Unicorn Blood

Made a 1 gallon batch of this, what should I back sweeten it with?

Hi Vox, I just wanted to say that since you didn't have any airlock activity despite having active fermentation, that means you have a leak somewhere. Maybe you are not using a lid with a gasket? Or if you are, are you snapping it down all the way?

As to your other question, yes the reason you have all the headspace in your bucket it because it is a 6 gallon bucket. I havn't brewed any cider yet, but I've brewed several batches of beer, and the stuff on top looks normal to me.

I was planning on using some wyeast 3724 to make a batch of this. My fermentation chamber had a batch of some hef fermenting. Saison yeast has great results with room temp and higher temp fermentation. And I would think that the flavors these yeast put off would work well with cider.

So I made up a 1 gallon batch of this today, I added some corn sugar to increase the OG a little. My concern is that I may have overdone the sugar a bit. About 3 hours after pitching and shaking to aerate, I have about 1/4 inch of stuff at the bottom of the bottle. I can only assume it's sugar that hasn't fully dissolved.

Can I still shake it up to help dissolve that, or is it too late?

Edit: Nevermind, it's good! So good I may need a blow-off tube!

My first batch is nearing completion, I'm really happy with the recipe so far. I used:

• 2 gallons Tree Top cider
• 1 quart organic black cherry juice
• 1 pound dark brown sugar
• Safale Abbaye yeast
• 1 stick cinnamon

I heated half a gallon of the cider with the brown sugar and the cinnamon and when thoroughly mixed, I discarded the cinnamon and added the nectar to primary and pitched the yeast.

OG was 1.065 and I'm planning to bottle when it gets around 1.025 and then pasteurize.

The only negative reaction I've had so far is from SWMBO when I showed her my proposed label and she saw the name. She really isn't enthused about drinking something called Unicorn Blood. On the bright side, that may leave more for me.

Finished the batch and am now really enjoying this recipe. Thanks for sharing this.

Now to brew up the next batch before I finish all the bottles from the first one and run out. :rockin:

Anyone ever make this with Nottingham? Wanna try a 5 gal with it since I've got it on hand.
Was going to go with 4 gal AJ and 1 gal black cherry

4 ½ gallons of 100% Musselman’s Apple Cider (½ gallon White House apple juice)
¾ gallons of R.W. Knudsen Just Black Cherry Juice
1lb dark brown organic sugar
1 package of nottingham yeast (make starter 15 min prior to pitching)
1-5 gallon portion of Diamonium Nitrate at pitch (plus ¼ tsp day 4 & 8)
1-5 gallon portion of Nutrient Enhancer at pitch (plus ¼ tsp day 4 & 8)
1-5 gallon portion of Yeast nutrients at pitch (plus ¼ tsp day 4 & 8)
1 bottle Brewers Best Apple Flavoring
Optional Nustevia Cherry Vanilla extract drops. 6 drops per 12oz bottle.
SG 1.070
FG 1.000
ABV~9.1%
I still bottled some of this and some I bottled with can drops. Both are amazing but I prefer carbonated.

View attachment 1449060778982.jpg

Don't know why the number 8 showed up as a smiley face but it did.
So extra nutrients at days 4 & 8

CaptainCoJo said:

Anyone ever make this with Nottingham? Wanna try a 5 gal with it since I've got it on hand.
Was going to go with 4 gal AJ and 1 gal black cherry

Click to expand...

I used Nottingham for my second batch, getting it as close as possible to the original posted recipe, except that I added more brown sugar trying to up the residual sweetness a bit (I watch the gravity and bottle when it gets to my target, I used 1.038 for this second batch).

I noticed that the color is noticeably lighter red in this batch, not sure if that is due to the Nottingham or because of the juice mixes.

EDIT: I just re-read the original. Where the heck did I get the idea that Nottingham was the original yeast? Never mind. It did seem to work fine though.

dcodol2 said:

4 ½ gallons of 100% Musselman’s Apple Cider (½ gallon White House apple juice)
¾ gallons of R.W. Knudsen Just Black Cherry Juice
1lb dark brown organic sugar
1 package of nottingham yeast (make starter 15 min prior to pitching)
1-5 gallon portion of DME at pitch (plus ¼ tsp day 4 & 8)
1-5 gallon portion of Nutrient Enhancer at pitch (plus ¼ tsp day 4 & 8)
1-5 gallon portion of Yeast nutrients at pitch (plus ¼ tsp day 4 & 8)
1 bottle Brewers Best Apple Flavoring
Optional Nustevia Cherry Vanilla extract drops. 6 drops per 12oz bottle.
SG 1.070
FG 1.000
ABV~9.1%
I still bottled some of this and some I bottled with can drops. Both are amazing but I prefer carbonated.

Click to expand...

I like the sound of this. Couple questions since I'm a noob.
What exactly is a 5 gallon portion of DME? Every recipe I've used gave me pounds.
Also, would the extract last several batches?
Thanks!

I don't have the bottle of DME sitting in front of me but I believe it is 1tsp for 5 gallons. If you buy a container it will say on it how much for 5 gallons. As for the extract it was $15 and even using it to flavor the whole batch I hardly put a dent in the small bottle I bought. I assume it would last 5-7 batches at 5 gallons

My confusion was that DME stood for dry malt extract...I'll do some research though

I appologize for that mistake I abbreviated Diamonium Nitrate and didn't realize it. I will correct it on my original post. My short hand I put DNE.

Love this stuff. Brewed it this time with S-04 and it came out a little more tart than expected but still really good.

View attachment 1451781778811.jpg

Inspired by this recipe, but quite a departure, I came up with this recipe:
Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Nottingham
Yeast Starter: N/A
Batch Size (Gallons): 5 gallons
Original Gravity: 1.048
Final Gravity: 1.008
Boiling Time (Minutes): N/A
Color: crystal clear pink
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 65F for 2 weeks, Added the tart cherry juice at the 2
week point gravity was 1.020, two weeks later 1.008 1 week cold crash
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): none
Tasting Notes: Nicely dry with a hint of sweetness and just tart enough.

4 gallons Publix Apple juice
1 gallon Publix unfiltered apple juice
1 quart Tart Cherry juice

Nottingham yeast

I decided that I didn't really want to go all the way to the Jolly Rancher taste profile and
really just wanted to bring in some tartness not available with any apple juice or cider that
I could find here in central Florida. This was a huge success! Thanks for the inspiration!

Just wondering if anyone got this weird looking pulp stuff like this. this is a couple weeks after fermentation in secondary. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1452201417.182144.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1452201436.204279.jpg

I just finished a full size batch of this a few days ago.

I really like the flavor, I back sweetened with about 3/4 a cup of good dilute honey per gallon. This is a seriously good recreational drinking cider. Even my GF likes it!

Thanks for this! Just bottled my first batch of this. We love it! Used fresh 3 gal fresh pressed cider and 1 qt of natural black cherry juice.
2.5 cups brown sugar
1 Tsp yeast nutrient
2 Tsp pectic enzyme
1 Tsp malic acid
EC-1118 (in starter for 15 min.)

SG 1.066
FG 1.002
3 gallon batch, added 4 oz priming sugar

Can't wait til it carbs up.

Just started a batch based loosely on the Unicorn Blood recipe.

16 l SunRype 100% apple juice
946 ml R. W. Knudsen Just Black Cherry juice (the only bottle left at the grocery store)
5# Rogers table sugar (just using up the rest of the bag)
1 tbsp yeast nutrient
2 tsp yeast energizer (not enough left for a whole tbsp)
enough water to dissolve the sugar
1 packet Danstar Nottingham yeast

Dissolved sugar in a bit of water on the stove, added nutrient and energizer while cooling. Dumped in carboy with most of the juice, while making a starter with the yeast and approximately 250 ml apple juice. Pitched starter, stuck in airlock, started waiting.

OG: 1.097. Never used Nottingham with that high of gravity before, so I'm expecting slightly sweet. We'll see how it goes.

Another round of UB for a friend. I'm going lighter this time to get a normal cider and not apple wine.

4.5 gal Indian Summer Apple Juice
.25 gal (1Qt) Indian Summer Tart Cherry Juice
.25 gal WLP002 washed Slurry

Measured OG 1.048
Estimated FG 1.010 to 1.00

4.99% to 6.1% ABV depending where it finishes.

View attachment 1465300225282.jpg

I had to switch out the airlock for a blowoff tube. I haven't seen a cider behave this way with a vigorous fermentation before. I am not sure what is different, but this stuff is chugging away double time.

Anyone keg this stuff? I usually do a straight all-apple cider, then shock and kill the yeast, backsweeten with concentrate, and then keg. It's awesome.

I was thinking of fermenting the apple juice only, kill the yeast, and then rack the cider on to the black cherry in the keg as a combination flavorant/backsweetening. Any thoughts there?

Second time making a version of UB using a French Saison yeast with 2qts of black cherry juice. Tonight I put it in my oak bourbon barrel. I'll taste daily until I feel it's had enough - probably 1 wk or less as 5 gallon barrel imparts oak/ bourbon and subtle vanilla flavor quickly. It will go in the keg and on tap in time for November/ Turkey Day!

I started a 1 gallon batch of this last friday (3/17/17) using 3 quarts of tree top and 1 quart of the Just Black Cherry. This is my first time ever making cider, so we'll see how it goes.

I was planning on adding a little brown sugar to get the OG up but I was surprised when I checked the gravity of just those two mixed it was already somewhere around 1.060 (I didn't look too closely at it) so I just let it go without adding anything.

Pitched a whole vial of WLP060 and it took almost 24 hours before any noticeable fermentation started, but then it took off. Without a whole lot of headspace in the 1 gallon carboy it pushed quite a bit of gunk out the blowoff tube. Monday I switched over to a regular airlock. It's still bubbling about 3 or 4 bubbles a minute.

I'm looking for a slightly sweet, lightly carb'ed, bottled cider so I'm planning to start checking the gravity once the bubbles slow to about once a minute, aiming to hit about 1.010ish. Then add slightly less priming sugar than I normally would for beer (maybe use honey instead) and letting it bottle carb for a couple days (4 maybe?) then stove top pasteurizing. I will definitely try one before pasteurizing to ensure no gushers and that the carb level is about where I want it.

Anybody see any flaws in my plan? Thanks!

PitRow said:

I started a 1 gallon batch of this last friday (3/17/17) using 3 quarts of tree top and 1 quart of the Just Black Cherry. This is my first time ever making cider, so we'll see how it goes.

I was planning on adding a little brown sugar to get the OG up but I was surprised when I checked the gravity of just those two mixed it was already somewhere around 1.060 (I didn't look too closely at it) so I just let it go without adding anything.

Pitched a whole vial of WLP060 and it took almost 24 hours before any noticeable fermentation started, but then it took off. Without a whole lot of headspace in the 1 gallon carboy it pushed quite a bit of gunk out the blowoff tube. Monday I switched over to a regular airlock. It's still bubbling about 3 or 4 bubbles a minute.

I'm looking for a slightly sweet, lightly carb'ed, bottled cider so I'm planning to start checking the gravity once the bubbles slow to about once a minute, aiming to hit about 1.010ish. Then add slightly less priming sugar than I normally would for beer (maybe use honey instead) and letting it bottle carb for a couple days (4 maybe?) then stove top pasteurizing. I will definitely try one before pasteurizing to ensure no gushers and that the carb level is about where I want it.

Anybody see any flaws in my plan? Thanks!

Click to expand...

If you intend to drink them young, you can simply put them in the fridge when they are where you want them. That will greatly slow the conditioning and they won't burst. They also will age at a snail's pace. I think you will find that cellar ing a first batch to be impossible.

Notes
1) if you use honey at bottling, do not heat it above 140 or you will burn off all the delicate flavors. I usually sanitize a metal measuring cup and put it in water bath at about 140 for awhile, use my judgement.

2) stove top pasteurizing is a simple and effective method I have used several times. Man there are great tutorials on this board. Find a method that works for you. I will caution you, bottles do, can, and will burst while pasturizing. It's not really dangerous Becuase it is under water, but you might get 10 12oz bottles from a gallon. The loss of one is 10% of your batch.

3) Champagne Bottles. You hip yet? Won't shatter under high pressure. Helps pasturizing (but takes a bigger vessel). You can also not pasteurize them; Which creates an almost air like beverage. Super high carbonation so dry. I have never shared it with anyone that didn't like it. One down side is: you have to open a larger bottle everytime.

4) Seems like you've done some reading. Try different things with different bottles. Pasteurize some, don't pasteurize others, age some and not others ect ect. I found I got a lot more edification out of each batch if I looked at them like science experiments. I have probably finished this cider a dozen different ways.

How do I like it? Not telling. If you are in Austin be friendly and I might let you sample some.

Enjoy the Cider!

I have a bottle from the original batch in my "cellar". How long ago was that? Wow. I haven't even made a batch in two years!

BlainD said:

I have a bottle from the original batch in my "cellar". How long ago was that? Wow. I haven't even made a batch in two years!

Click to expand...

If you open one, share the feedback after a nice long age like that!

I'm going to try this recipe soon.

Interested in making this but I don’t back sweeten. I’m wondering how dry this ends up? It should be similar to a dry hard cider correct? I did Ed Wort’s Alphenwein but used a cider yeast instead and carbonated it and it was dry but delicious.

• Would blueberry juice instead of black cherry be less tart?

• Should I wait a few days to add cherry or blueberry juice so I don’t lose that flavor from the fermentation

this is the first cider Ive made. 3.5 gallon white house apple juice, 1/2 gallon Knudsen black cherry juice. Tossed in the fermenter with Mangrove Jack's M02 cider yeast at 68 degrees. Yeast had a small krausen going the next morning and then I left for work for 5 days. Came back and checked on it. No sign of the krausen getting any bigger than the little that was on top on day 1, took a sample and it was down from 1.050 to 1.005 after 5 days. Tasted pretty good, just a hint of sweetness left. It did have a faint sulfur smell that will hopefully clear up. Gonna leave a few more weeks to do its thing. Originally planned to stabilize and back sweeten as I was making this for my wife (she doesn't drink beer) but we just found out she is pregnant so looks like this batch is for me lol. I may skip the back sweeten step, I thought the sample tasted pretty good, we'll see if the yeast eat any more points off the FG.

Hecked the bottles today one has stopped bubbling and the other has drastically slowed. Is this typical for 10 days fermenting?

For the bottle that stopped, i'll let it sit a week and then rack to the secondary and add blackberries.

haha..this posted in wrong forum some how.

I couldn't find cherry juice and in the moment saw whole pitted cherries in the store and figured i'd puree them and use them with this recipe.

I thought I was being smart. However the next day it occurred to be that these cherries weren't pasteurized and will likely contain wild yeast and other things.

Sure enough it's going "wild". Lots of clumps forming and floating around. Looks nothing like i've seen during my previous straight apple cider ferments.

1) Is it dangerous to drink?

2) I read it may contaminate my rubber equipment and can not be sterilized. True?


I understand the flavour could be unpredictable. If it's safe and won't ruin my equipment it may be worth a taste to see what happens.

For those that have kegged this, what card level are you looking for. I've never done a cider before. I normally just set my beers to 12-13psi and leave them for a week or so, would that work for the cider as well?

Just an update, entered this into the 3rd Annual Caribbean Cup, won 1st place in the cider category. First cider Ive made! Thanks for the great easy recipe.

I couldn’t resist the pull of this thread. I tossed a 3gal batch of this into my bucket after bottling a couple small batches this afternoon.
2g store brand apple juice (hyvee)
3qrts Martinelli Apple juice
1qt knudson cherry juice
Pitched a jar of fresh s04 slurry
~1.054 OG

Didn’t add sugar of any type, just gonna let it ride.

Well I pulled a sample of this batch already (9 days in) while I had all my gear out to bottle a cream ale, and whoa, it tastes good. I didn't pull a big enough sample, and had already re-closed the bucket, so I didn't get a solid gravity reading (definitely drier than 1.010, hydrometer SANK, I used slurry from s04, so I would think it will be left a bit on the sweet side?). There was a fair amount of dark foam/creaminess on the top. Is that a side effect from using ale yeast instead of actual wine yeast? But if it holds anywhere near where it is now, I am damn impressed.

Just did a version of this, did 4.5 gallons of walmart brand apple juice, .5 gallon of crancherry juice, then 1 qt of tart cherry juice. pitched a pkt of belle saison and it was already chugging along nicely this morning. Didn't add any other sugar so started at 1.045 which is fine with me. Will give it 2 weeks and see where im at.

BlainD said:

3 1/2 gallons Tree Top 3 Apple Blend
1/2 gallon R.W. Knudsen Just Black Cherry Juice

WLP060

It's young now but already delightful. Fruity and slightly sweet. It tastes enough like a jolly rancher to appeal to your sweet tooth; Not so sweet you feel like a girl drink drunk. I'm pleased. If I decide to make this again (and probably will next spring) I think I'll add brown sugar to deepen the color and dry it out a little more.

First Recipe post let me know if I need to change anything up!

PROST!

View attachment 77180

Click to expand...

BlainD said:

3 1/2 gallons Tree Top 3 Apple Blend
1/2 gallon R.W. Knudsen Just Black Cherry Juice

WLP060

It's young now but already delightful. Fruity and slightly sweet. It tastes enough like a jolly rancher to appeal to your sweet tooth; Not so sweet you feel like a girl drink drunk. I'm pleased. If I decide to make this again (and probably will next spring) I think I'll add brown sugar to deepen the color and dry it out a little more.

First Recipe post let me know if I need to change anything up!

PROST!

View attachment 77180

Click to expand...

Hello new to the site here my name is Mike. I've only made six batches of beer which have been going pretty well for me but I'd like to make a batch of cider for my girlfriend .she picked this one on the list and I'm seeking help.

How exactly do I go about making unicorn blood? Is it just like making beer or is there other equipment and procedures that I need to follow? Any and all help will be much appreciated and I eagerly await your reply!

Its basically the same process you do once you move your beer to the fermenter. I like to add some yeast nutrient to the fermenter when I add the yeast. Make sure you pitch enough healthy yeast and that the fermentation doesn't get too hot just like you would for beer. This should give you a final gravity of 0.998ish so if you want it sweet you may need to look into backsweetening.

Mike sandman said:

Hello new to the site here my name is Mike. I've only made six batches of beer which have been going pretty well for me but I'd like to make a batch of cider for my girlfriend .she picked this one on the list and I'm seeking help.

How exactly do I go about making unicorn blood? Is it just like making beer or is there other equipment and procedures that I need to follow? Any and all help will be much appreciated and I eagerly await your reply!

Click to expand...

When I made this recipe, I had dumped 3 gallons of store bought apple juice (make sure no preservatives, just apple juice) and one bottle of the Knudsens cherry juice to my bucket fermenter. I had just finished bottling a small, single gallon batch of beer using S04 yeast, and poured the entire yeast cake into the bucket after thoroughly agitating the juices. It fermented down to about 1.004 I believe. It was quite tasty, I'd make it again.