Yup, most of my batches of fermenting Apple Juice turn the color of Orange Juice during the first few days of hard fermentation. See the picture below. After the vigorous fermentation slows down, the color comes back and the juice clears.
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First 3 times I did this recipie, I was super concerned about overcarb/bottle bombs, and ended up sterilizing in the dishwasher after 2 or 3 days. Still product. This time, getting a little more daring, I took approporate precautions and have gone 2-3 weeks. Still no carb. FYI, I usually let this go in primary 4 weeks, then bottle. Product goes to just under 1.00. Does the forum think the yeast is inactive due to high alcohol content? I don't mind still, but would like to be able to prepare a sparkling product when I choose to. I backsweeten in the bottling bucket with 2 cups brown sugar and 5 cans FAJC, if it makes a difference.
jak1010 said:Nice...you can also try cherry juice or blueberry pomegranate juice. Both mix well and taste great. A little bit goes a long way.
jak1010 said:Mine were 1 gallon batches and I used 1.5 cups of juice per gallon.
I just cracked another and it slowly but surely foamed over
I don't guess that'll get fixed during pasteurization. Looks like I'm dumping back into a bucket until I can make more syrup, then rebottling
LiftedAWDAstro said:Made the caramel sauce last night. Re-racked my 1st fall batch back into a 5 gallon jug and added some k-sorbate to keep it from keeping going. It is very dry with a FG of right at 1.000. I didn't measure the OG but after adding 5# sugar to it, I suspect I was around the 1.090 range. This stuff has some serious kick! Going to make 5 different gallon jugs with different recipes. I think 4 will have the caramel apple pie and varying amounts of AJC. 1 is going to get cranberry concentrate so hopefully my wife will enjoy it. She doesn't like apple cider to begin with.
It was done. I had it stowed away in my beer closet. The flavor was right where I wanted it too. I had finally got that cinnamon to caramel ratio right. I've always had trouble with that jug. It doesn't like corks. I can put a cork on it empty and it still tries to throw it. Next time there will be some plastic wrap added to the equation.
jak1010 said:Mine were 1 gallon batches and I used 1.5 cups of juice per gallon.
Just a heads up for those who are bottle carbing this. I just had a 5 gallon batch that made my tester bottle turn rock hard in a day and a half. Went to stove top pasturize at 180 degrees and with the bottles in the bath for 2 minutes, one top SHOT off and another started bubbling around the cap. Took them out, re sealed, and put right in the fridge.
These suckers carb fast with all the extra sugar. Keep your eye on them!
Cheesy_Goodness said:I ended up letting mine carb up too much too...some bottles were gushers, but nothing like that. If it helps, I emptied all of the bottles back into a fermenter. There was a big alcohol taste so I reprimed with 2 FAJC and some caramel syrup and pasteurized the next day (partially out of paranoia). Right now they're tasting mighty fine and still have a slight carbonation.
HopHeaven said:Just a heads up for those who are bottle carbing this. I just had a 5 gallon batch that made my tester bottle turn rock hard in a day and a half. Went to stove top pasturize at 180 degrees and with the bottles in the bath for 2 minutes, one top SHOT off and another started bubbling around the cap. Took them out, re sealed, and put right in the fridge.
These suckers carb fast with all the extra sugar. Keep your eye on them!
This recipe was definitely a big hit for my wife. She even went out and bought an additional 5 gallons of cider to make more. Unfortunately, she didn't realize cider with sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate is a big no-no. My fault for not telling her, but she could have mentioned she was planning on buying some more cider...
Okay, so my quandry is that I would like to try this bad boy out in my keg. 1, because I am new to kegging and I want to put everything in there, and then 2, because my wife finds it much easier to pull the handle than find a bottle opener and pour to a glass .
My question is... Would 5 campden tabs be enough to thwart the self-carbonation that will be going on with the backsweetning? I'd like to put it on the gas for about a week and have it constant at serving pressure, and be good to go. What I dont want is for all of those little yeasties to keep doing their job and over-carbing my cider.
Any help/advise is appreciated!!
I would not recommend using plastic PET bottles if you plan on heat pasteurizing.
Find a local bottle redemption center, you may be able to score used glass bottles cheap.
5#??? Holy s):/!!! I add 2# to my 5 gallon batches and get an OG of approx 1.060 and FG of 1.000 yielding bout 7.75% ABV! Youve got some serious ethanol goin there!
I'm sure it's so where in the thread, but I am lazy and am not looking through it all. I do t have a Wegman's, what other juices have people used?
Kegged this tonight. Tasted good, but the caramel flavor was overshadowed by the AJ concentrate. Made me wish that I had doubled the caramel. Does the caramel flavor become pronounced as it ages?
Cheesy_Goodness said:I'm thinking about doubling the caramel too. I love the apple flavor but the caramel is barely present for me. To answer your question, I haven't noticed it getting more pronounced in the 3(?) batches I've made.
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