch, splashing in the bottling bucket, pretty much all the same ways beer can become oxidized. The other possibility is that there were bacteria like acetobacter in the cider/juice or honey that you used. Its hard for me to say exactly what happened. I don't know how fresh the apples were that they made the cider with, if the cider was pasteurized, and so on.... There's a lot of variables that could be the issue that are hard for me to be able to answer.
Never opened the fermenter until I transfer over the the bottling bucket. I did give it an aggressive mix while bottling the get the honey mixed in.
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Just finished pasteurizing this. The bottle I opened to test carb levels was yummy. Not as peachy as I wanted it but this is defiantly going into my rotation next time I might add more peach
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Glad it turned out for you!
MindenMan
Well-Known Member
Generally speaking, time heals all ciders. Okay not ALL ciders, but you get my point. In just a few days, your cider went from zero to hero, so imagine what a couple of months might do. I love this stuff (ciders) in three ways usually, still, carbonated, and freeze concentrated too. I have noticed on more than two occasions, as flavored ales/ciders tend to increase in flavor over time. I don't know why or how, but I will say from my experience, if you flavor your beverage of choice, to where it tastes amazing at bottling, come time to imbibe, what you bottled, is not what you got. I ruined a batch of apricot ale that way, and a batch of chocolate stout that ( to me anyway) tastes like a vanilla stout, and I wonder where did the chocolate go? YMMV
SoCalJames
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I am thinking about starting a 1 gal batch of this tonight. I know what you are thinking, but my 5 gal carboy is full of Skeeter Pee right now.
I was thinking of buying 1 gallon of cider in the glass bottle and fermenting in that. I only have Red Star Champagne yeast on hand and there are no LHBS. Will it ferment too dry? Am I going to run into any issues with over carbing because of a more aggressive yeast?
If this works, I am hoping to get a couple batches going because I have a few airlocks hanging around and can keep buying the cider in 1 gallon glass jugs. Might give me a chance to try a few flavors.
P.S. I have learned a lot from this site, but this is my first post. Thanks for the recipe.
(I always wanted to do that)
I was thinking of buying 1 gallon of cider in the glass bottle and fermenting in that. I only have Red Star Champagne yeast on hand and there are no LHBS. Will it ferment too dry? Am I going to run into any issues with over carbing because of a more aggressive yeast?
If this works, I am hoping to get a couple batches going because I have a few airlocks hanging around and can keep buying the cider in 1 gallon glass jugs. Might give me a chance to try a few flavors.
P.S. I have learned a lot from this site, but this is my first post. Thanks for the recipe.
(I always wanted to do that)
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You'd need to make sure the stopper for the airlock fits the glass cider jars. I wouldn't use a champagne yeast though personally. They end up way too dry and in my opinion disgusting. Try it out if you want to but I'd stick with the yeast in this recipe.
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Glad to hear it was a hit! You could add a pound if honey to the cider. It will ferment out entirely and kick up the ABV.
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Honey or sugar but I'd lean towards the honey. As for the honey on the bottom of the bottling bucket.... If you heat it up a good bit and slowly pour it in as your racking it mixes in better. You could also use it with some water to make a simple syrup.
I tried this one a while back with wildflower honey and it turned out surprisingly good! The flavor of the wildflower honey sort of dominated all of the other flavors though.
Just bottled a batch using clover honey last night, so i'm excited to see if that one turns out more balanced.
Just bottled a batch using clover honey last night, so i'm excited to see if that one turns out more balanced.
I had the same problem with the honey. I'm making my second batch of this tonight. I'm gonna change a few things. I'm adding about a pound of dextrose and a pound of honey when I pitch. And I'm back sweetening with wild berry punch concentrate (5 12 ounce packs thawed) and a other pound of honey.
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If the honey is too strong just cut back when you backsweeten. At least that's how I got it dialed in to my taste.
I got 5g of cider from my buddy who runs a cidery, as well as a crate of peach seconds he brought back from market.. I juiced the peaches and boiled it to pasturize it, think that's okay to use instead of supermarket peach nectar?
