Long Term Cider Project

[phendog]

Any thoughts or recommendations?

Brought back 5 gallons of pure fresh pressed cider to Suffolk VA from a local orchard in Titusville, PA the weekend after Thanksgiving.

I got the cider the night before I departed for home and hit it with Campden.. Next day I ran to the local HBS and picked up some White Labs English Cider yeast and pitched.

OG 3 Dec: 1.055 - bumped it just a bit with table sugar

Today I racked the 1.007 cider on top of 3 pounds of fresh cherries that I pitted and hit with Campden for 24hrs. Cider was fairly clear and think most of the yeast flocked out, but I'm sure I picked up some in the transfer.

Gonna let it go a week and make sure the fermentation doesn't take off to strongly. If it does, I'll kill the yeast off and let it age on the cherries for a couple months. Don't really care if it gets to dry as I am going to back sweeten anyhow, but sure would be nice to pick up the taste of the cherries.

My plan is to split the batch, kill half with Campden and bottle and prime the other half and bottle. I'll fill a plastic bottle up to check firmness and make sure CO2 production isn't getting out of hand.

Plan is to drink the first on T-Giving 2017.

 

[Maylar]

Campden doesn't kill anything. You can't stop an active ferment.

Let it sit on the fruit for 3-4 weeks and give it a taste. If you like the color and taste, rack off the cherries and let it finish fermenting until the yeast stops. Once it's clear and ready for bottling you can split the batch and do as you like. If you want to prevent further fermentation after sweetening you'll need potassium sorbate and campden together. But this only works if the yeast is mostly gone (clear cider, no lees).

 

[phendog]

Thanks Maylar.

I make prison houch from time to time in 1 gallon jugs with 3 cans of apple or apple/something concentrate, cup of sugar and water top off. I hit it with a crushed Campden tablet about the 45 - 50 day mark. It's hazy at that point = kinda clear/kinda cloudy.

10 days after adding the campden, the liquid is perfectly clear,.. so I assumed the yeast died off and fell. It always goes into pint mason jars with a ring and a lid, then into the fridge and never noticed any gas upon opening, but the cold is probably keeping any remaining live yeast at bay.

My brother does this as well, but bottles with a cork. Hasn't had one bust yet and it's never sparkling. {edit} carbonated.

Thoughts??

 

[TandemTails]

It's not sparkling because the champagne yeast will have no problems fermenting apple juice + sugar dry. The only potential you'd have for bottle bombs is if you added more sugar right before bottling.

I like the flavor of cherry + cider so i think you picked a good addition.

 

[phendog]

PART II:

Ok,...so I let the cider sit on the cherries for three weeks. It cleared and is sitting at 1.007 from 1.055. I racked 3 1/2 gals into a smaller carboy and the remaining into a 1 gal jug. I picked up some Cherry pulp in the one gallon, but that is ok. I really love what the cherries did and it has an awesome taste - light, crips and refreshing with just the right amount of dryness for wifey. The apple is still there a bit and you can pick up the cherries on the back end.

I want to experiment with the 1 gal though. Thinking about 1/2 cup of sugar in a simple syrup and adding 1/8 tsb of EC-118 to get some more points. It it goes to dry I will back sweeten with organic cold pressed black cherry juice after it's done and hit it with potassium sorbate and campden. Thoughts?

 

[Maylar]

White labs says that yeast is good for 8-12%, I think I'd see if your gallon experiment wakes up without adding more yeast.

 

[TandemTails]

That's a beautiful color!