using other fruit in a cider

Does anyone out there add other fruit to their ciders? Like strawberry, cherry, raspberry or anything else?
A couple of years ago I used half apple and half pear.

Revenge - a blackberry cider best served cold. It violates the style guide by being 50% blackberries, other than the blood they're free, so I use lots.

Haven't tried anything else, yet. I'm hoping some of my cherry trees will bear enough fruit this year to allow me to make a few small batches.

Mango, Pineapple, make excelllent cider flavourings, I have a mango madness blupping away now, 3kg of fresh mango in 20lt of cider,mmmmmmmmm. can't wait! You should just be able to pick a friut that you like and bung some in, after all there are no rules that can't be bent in the name of experimenting.

I've got a cider that's been going for a couple of months now that's got half a pound of blackberries, half a pound of blueberries and a gallon of cider.

I've got a Morello Cherry Cider aging in bottles - see my sig!

Got some raspberry cider sitting at home a friend made - will let you know how that turns out.
My family has a soft fruit farm in Northamptonshire www.hardwick-softfruit.co.uk
but I can't imagine strawberries would be very nice infact I've yet to make a decent strawberry wine even.
liking the idea of blackberries - apple and blackberry's one of my favourite juice drinks.
How about blackcurrent?

Matt

So I saw on the Mr. Beer website that they have recipes for cider with other fruit flavors. They use the sweet, syrupy cans of fruit that you use in pie. Anyone try this? I am wondering how much I would need in a full 5 gal batch of cider, and if I need to boil it first or just toss it in the primary. I wouldn't want too sweet of a cider, but a mildly fruity apple cider might be refreshing. Thanks.

:fro:

I tried a cider with apples and plums in, however it turned out extremely acidic. Being reasonably new to making cider I back sweetened with sugar and fermentation stopper to prevent a refermentation. However the fermentation has restarted as I didnt add the fermentation stopper in advance. So it looks like I have a strong cider on its way. Haha. The other option is I drink it now before I have an apple and plum wine (which essentially what it is with me adding sugar from a purist point of view).

Hope this helps someone else avoid my mistake

Gaz

veggiess said:

So I saw on the Mr. Beer website that they have recipes for cider with other fruit flavors. They use the sweet, syrupy cans of fruit that you use in pie. Anyone try this? I am wondering how much I would need in a full 5 gal batch of cider, and if I need to boil it first or just toss it in the primary. I wouldn't want too sweet of a cider, but a mildly fruity apple cider might be refreshing. Thanks.

:fro:

Click to expand...

I've done it to make wines - summer fruit pie filling makes a nice red and fruit cocktail makes a white. they both taste brilliant but the syrup leaves a slight sticky taste, a bit like Schnapps. with both of these I didn't boil (this is likely to activate pectins in the fruit causing haze) but just blend them until they're really well mixed, remove any seeds if required, and just dump it in your fermenter. I also added the chemicals (tannin etc) when pouring into fermenter. Using this method you need to shake it up or stir it often...

I used 2 tins to 1 gallon with extra sugar and it worked fine - no other ingredients. You might want to use more for more flavour in a cider though.

Oh and, i recently included pears in flavoured water in a cider - 1 gallon of apple cider had 1 can, it probably could have used two, so I'd go for ten.

Furthermore yay! Another brummie, hi Snakepie. where do you hail from?

Hey, Im from Solihull. What about you?

Only started homebrewing a couple of months ago, but have made all sorts, some absolutely incredible and others (like my plum wine).....well I think I am fighting a losing battle on that one. I shall continue to experiment with it though.

How do you prepare your apples out of interest? I haven't got a cider press (really want one though) so I am using an old mangle I found at a car boot which I have thoroughly sterilised. It was okay, but my yield for the amount of apples was poor. Plus the amount of hours and effort it took to get 10L was a long time. Does boiling work? and if so how well?

Also, how do you clear your ciders? Or is it simply impossible if you have activated the pectic enzymes. Im using a clearing agent at the moment and several rackings. It has definitely got clearer, but is there a better way in your experience?

Cheers

Gaz

I have a raspberry cyser bottle carbing atm. I transfered the cyser to my bottling bucket, put a nylon sock full of freshly thawed raspberries (that I picked) in it for 24 hours. removed sock and let stand for 4 days. Bottled and a day later realized there was a LOT of pulp in suspension as the head of every bottle has a layer about 1/4-1/2" thick. I just hope it doesn't ruin the flavor!