Experiment time.....

[Shimmy1]

We had a terrible apple crop this year, we only managed to press about 120 gallons of fresh cider, and the kids have drank over 30 of it. We currently have 80 gallons in secondary, so we are looking to supplement, lol. Picked up 12 gallons of Kirkland's 100% juice, thawed and pressed 40 lbs of aronia berries today, and mixed up 15 gallons to pitch tomorrow. We added a gallon of aronia each to two of the carboys, and added sugar to one to bring gravity up to 1.068 from 1.058. The third one we added 5 cans of Berry Blend frozen concentrate and 1/2 gallon of aronia to see if there is a measurable difference from using pure white sugar. Planning on pitching Notty, unless someone here thinks S04 would be a better choice??

 

[madscientist451]

80 gallons of hard cider is a slow year? The aronia berry might be somewhat acidic? I'd try 71-B wine yeast.


I'm a frugal brewer, and I usually make a "second run" of cider: For every 5 gallon bucket of pressed pomace I sprinkle about a gallon of water, add some enzyme and let it sit overnight, the next day I get maybe 1.5/2 gallons of juice that has a lower gravity and less taste than the first run. So sometimes If my first run had high gravity, I'll blend some of the second run back in, sometimes I boil it down and make a higher strength cider, or add frozen apple juice frozen grape juice, or berries like aronia. or even add LME and make a beer/cider hybrid.
The second run juice isn't as good as the fresh pressed, but its probably just as good as big box reconstituted concentrate like Kirkland.

 

[bu_gee]

I had good results with Notty in my ciders. I used a wine yeast for my first batch of cider and I was underwhelmed because it turned out more like a super-dry champagne than a cider. But if that is your thing, go for it.

 

[Shimmy1]

The second run juice isn't as good as the fresh pressed, but its probably just as good as big box reconstituted concentrate like Kirkland.

I'm not sure about that. This juice we used specifically says on the jug "not from concentrate". It's pretty good stuff.