Hi,
I've only made one cider (apple), and that was years ago. It was ok, but nothing great. My wife is the cider drinker, and she had a plum cider a few years ago that she raves about. I keep meaning to try another one, so I thought I'd make a plum cider this winter.
I was not having much luck finding the necessary ingredient until a fellow member mentioned Coloma Frozen Foods. They sell a Red Plum Concentrate that is made with 100% fruit juice and has a brix of 65. I'm planning to make a three-gallon batch, so I was thinking two of their quart size concentrate, diluted with 2.5 gallons of distilled water. The site says the recommended ratio is 1:467, yielding 1.25 gallons per quart of concentrate. My ratio would be 1:5, which I wouldn't think is too far off the recommended ratio.
I'm planning to use SafCider AB-1 (Balanced) dry yeast. I can't find any information on it's attenuation range, so I'm not sure how to calculate my expected F.G. I haven't decided on a target ABV yet, but I'll probably shoot for something in the 5-7% range.
This seemed pretty straight forward until I put it into BeerSmith. It's giving me an estimated O.G. of 1.055. Unless I'm missing something, wouldn't two quarts of 65 brix concentrate, diluted with ten quarts of water, create a three gallon solution with a Brix around 10.83? My calculator says that's an O.G. of 1.043. BeerSmith also shows a F.G. of 0.997, for an ABV of 7.9%, but again, I don't think the O.G. is correct, and I don't know if the F.G. is either since I wasn't able to provide the correct attenuation range when I added this yeast to BeerSmith.
My other question is on process. The Coloma site says it's pure juice, no preservatives or other additives, so I assume I'll need to heat it at least to a pasteurization temp, if not a low boil, to kill any potential wild yeast?
As I said, I need help with this one. Anything is appreciated, but a sample recipe would be great, as would advice on process (heating/boiling) or anything else.
Thanks for your help!
I've only made one cider (apple), and that was years ago. It was ok, but nothing great. My wife is the cider drinker, and she had a plum cider a few years ago that she raves about. I keep meaning to try another one, so I thought I'd make a plum cider this winter.
I was not having much luck finding the necessary ingredient until a fellow member mentioned Coloma Frozen Foods. They sell a Red Plum Concentrate that is made with 100% fruit juice and has a brix of 65. I'm planning to make a three-gallon batch, so I was thinking two of their quart size concentrate, diluted with 2.5 gallons of distilled water. The site says the recommended ratio is 1:467, yielding 1.25 gallons per quart of concentrate. My ratio would be 1:5, which I wouldn't think is too far off the recommended ratio.
I'm planning to use SafCider AB-1 (Balanced) dry yeast. I can't find any information on it's attenuation range, so I'm not sure how to calculate my expected F.G. I haven't decided on a target ABV yet, but I'll probably shoot for something in the 5-7% range.
This seemed pretty straight forward until I put it into BeerSmith. It's giving me an estimated O.G. of 1.055. Unless I'm missing something, wouldn't two quarts of 65 brix concentrate, diluted with ten quarts of water, create a three gallon solution with a Brix around 10.83? My calculator says that's an O.G. of 1.043. BeerSmith also shows a F.G. of 0.997, for an ABV of 7.9%, but again, I don't think the O.G. is correct, and I don't know if the F.G. is either since I wasn't able to provide the correct attenuation range when I added this yeast to BeerSmith.
My other question is on process. The Coloma site says it's pure juice, no preservatives or other additives, so I assume I'll need to heat it at least to a pasteurization temp, if not a low boil, to kill any potential wild yeast?
As I said, I need help with this one. Anything is appreciated, but a sample recipe would be great, as would advice on process (heating/boiling) or anything else.
Thanks for your help!