Unicorn Blood

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

BlainD

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2011
Messages
256
Reaction score
20
Location
Killeen
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!

558561_503942469616699_915281036_n.jpg
 
Very nice. I thought the black cherry juice should be dillutable and still maintain a good amount of it's cherry flavor and color.

EDIT: For those of you wanting a clear result, check the bottle of black cherry juice when you get it. Some have a lot more cherry solids in the bottom then others.
 
Very nice. I thought the black cherry juice should be dillutable and still maintain a good amount of it's cherry flavor and color.

EDIT: For those of you wanting a clear result, check the bottle of black cherry juice when you get it. Some have a lot more cherry solids in the bottom then others.

The R.W. Knudsen actually had a good bit of cherry pulp in the bottom. I dumped it all in. Week of cold crashing I feel was really key in getting it cleared up.
 
The R.W. Knudsen actually had a good bit of cherry pulp in the bottom. I dumped it all in. Week of cold crashing I feel was really key in getting it cleared up.
Nice. Yeah, cold crashing would have definitely helped.

About 1/3 of the bottles have close to no pulp in them, at least they did when I picked up my last 2. :)
 
Nice. Yeah, cold crashing would have definitely helped.

About 1/3 of the bottles have close to no pulp in them, at least they did when I picked up my last 2. :)

Been a couple of months I could be confused.
 
dannyrodge said:
Hi, I think I will give it a try. No added sugar necessary?

Not necessary but I'd add some adjunct if I made it again. So recommended. Cup of brown sugar or maple syrup would be good.
 
I keep talking about this recipe with my friends, and i think i'm going to give it a shot. I am going to repeat your recipe with the brown sugar in the primary. But i was wondering if using a brown sugar is it still best to invert it in some cider and then add it to the carboy or what would be the best way?
 
You usually invert sugar to increase it's apparent sweetness. IE: Break the disaccharide sucrose into the monosaccharides glucose and fructose. The yeast may be able to consume the monosaccharides a little faster then the disaccharide, but not by much. I don't see any actual point in inverting, as the sugar is already in a form that the yeast can eat.

If you meant dissolve and not invert, then you shouldn't need to. That is, unless you want to add a very large amount of sugar. Up to about 3 lb's you should just be able to shake or stir and have the sugar completely dissolve. Over that, I'd gently heat the sugar in a pan with a gallon or so of cider so it is fully dissolved. Then mix that into the rest of the liquid.
 
I'd go with brown sugar to dry it out a little but also it will help darken the cider. I wish it would have been a little darker.
 
Your alcohol production and proportionate decrease in sugar content should be done during primary. Then you can age if you like. Since no more alcohol is being produced, it doesn't get any drier while aging. Most cider, especially those spiked with sugar, should be aged for several months before they reach their best flavor.

If you want something sweet, I would recommend allowing your fermentation to complete. Then sweeten to taste, bottle, and immediately pasteurize the bottles. That will kill the yeast in the bottle and allow you to preserve the sugar in the brew.

That also gives you the option of backsweetening with something like apple juice concentrate, in case your apple flavor fermented out.

And, as always, have nice day. :mug:
 
Well I finally bottled the gallon batch I did. I let it finish in primary (about a month) then moved to secondary. After a few weeks I stabilized and back sweetened with 1 can frozen apple juice and bottled still. Gave a bottle to a friend and later that night she requested more!! I'm not a big wine drinker and this is something I can drink. I have a bottle in the basement that I'm going to let sit for a while and age. But even after a few days its really good.
 
Glad it turned out nice for you. I thought I was out until I found two bottles while packing up to move. Those bottles are about a year old at this point. Going to save then for something special.
 
I had a thought. I want to make another natch just my first with one exception. When I back sweeten I'm thinking of simmering the apple juice concentrate for about 15 minutes with a cinnamon stick in it. Let it cool then add to the natch an bottle.

The first batch I bottled still and it was fantastic.
 
I made a gallon of this with the added brown sugar(1/2 cup) and NottinGham yeast. It was dry as a bone in 8 days reading 1.01. I racked and back sweetened with AJC to taste and then cold crashed. It got better everyday and was nice and clear. It was pretty winey though but had some good flavor. I mixed a pint using 1/4 uni blood and 3/4 cloudy, kegged, young cider I made with cider yeast and just juice. Tasty. My current attempt found me making 5 gallons and I skipped the brown sugar and used 1118 yeast. SG was 1.065. Lots of activity after 12 hours of pitching yeast. I'll keep you posted. Many thanks to the OP for the recipe.
 
I had to give this recipe a try.
The onlly deviations were that it was a gallon recipe and I used 1/4 brown sugar and 1/4 cup of dextrose and Montrachet yeast.

What is the timing for bottling this?
 
echocanyons said:
I had to give this recipe a try.
The onlly deviations were that it was a gallon recipe and I used 1/4 brown sugar and 1/4 cup of dextrose and Montrachet yeast.

What is the timing for bottling this?

Sorry for the late reply. I'd let it go a month at least before bottling. Less time probably would work well too but a month should be safe. Best thing to do is take a gravity reading three days in a row to see if it's still fermenting. No change in gravity and you are close to your final gravity your ready to bottle. I am deprived of sleep check the forum. Plent of info on the subject.
 
Just bottled a batch of this. This was my first cider attempt and I think it turned out pretty good. Plus the name rocks

4 Gallons unpasturized apple cider
.75 Gallon Black Cherry Juice
2.5 Cups Brown Sugar

Back Sweeten using 1 can Fronzen Concentrated Apple Juice.

Notingham yeast

OG: 1.06
FG: 1.01

Primary for approx 3 weeks
Secondardy for 2 weeks

Pretty dry but after backsweetening FG came up to approx 1.02.
 
Just bottled a batch of this. This was my first cider attempt and I think it turned out pretty good. Plus the name rocks

4 Gallons unpasturized apple cider
.75 Gallon Black Cherry Juice
2.5 Cups Brown Sugar

Back Sweeten using 1 can Fronzen Concentrated Apple Juice.

Notingham yeast

OG: 1.06
FG: 1.01

Primary for approx 3 weeks
Secondardy for 2 weeks

Pretty dry but after backsweetening FG came up to approx 1.02.
I think you made a typo in your FG. 1.001 would be more typical. If you really do have an FG of 1.010 then make sure you pasteurize, or your bottles will blow up.
 
Haha yep that what I get for trying to post from my phone. No bottle bombs
 
Making this tonight, went a little overboard with a full pound of sugar. Was originally going to make apfelwein so I assumed this would have at least a pound (I was reading the first page on my phone and thought you said 1lb instead of 1cup).

What alternative yeast would you recommend to the American Ale Blend WLP060? On hand I have Red Star Montrachet (x3), Red Star Premier Cuvee (x3), Lalvin K1-V1116 (x1 - expires next week), US05 (x1), S04 (x2). Thanks
 
Making this tonight, went a little overboard with a full pound of sugar. Was originally going to make apfelwein so I assumed this would have at least a pound (I was reading the first page on my phone and thought you said 1lb instead of 1cup).

What alternative yeast would you recommend to the American Ale Blend WLP060? On hand I have Red Star Montrachet (x3), Red Star Cuvee Renee (x3), Lalvin K1-V1116 (x1 - expires next week), US05 (x1), S04 (x2). Thanks
Hmm, lets see. 4 gallons of juice with a typical gravity of 1.050 an 1 lb of sugar gives you an approximate OG of 1.061. Assuming an extremely low finish, that's actually pretty common with cider variants because of the sugar types present, you need a yeast with an alcohol tolerance of 8.5-9%.

Honestly, any of those should work reasonably well.

Montrachet doesn't really care for table sugar for some reason. By cuvee renee, do you mean a culture from a bottle of the commercial lambic? If so, I'd pass for this recipe. If you meant premiur suvee, I'd probably also pass. Premiur suvee can be a little yeasty in flavor. IMO, it's best for finishing high gravity brew or restarting stuck fermentation. I can't seem to find an alcohol tolerance listing for S-04.. huh, I'll have to look again later.

If it was me, I'd use the k1-v1116 for two reasons. First, it's a white wine yeast. It's got an alcohol tolerance that's pretty high, and it shouldn't interfere with the fruit flavors involved. Second, it's about to reach its expiration date, so it's better you use it first.

Happy brewing!:mug:
 
Hmm, lets see. 4 gallons of juice with a typical gravity of 1.050 an 1 lb of sugar gives you an approximate OG of 1.061. Assuming an extremely low finish, that's actually pretty common with cider variants because of the sugar types present, you need a yeast with an alcohol tolerance of 8.5-9%.

Honestly, any of those should work reasonably well.

Montrachet doesn't really care for table sugar for some reason. By cuvee renee, do you mean a culture from a bottle of the commercial lambic? If so, I'd pass for this recipe. If you meant premiur suvee, I'd probably also pass. Premiur suvee can be a little yeasty in flavor. IMO, it's best for finishing high gravity brew or restarting stuck fermentation. I can't seem to find an alcohol tolerance listing for S-04.. huh, I'll have to look again later.

If it was me, I'd use the k1-v1116 for two reasons. First, it's a white wine yeast. It's got an alcohol tolerance that's pretty high, and it shouldn't interfere with the fruit flavors involved. Second, it's about to reach its expiration date, so it's better you use it first.

Happy brewing!:mug:

Thanks for the timely reply. Gonna pitch the lavlin, and if no action, follow with the red star.

Here is a blurb on the Premier Cuvee-
"This Prise de Mousse strain is fast-starting, clean and neutral. Premier Cuvee is a popular choice because of its consistently strong fermentation characteristics and high alcohol tolerance, up to 18%. The first choice for champagne and sparkling wines. Also good for restarting stuck fermentations."

EDIT: when I looked that up I typed it right...premeier cuvee, not cuvee renee. Also brewed a batch of hefe tonight so it has been a long day
 
You usually invert sugar to increase it's apparent sweetness. IE: Break the disaccharide sucrose into the monosaccharides glucose and fructose. The yeast may be able to consume the monosaccharides a little faster then the disaccharide, but not by much. I don't see any actual point in inverting, as the sugar is already in a form that the yeast can eat.

If you meant dissolve and not invert, then you shouldn't need to. That is, unless you want to add a very large amount of sugar. Up to about 3 lb's you should just be able to shake or stir and have the sugar completely dissolve. Over that, I'd gently heat the sugar in a pan with a gallon or so of cider so it is fully dissolved. Then mix that into the rest of the liquid.

Thank you very much, sorry for the incredible delay in responding as well. This ended up on the back burner and then forgotten but with some friends in the local cider club we just pressed 500 lb's of apple and so with my share i'm making a 3 gallon batch of Unicorns Blood. I certainly hope I meant dissolve, i'm not entirely sure what I was thinking when I posted this haha but exelent, thank you very much I will add some brown sugar and just give it some rocking, the yeast will take care of the rest :) :tank:
 
Ok so last night I pasteurized the freshly squeezed cider on my stove and chilled it in preparation for the pitching. So here is my recipe for my attempt at the unicorns blood;

3 Gallons Fresh Pressed Pippen Apple Cider
1 Liter of black cherry juice
8 ounces Brown sugar (little flavor enhancing and color depth)
10 ounces Dextrose (bumping the SG up a little bit more)
SG: 1.060
Yeast: 71B-1122 - Lalvin


Method:

I poured the cider into my cleaned carboy and added the Black Cherry Juice. The juice didn't seem to have very much pulp in it, if any at all but anything in their will just be racked off anyway. Now I have boiled some water and poured the dextrose and brown sugar into it stirring constantly so not to burn to the pot and just stirred until dissolved and poured into the carboy. The yeast I am using for this cider is 71B-1122 - lalvin which I started during the setup. Next put the bung in and rocked :rockin: it to make sure everything was well mixed and then I took my starting gravity and pitched the yeast after. Now to let the yeast do it's job :D

:mug:

Happy Brewing
 
Ok so last night I pasteurized the freshly squeezed cider on my stove and chilled it in preparation for the pitching. So here is my recipe for my attempt at the unicorns blood;

3 Gallons Fresh Pressed Pippen Apple Cider
1 Liter of black cherry juice
8 ounces Brown sugar (little flavor enhancing and color depth)
10 ounces Dextrose (bumping the SG up a little bit more)
SG: 1.060
Yeast: 71B-1122 - Lalvin


Method:

I poured the cider into my cleaned carboy and added the Black Cherry Juice. The juice didn't seem to have very much pulp in it, if any at all but anything in their will just be racked off anyway. Now I have boiled some water and poured the dextrose and brown sugar into it stirring constantly so not to burn to the pot and just stirred until dissolved and poured into the carboy. The yeast I am using for this cider is 71B-1122 - lalvin which I started during the setup. Next put the bung in and rocked :rockin: it to make sure everything was well mixed and then I took my starting gravity and pitched the yeast after. Now to let the yeast do it's job :D

:mug:

Happy Brewing

I'm really excited there has been so much interest in my recipe! I can't wait to hear your batch turns out. Your method sounds good; except there is not a step where the juice is aerated. Did you include this step? Even if you did not you will still get good results it just may take longer to completely ferment.


:mugs:
 
I just started a batch a month or so ago and took lots of pictures that I am considering turning into a mini-sub tutorial. Does anyone have any interest in that or think it would be a good resource to those new to cider?
 
I just started a batch a month or so ago and took lots of pictures that I am considering turning into a mini-sub tutorial. Does anyone have any interest in that or think it would be a good resource to those new to cider?
More data is good data. Though you might consider adding them to the first few posts in this thread.
 
Your method sounds good; except there is not a step where the juice is aerated. Did you include this step? Even if you did not you will still get good results it just may take longer to completely ferment

I didn't put it into the method, I'm not entirely sure why haha. But I did aerate the cider, once when I added the cherry juice for about 5 minutes, and again after adding the simple syrup solution for about 10 minutes (I wanted to make sure it was well mixed just in case) and then a little swirling when I pitched the yeast. And so far it's been a very active fermentation since about 2 hours after pitching the yeast. I actually put a blow off tube, it got crazy! i'll post a couple pictures I took of it :)
 

Latest posts

Back
Top