Blackberry Juniper Cider - finishing advice

[Scampy's an XJ]

11.03.22
Bulk cider sterilized with Campden tablets, then added pectic enzyme. K1V-1116 yeast and staggered yeast nutrient. OG 1.057 65F
FG 0.998

11.27.22
Racked to secondary, pureed 5 pounds of frozen blackberries. Left in secondary at ~70F. SG 1.008

04.02.23
Racked to Tertiary to remove spent puree and get off lees.

I made a juniper berry tincture last fall from local feral mashed berries using Everclear, and just bought a bottle of blackberry extract to boost the flavour.

I'm getting ready to bottle. The clarity is natural on all of my brews - no bentonite, cold crashing. I always bottle with flip tops and bottle prime.

I have a few concerns about how to get the right balance of berry and juniper flavour without being weak or overbearing.

I also think I should take it off dry with a non fermentable sugar. I use Xylitol regularly when I do back sweeten and find it is predictable and palatable.

Any thoughts or suggestions? It's a 5 gallon batch so I'd rather not have 38 bottles of crappy cider. Bland or overbearing.

 

[Raptor99]

Bench testing is the key. Take several small samples, e.g. 8 fl oz each, and add carefully measured amounts of blackberry extract and juniper tincture to each. Experiment until you find a blend that you like, then scale up the amounts for your 5 gal batch. Juniper is a strong flavor, so you don't need very much. I think that both blackberry and juniper require some back sweetening to bring out the flavor. Finding the right balance between flavors includes the amount of sweetener.

Juniper tincture sounds like an interesting addition to cider. I'll have to put that on my list of things to try. How is the blackberry flavor using 5 lbs. of frozen berries in 5 gals?

 

[Scampy's an XJ]

I really wanted to avoid bench testing as I get impatient. I will do a bit of trialing before scaling up, but I'm a shoot from the hip brewer for the most part.

I haven't tasted it yet but expect it to be lightly flavoured. Next weekend is likely when I'll bottle.

 

[bushpilot]

I really wanted to avoid bench testing as I get impatient. I will do a bit of trialing before scaling up, but I'm a shoot from the hip brewer for the most part.

I haven't tasted it yet but expect it to be lightly flavoured. Next weekend is likely when I'll bottle.

I shoot from the hip as well. I taste, decide what it needs (oak, acid, honey, etc.), make a guess as to how much (well, I calculate sg changes), and rack it onto that. So far it has worked for me.