Honey Peach Cider

CornyKegs 728
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I'm on day three bubbling away, very excited to taste my first ever home brew project.

Question - I was hoping for around 6 % following this recipe, but noticed my starting SG was 1.047 and OP was around 1.050. Would it hurt to add some sugar as I'm only on day 3 (small amt of boiled water, dissolved sugar, cooled to 65F) to give it a boost or should I just leave it? If it's ok how much table sugar should I add to 4.5 gals?

Also the orange blossom honey I got from wholefoods is raw. I read a lot of opinions in the mead section. I'd hate to ruin the honeys flavor but I'm wondering if I should pasteurize it at 160F before adding to the cider as it will have days before the bottle pasteurizing happens

Thanks

p.s. I dont feel like I have 100% of my wifes love and support of my new hobby now that out closet smells like "apple farts" :D Hopefully a nice honey peach cider on new years eve will bring her back to my way of thinking.
 
By 3 weeks it's usually in the 1.006-010 range and that's when I keg it up.
I never pasteurize the honey and I use a local raw honey. Your call I guess though.
 
KeyWestBrewing said:
By 3 weeks it's usually in the 1.006-010 range and that's when I keg it up.
I never pasteurize the honey and I use a local raw honey. Your call I guess though.
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Oh I'm only on day 3, not week 3. Still good bubbling action..thats why I thought I still had time to add some sugar without slowing down the process too much. Hopefullly by week 3 Ill be doing a little drinking :mug:
 
I haven't tried to kick up the abv on this recipe but if I ever do I had an idea how I would go about it. Swap some concentrate in place of some of the cider or boil down some of the cider making your own concentrate. Both will give you a higher gravity and it's still all sugars from the juice.
There's a million ways you could go about it that's just been my idea.
 
Probably not the best way to do it, but I took an extra bottle of peach nectar amd dumped it in from the start.
 
I have 5 gal of cider waiting to be bottled and i want to try this. So two questions: does the peach nectar produce a lot of extra sediment in the bottle? And is there any technique you use to get the honey mixed in well without aerating the cider?
 
vsusinga said:
I have 5 gal of cider waiting to be bottled and i want to try this. So two questions: does the peach nectar produce a lot of extra sediment in the bottle? And is there any technique you use to get the honey mixed in well without aerating the cider?
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No more sediment than a normal bottle primed beer/cider. Heat the honey up a bit and add a little at a time while your racking to the bottling bucket and slowly stir as you go. I also usually give another gentle stir a couple times through the bottling process. I don't know if it helps but I figure it can't hurt.
 
Thank you. I spoke with you before about my homemade nectar since i couldnt find Looza. Im not sure if i want to use it or not lol. I saw Jumex in the store but its contains. Sucralose, beta carotene, and citric acid. Im assuming none of these will affect carbonation if i use it?
 
I put a 5 gallon batch of this in the carboy today. I'm going to use extract instead of nectar. Think that will be ok? Would this be considered gluten free?

It will be close to 3 weeks before I can bottle, so I hope that's good!
 
I've only done it using nectar so I can't actually say. This should be gluten free since it's not made of grain. And 3 weeks is about the same amount of time I wait so you should be good.
 
So i did it. Mine turned out really tart. The last time i tasted it was several weeks ago though. Question. Does the flavor continue to change with age even though i pasteurized it? I was thinking that since the yeast are dead, that would affect the aging.
 
The high ABV% cider I made 2 or so years ago was pasteurized, and last time I checked was a lot smoother than I remembered. Based on ABV, it is technically apple wine. I have not used peach extract with apple cider, but I have used apricot extract with favorable results. In my experience, if I add extract until I get the exact flavor I want, 6 months later the extract flavor overpowers the apple flavor and not in a favorable way. You might want to make bottles with differing amounts of extract, and wait six months or so to see which version or versions you like best. I use a dropper to measure extract in small quantities. Depending on the viscosity of the extract, there are between 600 and 900 drops per liquid ounce. Some cider makers use 1 liquid ounce of extract per gallon, and some use much less. A gallon is approximately ten-12oz bottles, so you might start with 1/16 tsp in the first bottle, then 1/8, 3/16, 1/4, etc. You may have an even better idea, good luck.
 
It will definitely change with age. It's a little weird though. Fresh it's really good then it kind of goes into a rut for a while. After the "sick period" the flavors come back a lot smoother and more refined. Kind of like Cuban cigars lol.

Having said all that when I make it the batch generally doesn't last very long :D
 
I may have missed this, but instead of stove top pasteurization can you chill it in a fridge to stop carbonation?

New to this hobby so still feeling my way around.
 
Murphys_Law said:
I may have missed this, but instead of stove top pasteurization can you chill it in a fridge to stop carbonation?

New to this hobby so still feeling my way around.
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Its a really fine line and once its overcarbed theres no going back. Im sure it can be done but theres a peace of mind to knowing you won't have any glass grenades ready to explode any minute. Kind of ironic given your user name lol.
 
Going to give this a try, thanks for posting. I've never tried bottle pasteurization though - is there a risk of the bottles shattering in the heat? I usually just kill the yeast then backsweeten and settle for a still cider.
 
I have only had one bottle blow during pasteurizing and that was in the dishwasher; I figured it was a weak bottle. Stove top only for me ever since. I still hear glass moving around in the dishwasher when the pump runs.
 
Question for the OP if you are still around. I plan on making this in a few days and have a few questions.

-I see you said you oxygenate before pitching for about 50 seconds. How many LPM do you have your regulator set for? I have the Williams brewing o2 setup and love it.

-I keg and force carbonate everything I brew. Sometimes I'll bottle from the keg with a counter pressure bottle filler just to have some in bottles to give to people. Just want to make sure I'm on the right page here. With kegging, there is no need to pasteurize correct? That is only needed if bottle carbing?

-Honey! I am lucky enough to live in a part of California where we have a ton of farms. I get the orange blossom local honey that's made 5 mins from my house. With your recipe, I see you add 1# of honey to backsweeten. Would this amount change for someone who is kegging? My plan would be to heat up the honey, add to bottom of keg, then do a co2 pressurized transfer from the conical like I do with my beer and hope it all mixes well. I may purge out all o2 with co2 and roll the keg around a bit to mix everything up, let sit in the keezer a few days to settle down from the shaking of the keg, and then force carb. Sound good so far?

-if I wanted to make say a berry flavored cider using this recipe, would I still add the honey? Wasn't sure if the honey was used for flavor or just to sweeten and then the flavoring came from the peach juice, etc?

Thanks for any input.
 
BrewinSoldier said:
Question for the OP if you are still around. I plan on making this in a few days and have a few questions.

-I see you said you oxygenate before pitching for about 50 seconds. How many LPM do you have your regulator set for? I have the Williams brewing o2 setup and love it.

-I keg and force carbonate everything I brew. Sometimes I'll bottle from the keg with a counter pressure bottle filler just to have some in bottles to give to people. Just want to make sure I'm on the right page here. With kegging, there is no need to pasteurize correct? That is only needed if bottle carbing?

-Honey! I am lucky enough to live in a part of California where we have a ton of farms. I get the orange blossom local honey that's made 5 mins from my house. With your recipe, I see you add 1# of honey to backsweeten. Would this amount change for someone who is kegging? My plan would be to heat up the honey, add to bottom of keg, then do a co2 pressurized transfer from the conical like I do with my beer and hope it all mixes well. I may purge out all o2 with co2 and roll the keg around a bit to mix everything up, let sit in the keezer a few days to settle down from the shaking of the keg, and then force carb. Sound good so far?

-if I wanted to make say a berry flavored cider using this recipe, would I still add the honey? Wasn't sure if the honey was used for flavor or just to sweeten and then the flavoring came from the peach juice, etc?

Thanks for any input.
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All sounds good. I use the Williams set up as well though honestly I don't even know what I set it to. I crank it to somewhere in the midrange usually.
The honey I like to use either way. I think it helps bring out the apple flavor and if your using good stuff it will add it's own character as well. If your kegging it you can skip pasteurizing just remember you won't be able to bottle it without pasteurizing the bottles.
 
Just noticed one thing. Instead of adding the honey to the keg first I slowly pour it in while the beer is racking. I can't say adding the honey first doesn't work because I've never tried it but seems like you'd have a better chance of it mixing more evenly if you add it in slowly. Definitely warm it up a little though your right on there.
 
SO... how genuinely PEACHY is this? I am working with two needs:

1.) I am bound and determined to make an apple/peach cider;

and

2.) The wifely one and friends (i.e. the ones who actually drink most of my work) like VERY sweet ciders. Example: their favorite is the Caramel Apple cider recipe here. They also like my ginger beer, which I bottle and pasteurize at SG = 1.035, so you get the idea.

I tried once using the canned, pureed fruit the winemakers use... not nearly sweet enough. Rats.


They want it sweet, I want it peachy. So, long story short, I'm looking for a sweet peach BOMB!

It seems to me the one bottle of nectar wouldn't be enough for what I need. Semi-sweet, "ooh, I think I taste the peach right there at the end" ain't gonna cut it. Should I kick it up a notch? My thought was to do the math, figure out the total grams of sugar supplied by the honey, and substitute however much nectar was required to meet that sugar amount. Suggestions, Oh great cider-gurus of HBT?

:mug:
 
I have no issues tasting the peach but in your case I'd buy an extra bottle of peach nectar and add to taste if you wish. The honey is the part I usually mess around with depending how sweet I want the cider.
While I'm usually all about going by the numbers this is one of those things you've got to do by feel IMO. Go by your taste and trust your palate to tell you what amounts you like.
 
I live in Oklahoma, and I cannot find any peach nectar in any of the gro.stores. If you don't mind telling me where you bought your nectar?

mtnman68
 
mtnman68 said:
I live in Oklahoma, and I cannot find any peach nectar in any of the gro.stores. If you don't mind telling me where you bought your nectar?

mtnman68
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Luckily I get it from the grocery store down the st. Maybe check some specialty markets or little Hispanic shops if there's any around.
 
mtnman68 said:
I live in Oklahoma, and I cannot find any peach nectar in any of the gro.stores. If you don't mind telling me where you bought your nectar?

mtnman68
Click to expand...

I have found it in the grocery store in the hispanic or ethnic aisle if you have one. If you have Cost Plus World Market around you, they typically have it too.
 
SoCalJames said:
I have found it in the grocery store in the hispanic or ethnic aisle if you have one. If you have Cost Plus World Market around you, they typically have it too.
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Awesome, that is good to know. I had to order mine online because I couldnt find it in any stores. The shipping was hard to swallow. I will go grab a few bottles of other flavors to try if Cost Plus near me has it. I need to find a place that has 1 gallon jugs of actual cider near me now.

For this batch, I used 4 gallons of Martenelli's gold label apple juice, and one gallon of Tree top 3 apple blend. I used US-05 because that is all I had. Dumped it all in the conical and brought the temp down to 66 degrees. Oxygenated with the Oxy wand set at 1PPM for 60 seconds so I could get 10PPM of oxygen. Then pitched the yeast dry without rehydrating. Started this on 05/02/16 in the evening and SG was 13.0 brix. I just checked it right now after 10 days in the fermenter and it is down to 5.2 brix which is 1.001 current gravity/6.8%ABV, just so nobody has to try and calculate it. 2 days ago when I checked it was at 7.2 brix and even now there is still some activity going on in the blow off tube. I am going to keep letting it go.

When I add the honey and flavoring, how much will that drop the ABV?

For this batch, since I didn't use cider, and I didn't have the Nottingham yeast when I started it, I am just going to split the batch into two different kegs and and try one with honey and a strawberry/raspberry nectar I found.. The other 2.5 gallon keg I will use a 100% fresh pressed pomegranate juice I found.

One question for the OP, would you cut the honey and juices in half if you split the batch? Also, with adding the honey back in for sweetness, I know you said it brings out the apple flavor, but can you actually taste the honey in the finished product? If so, is it overwhelming to where that most of what you taste?

Thanks again,
Dan:rockin:
 
1L juice will drop the ABV by about .5%. I would cut the ratios in half at first and see how they taste. Then if you want more add more. I think my original ratios are good but I'm a fan of tweaking things like this to taste. I aim to get some honey character in my batches but not anything overwhelming or cloying. It should be distinguishable but balanced.
 
Thanks for the response. How do you think the commercial cider companies go about sweetening theirs. Do you think they use honey or just add in more cider at the end?
 
KWB, have you tried Safale S-04 with this recipe. I have some laying around and figured it should do the job??
 
Sudsyone said:
KWB, have you tried Safale S-04 with this recipe. I have some laying around and figured it should do the job??
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Yea in the past I did side by side tests with the different dry yeasts. Nottingham IMO makes for the best cider. The others throw off too many esters while Notty is always clean and neutral.
I don't think S-04 is terrible, certainly better than US05, but not something I would personally use.
 
Sudsyone said:
Just pitched S-04 last night. We will see how it comes out. So poured 5 gallons store bought AJ and 3 cups sugar for a SG of 1.062. Looking for a 6.5% finisher. Already bubbling this am, love when that happens! Only decent nectar I could find is this...

Couldn't find any peach but I'm sure this will do
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make sure to post back with how it turns out
 

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