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GABrewboy

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5 gallons of apple juice (Apple Orchard frozen concentrate 100% juice no preserves )
5 cans of pears in heavy juice ( blended till a thick liquid )
2 lbs of light brown sugar
1 lb of honey
2 lemons zested
English Cider Yeast [SIZE=-1](WLP775)
[/SIZE]

I just took this from my secondary and put into my bottling bucket as I was going to put into a third carboy for clearing, but my SG is 1.008. You think that is okay to go ahead and bottle?

My next question is what do you think the alcohol content is in this as it is very strong tasting and not that much of a flavor of apple/pear anymore. When I racked to secondary, it was very tasty....now tastes like alcohol and that's it. HELP!!!!!! :drunk:


Can I add maybe a few raw apples to this as well for flavor and not get that much sugar converted over? I need to know something pretty ASAP as it is sitting in my plastic primary for now until I can figure out what i need to do to get flavor back.


THANKS SO MUCH!!
 
I had the same problem with my first(and only, so far) cider. So I haven't hit upon the perfect solution yet, but I've been thinking and researching.

Adding apples would just give it more sugar to ferment, that cider yeast is voracious and tough. Are you wanting to carbonate or not?

If you want it still then it's pretty much a slam dunk. Just put some camden tablets in there to kill the yeast and add your apples/sugar or whatever.

Sparkling will be a little more complicated. You need to kill your yeast, then add more apples/sugar, then you'd carbonate with a weaker yeast, like an ale or something.

If you're a kegger, of course you don't need to use another yeast.

Caveats are:
I'm a little concerned that the Camden would let your second yeast do it's thing.

Maybe you should add a nonfermentable sweetener instead.

Even if the Camden wouldn't affect your second yeast, it would be a fine line between it being to alcoholic for it too start up again or making bottle bombs... not sure how to handle that one...

All this is, of course, untested but I noticed that albertsons has apple juice 10 for $10 this week, I might just try it out soon.
 
Hmmmm..........so now I am about as confused as I ever was.......I do like it carbonated like the Ace Pear Cider or Woodchuck........Maybe we need some advice from an expert Cider Brewer........:D
 
Well I'm not claiming to be an expert but why don't you just bottle it , if you reckon its ready and "suck it and see"? How strong of an apple flavour did the fuice have in the first place? I use the Whitlabs Eng cider yeaast and they all keep lots of flavour. good luck!::drunk:
 
GABrewboy said:
Hmmmm..........so now I am about as confused as I ever was.......I do like it carbonated like the Ace Pear Cider or Woodchuck........Maybe we need some advice from an expert Cider Brewer........:D

Yeah, I was afraid that would be the result. Unfortunately, cider experts are in short supply on this forum. It's just not real popular around here.

What's your recipe Alx?
 
GABrewboy said:
5 gallons of apple juice (Apple Orchard frozen concentrate 100% juice no preserves )
5 cans of pears in heavy juice ( blended till a thick liquid )
2 lbs of light brown sugar
1 lb of honey
2 lemons zested
English Cider Yeast [SIZE=-1](WLP775)
[/SIZE]

I just took this from my secondary and put into my bottling bucket as I was going to put into a third carboy for clearing, but my SG is 1.008. You think that is okay to go ahead and bottle?

My next question is what do you think the alcohol content is in this as it is very strong tasting and not that much of a flavor of apple/pear anymore. When I racked to secondary, it was very tasty....now tastes like alcohol and that's it. HELP!!!!!! :drunk:


Can I add maybe a few raw apples to this as well for flavor and not get that much sugar converted over? I need to know something pretty ASAP as it is sitting in my plastic primary for now until I can figure out what i need to do to get flavor back.


THANKS SO MUCH!!

Two Points -

1. 'Alcohol taste' - You added loads of other sugars! Apple juice alone can easily lead to an ABV of 5.5% without anything added. No wonder it's like that with the list of fermentables you topped it up with!

2. 'No apple flavour' - Hard cider is traditionally made with 'non-eating' apples grown for their qualities that survive the brewing process and offer apple notes afterwards. Apple 'Drinking' juice can be used but often struggles to give flavours after fermentation. The brown sugar and honey will easily have masked what apple flavour was in there.

I'd wait until the gravity drops before bottling it - below 1003 it'll still be carbonated - BUT DONT PRIME IT!!!! It'll end up drier and will need a long time to mature with the alcohol harshness.
 
Hmmm.....well it was my first time trying the cider, so guess I just messed up a little adding the extra sugars......:O I just added another gallon of Apple Juice and then some more pear juice and pears from a can......will that help with the flavor some more? I know it will ferment again I am sure, but hey, I might make gas and run my car before long with the gas prices the way they are........:D
 
GABrewboy said:
Hmmm.....well it was my first time trying the cider, so guess I just messed up a little adding the extra sugars......:O I just added another gallon of Apple Juice and then some more pear juice and pears from a can......will that help with the flavor some more? I know it will ferment again I am sure, but hey, I might make gas and run my car before long with the gas prices the way they are........:D
You'll need to sell your car within six months to fund this sugar buying project the rate you keep adding it! STOP!!!!!! :D
 
HE HE......Okay, I won't add anymore sugar/flavor to this.....so are you saying then with time I should have some apple/pear flavor come back to this thing once bottled? :drunk:
 
GABrewboy said:
HE HE......Okay, I won't add anymore sugar/flavor to this.....so are you saying then with time I should have some apple/pear flavor come back to this thing once bottled? :drunk:
It will mature and become a lot more enjoyable. Patience, patience. Brew and drink more beer while you wait for this to age - give it a little more time and don't add any more sugars!;) :D
 
I think I can handle that!! :D So how long should it age? And one more question.....I should just wait for the FG to get to below 1.003 and then bottle, but with no priming sugar? And then should I just let the bottles sit in 70 degree temps for a few weeks like the rest before they hit the fridge to chill and condition even more......?
 
Hey My recipes are a bit basic, Start with a tin of cider extract add 3-6 litres of apple juice(100% not preserves) 1/2-1 kg of Dextrose. (make it up to the amount recomemended by tin ( so that it has a better flavour cos the tins can be a bit "bland") Chuck on a good quality yeast. (my yeast cultures are all started in 2lt -3lt apple juice. (But in Bulk and save!) then let it sit and do it's thing , after its done bubbling, let it sit for a bit (sometimes I leave mine up to a week or more depending if I have time to bottle) then bottle up. I have found that it gets a lot nicer after about 6 weeks- 2 months, then it gets really smooth after a few months. hope this helps! cheers
 
Thanks for all the help guys!!! Since I dumped another gallon of apple juice and pear juice in my carboy, will I get another fermentation that is visible or what? There is no trub since I racked this 3 times already.
 
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