Blueberry Cider

Blueberry Cider

5 gallons Old Orchard Apple Cider
5 cans Great Value Frozen Apple Juice
16 oz corn sugar
80 oz fresh or frozen blueberries (half in primary, half in secondary)
50 drops liquid pectic enzyme
Danstar Nottingham Yeast
Yeast Nutrient
OG = 1.066

Slowly heat one gallon of apple juice to just simmering and turn off heat. Add corn sugar and stir until dissolved. Add frozen juice 1 can at a time until all are added and melted, heating as needed. Thaw and crush 40oz of blueberries in primary fermenter. Add apple juice/concentrate/corn sugar mixture to primary. Add pectin and rest of bottled cider to fermenter. Make starter (from cider, nutrient and yeast) a day or two ahead of time and pitch into primary. Ferment in primary until no activity and rack into secondary on top 40 oz more of crushed, thawed blueberries. Ferment for appx. 1 more month. Age in tertiary or prime and bottle age to your liking (2-6 mos.).

Hello,
I was wondering what the pectin in the recipe was for. Most recipes I have seen call for pectic enzyme for clearing. I'm going to try your recipe soon by the way.....

Sorry...typo. Should read "Liquid Pectic Enzyme".

Well how did this turn out Pyro? You were my inspiration and sage wisdom. So I am curious. Mine is still aging and clearing.

Sooooo dissapointed. I loved everything about this recipe, the flavor, the color, a perfect amount of residual sweetness, etherything...until I popped one open about 6 months after bottling. Musty, musty, musty! It tasted PHENOMINAL going into the bottle!! Sanitized everything w/ StarSan & used Munton's carb tabs, and now it's crap. Infection after bottling is the only thing I can think of. I don't understand. I am a sanitation nazi!! After going over it, the only variables I could think of were either bad carb tabs, or (more likely) the starsan I used was saved from sanitizing a previous batch of bottles and a bottling bucket. I was always told as long as it's not cloudy, you could still use it. So whether that's it or not, you can bet I will NEVER reuse Starsan again. I haven't dumped all the bottles yet, but I'm not going to keep them too much longer...maybe a few months just to see if it's something that might condition out(highly unlikely, but wishful thinking). But, it's cider season anyway, so I assure you I'll be making this again this year! Hope yours was better! Cheers!

holy hell! how much did 80 oz of frozen blueberries cost you?

The blueberries weren't too bad cost wise, maybe 10-12 bucks, but I just feel like the past year was such a waste as I am one that likes to let my cider go for at least a year or two. I've made pilot batches before(1 gallon), but I new from the start this recipe would be killer, so I went with a full 5. Now I'm regretting it. Oh well, like I said cider season is upon us, and I've just sampled 3 diff. types from the local orchards around here. Pretty sure I've found a winner w/ one of them, so I'll probably start another batch this week or next. How's your's taste? I looks really, really good in those pics. Wish I was in your tasting room right now lol!

Pyro,

You can safely re-use Starsan to a point. If you water was DeIonized, the Starsan would be clear. However, if you mixed it originally with hard water (read: tap water) then it should be cloud and generally should stay that way if it is still effective. The best way to determine if it is still a viable sanitizing concentration is by checking the ph level. If it is at or below 3.0, you are fine.

I am still letting mine bulk age, last tasting it still tasted amazing. It keeps getting better with each day. This was especially true with the secondary additions of more blueberries and the pure blueberry juice. I can't tell if mine isn't clearing or if it really is going to stay this dark. I really hope it is going to stay this dark, I absolutely love it this way. I will wait to give it more time to try and clear before I bottle.

Tusch said:

I am still letting mine bulk age, last tasting it still tasted amazing. It keeps getting better with each day. This was especially true with the secondary additions of more blueberries and the pure blueberry juice. I can't tell if mine isn't clearing or if it really is going to stay this dark. I really hope it is going to stay this dark, I absolutely love it this way. I will wait to give it more time to try and clear before I bottle.

Click to expand...

Tusch, Where did you get the pure blueberry juice? Did I miss that in the recipe or did you get that from the 2nd round of crushed blueberries?

Pyro,

I know I'm drudging up an old thread, but I had a thought.

How long did your must sit on the crushed blueberries? I've heard that if you keep must on crushed berry skins too long without pulling them out (i.e. straining bag or strainer), the skins can start to rot and you get off flavors like lees.

I'm considering doing a similar recipe this fall myself, but instead of racking onto crushed blueberries I'll be adding an extracted and sanitized blueberry juice to the secondary after primary fermentation is complete.