Unicorn Blood

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butterpants said:
Where are you guys getting the Black Cherry juice / concentrate from?
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I picked mine up at my local Safeway, it was in the juice isle. It came in a 945 ml glass bottle, and was about $5. It's just an organic pure black cherry juice :) I've seen it at walmart and a few other stores aswell :)
 
I've gotten RW Knudsen Just Black Cherry juice at my local King Soopers, and Walmart.
 
Leadgolem said:
Your alcohol production and proportionate decrease in sugar content should be done during primary. Then you can age if you like. Since no more alcohol is being produced, it doesn't get any drier while aging. Most cider, especially those spiked with sugar, should be aged for several months before they reach their best flavor.

If you want something sweet, I would recommend allowing your fermentation to complete. Then sweeten to taste, bottle, and immediately pasteurize the bottles. That will kill the yeast in the bottle and allow you to preserve the sugar in the brew.

That also gives you the option of backsweetening with something like apple juice concentrate, in case your apple flavor fermented out.

And, as always, have nice day. :mug:
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What is a safe process for pasturizing filled and capped bottles? Oven at 160 for a while?
 
butterpants said:
What is a safe process for pasturizing filled and capped bottles? Oven at 160 for a while?
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I submerge the bottles completely in my pressure canner without the lid. Then bring the water temperature up to 160f for 10 minutes. Turn it off, pull the bottles out with a silicone oven mit. Stick them on a towel to cool for a few hours. 160f for six seconds is the FDA standard for apple juice pasteurization. I maintain it for 10 minutes to insure that the bottles have heated all the way through.

Incidentally, 160f does not effect the flavor of the cider. Though it tends to clear rapidly after cooling if it was bottled cloudy.

A pressure cooker without a lid is just a big aluminum pot with a false bottom. I've also used a smaller pot with a circular cooling rack in the bottom. A water bath canner works perfectly for this. The point is to keep the bottles off the bottom of the pot so they don't thermal shock and crack. Cooling on a towel is the same idea, only on the temperature loss side. Having the bottles completely submerged also heats them fairly evenly.

Using your oven to pasteurize isn't a great idea. The temperature can be uneven enough to crack the glass. Though that's pretty unlikely except in a gas oven. What's more likely is that the bottles won't actually heat all the way through.

Happy Brewing! :mug:
 
Leadgolem said:
Stick a hand towel in the bottom of a pot. Other the that, all you really need is a thermometer.
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ok so towel at bottom of pot to prevent rapid heat transfer and bottle shatter...

heat to 160 for 10 minutes

these bottles are capped/corked already right? just checking before i go make a mess
 
butterpants said:
ok so towel at bottom of pot to prevent rapid heat transfer and bottle shatter...

heat to 160 for 10 minutes

these bottles are capped/corked already right? just checking before i go make a mess
Click to expand...
If they are crown caps, then yes. Cap them first. Process them fully submerged. For corked bottle, do not cork. You want enough water to cover the liquid in the bottle, but not go over the neck. Cover the tops of the bottles with aluminum foil to keep dust out of them after you process them. Then cork when they've cooled. The increase in the pressure is to much for the corks to stay in place. Unless you're talking about belgian bottles with wire hoods and/or champagne bottles with hoods.
 
OG 1.062
honey and brown sugar added
65F
Nottingham yeast

Any idea how quick this might get to around 1.015?

I plan on halting fermentation and kegging instead of going dry. Hopefully keep some nice apple flavor.
 
butterpants said:
OG 1.062
honey and brown sugar added
65F
Nottingham yeast

Any idea how quick this might get to around 1.015?

I plan on halting fermentation and kegging instead of going dry. Hopefully keep some nice apple flavor.
Click to expand...

At a guess, about 8 days. Mine usually runs warmer then that, so it really is a guess.
 
My LHBS didnt have WLP060 so I used WLP001. i added one pound of brown sugar and two tsp of pectin enzyme. USE A BLOWOFF TUBE. my kitchen is a mess
 
imaburnvictim said:
My LHBS didnt have WLP060 so I used WLP001. i added one pound of brown sugar and two tsp of pectin enzyme. USE A BLOWOFF TUBE. my kitchen is a mess
Click to expand...
Either that or use a tamer yeast. :) I doubt you'd need one with Montrachet or Pasteur Champagne.
 
Ok so now fermentation is a month in and there has been no airlock activity for the last week so in the next couple of days I will get some bottles cleaned and get the cider bottled up. I'm using grolsch flip top bottles, and I plan on carbonating the cider so I was wondering if I should stick to dextrose or would there be any benefit to using brown sugar instead?
 
Dorimo said:
Ok so now fermentation is a month in and there has been no airlock activity for the last week so in the next couple of days I will get some bottles cleaned and get the cider bottled up. I'm using grolsch flip top bottles, and I plan on carbonating the cider so I was wondering if I should stick to dextrose or would there be any benefit to using brown sugar instead?
Click to expand...
Considering how small the amount of sugar you are going to need to add for carbonation is, I doubt you'll notice if you use brown sugar.

IMO, the flavor profile from brown sugar doesn't really go with most fruits. It's fine with straight cider, or spiced cider, but I wouldn't personally mix the brown sugar with most other fruits. I think it clashes with the black cherry a bit, and is to overpowering for most other fruits.
 
That's what I thought as well, I bottled it up today and used dextrose and it went great! The cider smells outstanding and the color is a lot deeper then I was thinking it would go but it looks great :D I can't wait to get it conditioned and try one out :) i'll get some pictures up as soon as I can
:tank:
 
TangoHotel said:
But I'll drink the unicorn blood while eating my own grilled and seasoned hand...

Found h
R j knudsons black cherry. Has anyone tried any other juice for this. There was pomegranate which interested me.
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I haven't tried pomegranate. I've done straight blueberry with added sugar to bump the ABV. It was very good. Straight black cherry with no sugar makes a fantastic, but very low ABV, wine.
 
Leadgolem said:
I haven't tried pomegranate. I've done straight blueberry with added sugar to bump the ABV. It was very good. Straight black cherry with no sugar makes a fantastic, but very low ABV, wine.
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I'm making it for a buddy. He wants a turbo boosted unicorn blood cider. I am adding 2 lbs of corn sugar and 1 lb of brown. Cherry and apple seems too tart. Thought the sweetness of the pomegranate would be a good match for the tart of the apple after fermentation.
 
TangoHotel said:
I'm making it for a buddy. He wants a turbo boosted unicorn blood cider. I am adding 2 lbs of corn sugar and 1 lb of brown. Cherry and apple seems too tart. Thought the sweetness of the pomegranate would be a good match for the tart of the apple after fermentation.
Click to expand...
If it comes out to dry, you're better off back sweetening. I don't think the black cherry really gets tart when it ferments. The straight black cherry doesn't come out tart at all anyway. I could see that with sour cherries, or cranberry though.
 
Made it with the Black cherry, 1 lb corn sugar and 2 lbs brown. I can't wait.

Fastest fermentation start ever. It was bubbling in 2 hours.

1.070 is my starting point.
 
Going to be making 6ish gal tomorrow.
1 gal black cherry
5 lb honey
10 lb brown sugar
Topping off with cider

Was going to do it tonight, but realized I was out of yeast.

Edit: 5 gallons, not 6.
So I used lalvin k1-v1116
I know its more sugar than the yeast can handle, and since I finished putting it together so late last night I forgot to get a gravity reading. I will take a reading at the end.
Oh, and it was 3&3/4 gallons of cider to top it off.
 
thgirtruoc_nairb said:
Going to be making 6ish gal tomorrow.
1 gal black cherry
5 lb honey
10 lb brown sugar
Topping off with cider

Was going to do it tonight, but realized I was out of yeast.
Click to expand...

Have you made that recipe before? I have been wanting to do this for awhile and there is an empty 5 gallon carboy calling my name.
 
thgirtruoc_nairb said:
Going to be making 6ish gal tomorrow.
1 gal black cherry
5 lb honey
10 lb brown sugar
Topping off with cider

Was going to do it tonight, but realized I was out of yeast.
Click to expand...
I would suggest adding about 1/2 of your sugar, make sure it's completely dissolved, then take a gravity reading. I just did a quick estimate in my head and put that at about 1.160 for an OG. If that's what you're going for, cool. It's pretty high for most brews though...If it finishes out dry at about 0.992 like I would expect from that sugar mix that would be 22.4% ABV. I don't think your yeast could tolerate that.

EDIT:Made some corrections to the info above with a better estimate. I assumed a base gravity of 1.050 for the juice. 1 lb of table sugar = 46 gravity points, or 460 for the whole addition. 5lb of honey is usually about 200 gravity points. 660/6=110 additional gravity points per gallon. 1.050 + 0.110 = 1.160.
 
Been reading this for a while and wanting to try it. Looks like this will be part of this weekends brew list.
 
Threw this together today

3.5 gallons of AJ
.5 gallons of black cherry juice
2 cans of AJ concentrate
WLP060

O.G. 1.064

Really looking forward to tasting this
 
Yum yum

4 gal aj
2lb brown sugar
2lb corn sugar
1gal black cherry juice.

2 packs Cote de blanc yeast

8.5%


ForumRunner_20140117_202202.jpg
 
Nice! Did you cold crash?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Home Brew mobile app
 
I did not cold crash or do a secondary. I was in a rush to get it ready for christmas. I back sweetened using sucralose at bottling, about 5 tablespoons of liquid. It is a family favorite, and packs one hell of a punch. I'm sure it would pour clearer if I cold crashed and used a secondary. I also used 6 oz of corn sugar to get carbonation.
 
Well I just checked on mine and it's rolling! I had to throw a blow off tube on it, krausen was coming through the airlock.

I'm planning on just doing a primary and not cold crash too. How long did it sit before you bottled? Was it really dry without the sucralose?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Home Brew mobile app
 
Mine finished at 1.007 so pretty dry. I added sucralose to taste. I took my gravity sample, about 4 oz, and added drops until I liked it. Then I extrapolated to 5 gallons. I had it in primary for a month. Bottles took 4 weeks to be perfectly carbed.
 
How the Cote de Blanc yeast come out? I've never used it (on any cider).
 

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