Cider With Blackberries

This is a variant on the "Cell Phone Cider" recipe.

Ingredients:
6 x 96 ounce bottles (4.5 gallons) Wegmans 100% Apple Juice, pasteurized, only vitamin C added
3 x 16 ounce bags frozen Great Value blackberries
2 lbs dextrose
Safale S-04 yeast, 11.5g

Thaw blackberries overnight. Leave apple juice out overnight to get to room temperature.

Next day, starting temp 72 degrees. Opened 1 bottle of apple juice, got a gravity reading of 1.050

In a 5 gallon carboy, pour in one bottle of apple juice. Add all of the blackberries and the juice they made from thawing.

Open bottles 2 and 3 of apple juice. Pour half of each bottle into carboy. Add 1 pound dextrose per bottle to the remaining amount of apple juice in bottles 2 and 3. Shake bottles to mix sugar and apple juice. Pour bottles 2 and 3 into carboy.

Pour bottles 4 and 5 of apple juice into carboy. Take another sample for OG, got a reading of 1.072. Open Safale S-04 yeast, pour into carboy. Agitate carboy to mix in yeast. Pour bottle 6 of apple juice into carboy.

Some of the blackberries are currently floating, some have settled to the bottom, and the cider has a deep purple color. It is my understanding that when this cider is done, the blackberries will be white.

EDIT: Corrected number of bottles of apple juice used.

Looks good.

I've had some very nice results using Wegmans 96oz AJ. Love how they fit a #7 rubber stopper perfectly, great for small test batches.

About 24 hours and 65 degrees...

Mmmmm, blackberries! I bet this is going to be one tasty batch!

Devo9 said:

Mmmmm, blackberries! I bet this is going to be one tasty batch!

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After I got the reading of 1.072, I drank the sample, as I usually do. Holy sweet apple blackberry yummyness!

Bubbling along nicely.
Blackberry Cider fermenting

This sounds just like what i have been wanting to make,i can't wait to hear how it turns out.

5 days of fermenting... Ohhh, foamy! And that's why you leave space at the top of the carboy in primary fermentation.

10 days along, just took a reading, 1.038, so about 4.35% ABV. Tasted the sample, reminds me of a berry wine cooler.

Looks really tasty can't wait for more pictures!! Question though, I see the main variation from the original recipe was that you added sugar. You just wanted more alcohol content, or what?

Bugeaud said:

Looks really tasty can't wait for more pictures!! Question though, I see the main variation from the original recipe was that you added sugar. You just wanted more alcohol content, or what?

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Sort of. I'm planning on stopping fermentation around 1.015 to 1.020 (I want this a bit sweet), so I added sugar to boost the OG and still get 6.75% - 7.5% ABV.

After I poured the juice, I took a look at the sugar content per serving. 28g, 12 servings per bottle, 6 bottles, comes out to 2016g, or 4.45 pounds of sugar. That doesn't even figure in the sugar from the blackberries.

Looks amazing UpstateMike, and I currently have a clone of this in primary fermentation right now. Quick question, do you worry about bacteria on the berries at all? I get that wild yeast might be present but what about bacteria infecting the cider?

After reading this post i had the need to make this but when at Walmart they only had the fresh blackberries which i wasnt willing to pay for so i use frozen peaches instead.

zmad2000 said:

After reading this post i had the need to make this but when at Walmart they only had the fresh blackberries which i wasnt willing to pay for so i use frozen peaches instead.

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I have the cider with blackberries going right now myself but did almost go with peaches,i think the next batch i will try peaches,it sounds great.

ScunionBrewCo said:

Looks amazing UpstateMike, and I currently have a clone of this in primary fermentation right now. Quick question, do you worry about bacteria on the berries at all? I get that wild yeast might be present but what about bacteria infecting the cider?

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I'd probably worry more about it if I used fresh blackberries. I know some have soaked their berries in vodka for 5 - 10 minutes, then poured off the vodka and used the berries. Probably ups the ABV slightly.

The brewers yeast would likely kick the wild yeasts asses anyways. (Since when there is two different yeast strains, they will essentially battle each other for control over the carboy. Homebrew Wars anyone? lol.)

12 days along, and the krausen is still as thick as it was in the pic on day 5. I really think I could float a quarter on it. When I did my Apfelwein using Red Star Premier Cuvee, I got a thick krausen that lasted maybe 4 days then disappeared. Is it lasting longer because I used an ale yeast (Safale S-04) instead of a wine yeast? Ferment temp is 62 - 64 now.

I hope I get a Carboy Cleaner for Christmas, or I am screwed!

I hope I get a Carboy Cleaner for Christmas, or I am screwed!

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Speaking of carboys, I always sort of wondered, why not just use a primary fermentation bucket for both primary and secondary fermentation? A lot easier to clean, eh?? lol

Bugeaud said:

Speaking of carboys, I always sort of wondered, why not just use a primary fermentation bucket for both primary and secondary fermentation? A lot easier to clean, eh?? lol

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Personally, I like to see what is going on in there. Now, if I could get a clear 5.5 gallon food grade bucket...

How long do you plan on letting this roll in primary? I'm about four days behind you in the process. I'm hoping for a dryer, not as sweet end product. My airlock has slowed down bubbling but is still rolling about once every ten seconds.

Thanks for the great recipe and detail!

AndyShank said:

How long do you plan on letting this roll in primary? I'm about four days behind you in the process. I'm hoping for a dryer, not as sweet end product. My airlock has slowed down bubbling but is still rolling about once every ten seconds.

Thanks for the great recipe and detail!

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Well...

The recipe that I based this on went 28 days @ 66F in Primary, and had a FG of 1.002. That may be what you are looking for. I've been running ar temps of 62-64, so I may be a bit slower than the original.

I want to end a bit sweeter, (1.015 - 1.020). Right now I'm trying to decide between pulling it when it gets to that range and bottling straight away, or racking into a secondary, let it clear a bit, then backsweeten with a frozen Apple-Raspberry concentrate that I found at Wal-Mart the other day.

Been about 6 days since my last reading, I'll take one tonight and post results and do a taste test.

This looks interesting. I think I'm in for a shot. I think I'll just experiment and do 2 3 gallons batchs with different yeast.
How are you planning on stopping fermentation?

+1 how are you planning on stopping fermentation?

RugenBrau said:

This looks interesting. I think I'm in for a shot. I think I'll just experiment and do 2 3 gallons batchs with different yeast.
How are you planning on stopping fermentation?

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Bookem15 said:

+1 how are you planning on stopping fermentation?

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I was thinking bottle it, let it carb up a bit, then stovetop pasteurize.

UpstateMike said:

I was thinking bottle it, let it carb up a bit, then stovetop pasteurize.

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Please do,thats what i'm planning on doing and following your thread is helping me out

thats what I do also. I have 5 gallons ready to be bottled this weekend

18 days along, took a reading, 1.028, so about 5.7% ABV. A 0.010 drop in 8 days since the last reading. Krausen in the carboy is still nice and thick. Tasted the sample, can still taste the apple and berries, it is coming along nicely. Will check again probably on Christmas.

Day 23, got a reading of 1.020. About 6.8% ABV currently. In 3 days it should be about 1.015, and at that point I think I will go straight to bottling.

Did you use any acid blend, yeast nutrient, or wine tannin? I also was thinking of adding raspberries to the mix, would they taste ok together?

Thanks,
Tom

Regarding your original post i wanted to mention that mine just got done in primary yesterday and my blackberries were white,just wanted to let you know.

BoatmanTom said:

Did you use any acid blend, yeast nutrient, or wine tannin? I also was thinking of adding raspberries to the mix, would they taste ok together?

Thanks,
Tom

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No acid, no nutrient, no tannin. I think I would try raspberries OR blackberries, as mixing the two might make one indistinguishable from the other. But that is my personal preference.

buffalo said:

Regarding your original post i wanted to mention that mine just got done in primary yesterday and my blackberries were white,just wanted to let you know.

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Nice! What was your FG, and what temp were you fermenting at? Mine has been going along at 62-64 degrees.

UpstateMike said:

Nice! What was your FG, and what temp were you fermenting at? Mine has been going along at 62-64 degrees.

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Mine tested at .999 yesterday afternoon before i racked it to secondary,i didn't check the actual temp of the cider but my garage was averaging 70-75 degrees. I'm guessing it was due to the heat but it finished alot sooner than i had expected,i added some juice today and its now fermenting a bit more in secondary where i'm leaving it for a few more weeks. It has such a strong alcohol taste i followed a fellow board members advice and added the juice to help it ferment awhile longer and mellow.

Yesterday the cider got to the magic number of 1.015, so I racked it off into a clean carboy and let it sit for a day. This evening I bottled a nice clear red colored cider. I added some apple juice concentrate, and i'll let it carb up in the bottles, then I'll stovetop pasteurize when they are ready. Tastes good now, looking forward to what it will taste like in 6 - 8 weeks.

Wow Mike great recipe! It's definitely on the list!

UpstateMike said:

Yesterday the cider got to the magic number of 1.015, so I racked it off into a clean carboy and let it sit for a day. This evening I bottled a nice clear red colored cider. I added some apple juice concentrate, and i'll let it carb up in the bottles, then I'll stovetop pasteurize when they are ready. Tastes good now, looking forward to what it will taste like in 6 - 8 weeks.

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Bout that time, Mike. How's it comin?

NineMilBill said:

Bout that time, Mike. How's it comin?

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Didn't make it to my planned date. It was too good, and it was all gone about a month before my expected date.

Haha nice! This post actually inspired a blackberry cider for me, that I'll be posting about at a later time. It's pretty tart - likely going to back sweeten and....well, you know. Yep. Looking forward to it mellowing and all...see if they aren't all gone before spring is over.

I just completed a raspberry batch last week. Looks like I will be pasteurizing it tomorrow or Saturday. I have a few others I can drink, so maybe this batch will get a chance to age.

So are you having better success with batches where you are stopping fermentation via pasteurization, or going dry and back sweetening? Or have you been able to tell a difference?