Pomegranate Honey Cider

Just started a new batch of cider about a half an hour ago. It's a bit experimental so I wanted to share it to get feedback. I'm hoping for something dry yet tasty for fall/Christmas 2009. Here's the recipe:

-4 gallons White House natural Apple cider from Walmart.
-A little under a gallon of Pomegranate juice
-4 lbs orange blossom honey
-2 lbs wildflower honey
-1 packet Red Star Montrachet yeast

After mixing it came out to 5 gallons total. Specific gravity was 1.057. I plan to add a couple pounds of fresh pomegranates and plums when it's ready to be racked to secondary. I'll probably add just a little cinnamon and cloves as well. We'll see how it goes!

myleviathan said:

I'm hoping for something dry yet tasty for fall/Christmas 2009.

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looks like you've got it.
If it were mine...I'd add about...3 more pounds of honey on Friday...and maybe one or 2 more on Sunday. You've got plenty of time for it to age out...Make it a BIG ONE....but then it wouldn't be a cider would it?

BigKahuna said:

looks like you've got it.
If it were mine...I'd add about...3 more pounds of honey on Friday...and maybe one or 2 more on Sunday. You've got plenty of time for it to age out...Make it a BIG ONE....but then it wouldn't be a cider would it?

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good call but i dont know how good it would be buy x-mas but it would be damn good winter 2009.

clayton_ross said:

good call but i dont know how good it would be buy x-mas but it would be damn good winter 2009.

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He did say Christmas of '09.....

Indeed, sounds like a great plan. I agree with Kahuna though, might as well bump up the honey to at least 2lbs per gallon and call it a true cyser (with a bit of pomegranate) If you are expecting a full year anyways, it would be worth it. Bit more of wine abv territory and more honey character to it without overpowering the other flavors.

BigKahuna said:

He did say Christmas of '09.....

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lol ha ha so he did well its setled then

Thanks for the input. I have added 4 pounds of honey and 2 pounds of brown sugar. I tasted the must after I added the additional honey/sugar and it was really good. Very sweet but that will mellow over time. Seems like it will be a good experiment.

:fro:

Rock on

Did you stabilize it? Because if not, it's not going to mellow over time, its going to ferment over time. Little confused by your update. Were trying to sweeten it or up the abv?

Gallon of Pomegranate juice? Ouch! How much did that set you back?

Tusch said:

Did you stabilize it? Because if not, it's not going to mellow over time, its going to ferment over time. Little confused by your update. Were trying to sweeten it or up the abv?

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No, didn't stabilize yet, if by stabilize you mean add bisulfites or campden or something. I want it to ferment further until it comes out to about 1.000 SG or less. It's only been less than a week since conception. Just adding more honey based on big kahuna's and your recommendation. Once it gets a little further along i'll probably rack to secondary and add fresh pomegranates. After a few weeks I'll rack it again and stabilize. The ABV should be up by then. I'm expecting something quite dry.

@Anbrew - it was about $15 or so for a gallon of pomegranate juice. Not cheap but not totally unreasonable. When I tried it today I could taste a good mix of apple, pomegranate and honey. Very tasty so far, but I expect it to become less sweet over time.

Yeah should should end up sitting on around 15% abv of some very good dry stuff. I would wait to stabilize until it is cleared. This will take months. When you get back down to around 1.000-1.010 then go ahead and rack onto your pomegranate berries in secondary. I believe in secondary fruit additions because it absorbs more of the color and flavor. I think this is a combination of a) the yeast aren't as active and there are less of them after racking to attach the fruits and b) the higher alcohol pulls the flavor and color out of the fruit more completely, like infused liquors.

After you have gotten all the color and flavor out of the berries, as best as you can tell, I would rack off the fruit into a tertiary for aging. Then stabilize it once it is crystal clear and beautiful in tertiary. This is a VERY long process, especially with mead, but it should yield something very good.

Hmmmm.... i would like to make something similar to drink with my uncle but he doesnt do to good with added sugars because he is at a high risk of going diabetic. he seems to be able to handle fruit juice fine, possibly because the sugars in fruit are easy to break down.(don't quote me on this I have no idea what I'm talking about) Anyways, what do you guys thing of this recipe? how long would you age it?

4 gallons tree top apple juice
(2) 64 ounce pomegranate juice
safale-04

Well I'm not sure how it applies to diabetes, but the sugars used in this are chemically broken down by the yeast. I do know that drinking isn't a great thing for diabetics, not sure how much is safe. So its better to look at how much he is able to drink, because there won't be any sugars in the brew when it is done.

Yeah I guess if any beverage ferments out dry it should be o.k. He does limit the amount of drinks he has and has a strict diet. when we brew beer we usually try to ferment it out dry and stick to smaller beers. what i'm trying to do is make a cider with that juice and leave some left over sweetness...

I guess I could allways sweeten with spleanda or stick to dry cider. Im also not too experianced with ciders.. Will an ale yeast leave behind sugers or will it still ferment the juice dry?

Morrison said:

I guess I could allways sweeten with spleanda or stick to dry cider. Im also not too experianced with ciders.. Will an ale yeast leave behind sugers or will it still ferment the juice dry?

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Even an ale yeast will ferment a cider dry, or at least nearly so. If you want a sweet cider you will need to backsweeten. Splenda would work, though I can't stand the flavor. Stabilizing and adding sugar or juice would work but your cider would have to be still. Or you can add Lactose, which has a slightly different flavor.

Craig

I did a similar cider...just bottled this past weekend.

5 gals AJ
2 lbs dark brown sugar
2 lbs honey
2 lbs corn sugar.

FG: .996

Went to 12.7% ABV...way too much. A lot of "maple" flavor.

Added potassium sorbate and let sit for a couple of days.

Added 1 can of frozen concentrate, 1/2 cup Splenda and 2 oz of malto dextrin. Added to batch.

Added 1/2 liter of an oaken ale to a 5 liter minikeg and topped off with cider.

Added 1 gal of AJ to bottling bucket, FG changed to 1.012. Bottled. It tastes really great now.

Morrison said:

Hmmmm.... i would like to make something similar to drink with my uncle but he doesnt do to good with added sugars because he is at a high risk of going diabetic. he seems to be able to handle fruit juice fine, possibly because the sugars in fruit are easy to break down.(don't quote me on this I have no idea what I'm talking about) Anyways, what do you guys thing of this recipe? how long would you age it?

4 gallons tree top apple juice
(2) 64 ounce pomegranate juice
safale-04

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I'm a medical student. Not that I know everything about diabetes, but drinking is definitely not a good idea for people who have it. Alcohol reduces the body's ability to get oxygen to tissue which is needed to keep tissue healthy. Diabetics are already at a very high risk of tissue death because their limited ability to get sugars (which is also necessary for tissue health) out to the arms and legs. Injected insulin helps manage the sugar issue, but diabetics definitely don't need the extra nutrient strain to their tissue due to alcohol consumption.

However it's also important to note studies show that moderate daily alcohol consumption decreases the risk of type II diabetes. So drink up everybody.