Plumber's Cider

[SoCalPlumber]

White grape 20 day ferment

24oz left from a 96 juice bottle. This works. Not a Blueberry taste but a "berry" general taste and a total win win for me.

Solara aj with Blueberry

Takes it to a whole new level. This be the sh!ts. May even cause them if I drink too much of it

What'a do? Actually this is the plan, add the berries 36+/- hrs before crash.

Next month strawberries be cooking. I can't wait for a homemade strawberry cider. And then loquat cider.

This just keeps getting better and better

 

[SoCalPlumber]

I don't know where else to post this but Smart & Final has a deal. Download their app and get a digital coupon: store brand apple juice or cider $0.99 a gallon up to 3 gallons. I bought 5 Ciders, all they had. $1.99 on sale otherwise which is the going rate.

Took a half gallon from #1 & #2 96oz bottles of Solera aj. It is now beginning to taste like alcohol. It's always given me a buzz but there's little of the apple juice flavor left. Amazing. I never would have guessed. I filled both up with more fresh juice, no sugar water this time but will start weekly juice/sugar water as I steal some.

Up this weekend is the apple cider I started a couple weeks ago.

This just keeps getting better and better I grew some purple weed last year and it goes real well with this booze I honestly hope your body never hurts as bad as mine

Haven't even looked at the fermenting water in days

I'm lovin' it

 

[SoCalPlumber]

Holy smokes, just poured the last of the half gallon. Even just fermented and tasting of booze this is outstanding I have no clue how anyone can "age" this crack. Are you kidding me?

If you're thinking of trying this DO IT. AND DO IT NOW. No special equipment, no idea of the alcohol percentage but my and your ancestors did something similar and they knew a thing or two

 

[fluketamer]

yes its very tough to age beer cider wine mead etc. the only solution is to make lots and lots of it . you got to make it faster than you can drink it to get a good pipe line and aging stash going.

when i make ciders and fruit wine, i always regret not making larger batches

 

[fluketamer]

next up testing natural sorbitol
batch 1 :
1/2 gallon of fuji apple juice
1/2 gallon of motts
m10 ale yeast
1 cup of black tea
yeast nutirent and pectinase
juice of half a lime

batch 2
1 liter of pear juice
3 liter apple juice
m10 ale yeast
1 cup of black tea
yeast nutirent and pectinase
juice of half a lime

and since im bottling that i should have space for my next fruit cider :

blueberry:

1 liter bilberry juice
2 gallons of motts
3 blueberry tea bags in 1 cup of water
m10 ale yeast
yeast nutirent and pectinase
juice of half a lime

very excited for this one. i will keg about a gallon with more bilberry juice and AJ for back sweetening.

i plan to bottle the other gallon with bilberry juice, and priming sugar and try to pasteurize them after about a week or two before they explode - lol


this should put me in cider for a while and give me a chance to age some of it properly.

 

[leedspointbrew]

Here's a question :

Inspired by this thread, I threw 2 gal of Mott's apple juice on my Irish Red yeast cake, two weeks ago. Took a taste from the fermenter's spigot, it does indeed taste like alcoholic cider, but very dry, like wine; this, however, from what I've read is not unexpected.
So I got some potassium sorbate to stabilize the cider, halt the fermentation. Also got some ginger syrup, that I was going to add to some more apple juice to backsweeten, after cider is stabilized.
My question is process. How do I do this? Rack the cider into a secondary fermenter, add the sorbate, stir, add the ginger-tinctured juice, let sit, then bottle? Nothing that I've read seems super clear on process of getting the fermented cider off of the yeast cake.
Thanks for anyone willing to offer input.

 

[Fixerman]

Here's a question :

Inspired by this thread, I threw 2 gal of Mott's apple juice on my Irish Red yeast cake, two weeks ago. Took a taste from the fermenter's spigot, it does indeed taste like alcoholic cider, but very dry, like wine; this, however, from what I've read is not unexpected.
So I got some potassium sorbate to stabilize the cider, halt the fermentation. Also got some ginger syrup, that I was going to add to some more apple juice to backsweeten, after cider is stabilized.
My question is process. How do I do this? Rack the cider into a secondary fermenter, add the sorbate, stir, add the ginger-tinctured juice, let sit, then bottle? Nothing that I've read seems super clear on process of getting the fermented cider off of the yeast cake.
Thanks for anyone willing to offer input.

Others will likely have better information, but here's what I've learned from experience and extensive reading:

1. I press apples in Oct, ferment in 5-gal glass carboys and leave it sitting on the lees until March. I understand the benefits to racking it off the lees when primary fermentation is complete, but I prefer leaving it on them. (Note: there's some risk leaving the cider on the lees, but also potential benefits.)

2. I let the cider sit until March (well beyond fermentation), I use a siphon to rack it from the carboy into a keg, being careful not to pull any lees into the keg. I immediately stabilize with Campden tablets (potassium metabisulfite) and potassium sorbate. The two of them together are more effective than just one of them. From what I've learned, it's fine to add them at the same time. I put around 10 PSI of CO2 into the keg, disconnect the gas, then purge the keg for a couple of seconds. This releases the oxygen, leaving a protective layer of CO2 behind. You then need to let the cider sit for a day or two to give the sulfite and sorbate time to do their thing. If you don't have a keg, you can rack into a clean carboy, but you need to top off the carboy so it's full up into the neck. The idea is to minimize exposure to oxygen. I'll defer to others with more knowledge as to what to top off the carboy with, since I don't do that. Ideally, you'd use fermented cider. You don't need to top off if you're racking into a keg because the CO2 provides a protective layer

3. I wait two days after stabilizing then back-sweeten with maple syrup, reconnect the gas, force carbonate, then bottle. I've been doing this for six years with great results.