Ribena Cyser

[Jon Eduardo]

Had to scratch the itch to brew. My original plan was a straight cyser, but that Ribena Blackcurrant bottle caught my eye. Grabbed it, together with a couple of liters of pasteurized apple juice.

On caveat though, I have to boil the Ribena to somehow neuter the sulfite and sorbate added, as per practice of guys using this cordial, may it be strawberry or blackcurrant. So I simmered the whole 1 liter of blackcurrant cordial for 30 minutes just for good measure. Others do it in 15.

I have no idea if this can be classified as a true Cyser, since the Ribena has 620 grams of glucose per liter, which I have to take into account when computing for the OG.

This is how I did my 1 Gallon-ish (4.5 liters) of Ribena (flavored) Cyser.

2.2 liters Pasteurized Apple Juice (got extra 200 ml juice pack - freebie)
1 liter Ribena Blackcurrant Cordial (simmered for 30 mins)
460 grams Raw Honey (Australian Multi-floral)
1 packet Lalvin 71B
1/4 tsp Nutrient (initial, additional 3/4 tsp in 3 portions)
1 tsp Energizer/ Minerals (wheat germ based)
1 tsp Cream of Tartar
1/4 tsp Pectolase
1 tsp Powdered Eggshell (acid buffer)
1 cup Strong Tea (1 cup hot water with 6 Lipton tea bags)​

I chose 71B for this brew because of its ability to consume malic acid, used the whole packet. It may seem overkill but I am on unfamiliar territory. As I was doing in moonshine wash before, when in doubt, over-pitch.

The must is a bit tart, starting pH is at 4.3, must be the loads of Vit. C added in the cordial and apple juice, without the eggshell addition, the pH is at 3.2 - not good.

Starting OG 1.092 or 22 Brix. If all goes well, it will hit 18 ABV. But if 71B holds true to it's specs, it will croak at 14 ABV, leaving a semi sweet wine.

Although, I still have the option to spike the fermentation by adding a pitching of K1V-1116 in the last sugar break to push it to dry finish. Guess I will have to cross that bridge when I get there.

So here it is, bubbling merrily at 1 pop every 26 seconds, 2 hours after pitching.

So, Ribena can ferment after all. This will be interesting.

 

[Maylar]

The must is a bit tart, starting pH is at 4.3, must be the loads of Vit. C added in the cordial and apple juice, without the eggshell addition, the pH is at 3.2 - not good.

Starting OG 1.092 or 22 Brix. If all goes well, it will hit 18 ABV. But if 71B holds true to it's specs, it will croak at 14 ABV, leaving a semi sweet wine.

1.092 will get you 12% ABV. 71B would probably handle 3.2 pH OK. Did you measure TA?

 

[MarkKF]

Love your vessel. Is it all glass, all plastic or is just the top plastic?

 

[Jon Eduardo]

1.092 will get you 12% ABV. 71B would probably handle 3.2 pH OK. Did you measure TA?

Thanks for the correction. I really have to go back to using hydrometer. This refractometer is confusing. I have no means of measuring TA at the moment, but the cordial and the juices are drowning in ascorbic acid, hence the low pH.

On the positive side, this means I can add more honey!

 

[Jon Eduardo]

Love your vessel. Is it all glass, all plastic or is just the top plastic?

It's all glass, that is why my housemates don't like watching me while I clean the thing in the kitchen sink. It's nerve racking to handle.

It's a Bormioli Fido 5L, found it in a local provision shop near where I work. I drilled the top with a 12mm diamond coated bit, at work, in full view of my boss and colleagues. They had one heck of a scare, I drilled 2 tops...

Anything for the alcohol, I mean the hobby...

 

[piojo]

Do let us know how it turns out! By the way, if the egg shell is an effective buffer, it will still take time to have any effect, right? Because egg shell takes a long time to dissolve in dilute acids. (I suppose it could be fast if the eggshell is powdered to dust.)

Also, 71B will metabolize malic acid, sometimes too much, so depending on what acid is in the Ribena, it may become less sour. Apples definitely have malic acid, so it may end up less sour/acidic than you like. Correct it at the end.

 

[Jon Eduardo]

Do let us know how it turns out! By the way, if the egg shell is an effective buffer, it will still take time to have any effect, right? Because egg shell takes a long time to dissolve in dilute acids. (I suppose it could be fast if the eggshell is powdered to dust.)

Also, 71B will metabolize malic acid, sometimes too much, so depending on what acid is in the Ribena, it may become less sour. Apples definitely have malic acid, so it may end up less sour/acidic than you like. Correct it at the end.

I did pulverize the eggshells with a coffee grinder and a mortar and pestle, ending up in a cornstarch consistency. A trick I learned from South Africa whom I worked with 10 years ago. In this case, size (particle) do really matter, the finer, the better.

The reaction was quite fast, an hour give or take, with a bit of stirring with a hand drill and a wine degasser (coat hanger..). As I have read a few times, eggshells are a combination of calcium and magnesium, IIRC good for the yeast as a mineral source.

Regarding the acid content of the ribena and apple juice, amounts: no idea, but it said on the labels that they are fortified with Vit. C - citric acid.

I will definitely do another pH test on the first sugar break, just to be sure.

 

[piojo]

@Jon Eduardo FYI, vitamin C is ascorbic acid. Fun fact: lemons are 500 ppm vitamin C, but have a much, much higher amount of citric acid. It's convenient stuff to keep around the house any time you want to acidify something! I used it for rinsing (home made) PBW out of bottles yesterday, so the PBW doesn't interfere with the sanitizer in the next stage. (On the other hand, I could have just acidified the sanitizer more strongly.)

 

[Jon Eduardo]

Yeah, ascorbic acid. I was distracted by the lady walking by. Hehe

 

[GeneDaniels1963]

anything fermented with Ribena is high on the acidic side. It can turn out nice, but it will need to age a while. My Ribena wine needed 2 years before it was drinkable, and a Ribena cider is still not good after 18 months.

 

[shetc]

Ribena, huh. What about Irn Bru?

 

[Jon Eduardo]

Update on this brew. I had to dump it. It got stuck 3 times, cold crashed and racked it twice to clear the dead yeast at the bottom. Last pitching resulted to a white slime on top of the liquid.
Fermentation restarts and runs for a day then stops dead on its tracks. Always resulted to a very foul smelling off gassing, worse than rotten egg smell.
Basically killed 3 yeast strains I used, 71B, K1V, and EC-1118. That much toxic.
Looking back at the amounts of the Ribena I used, it was double the amount of what is commonly used.
I might try this again in the future, using lesser amount of Ribena, with the planets in alignment....
I chalk this one to experience. Helluva ride!

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Ribena, huh. What about Irn Bru?

It's a nod to the various ways of serving cider (often mixed with eg lager) with a blackcurrant top. The West Country variation is Vimto, and I have had a "pre-mixed" Vimto cider but I guess it was just backsweetened with Vimto rather than fermented with it.

If you're getting sulphur then that might point to a yeast nutrition problem?

 

[Jon Eduardo]

It's a nod to the various ways of serving cider (often mixed with eg lager) with a blackcurrant top. The West Country variation is Vimto, and I have had a "pre-mixed" Vimto cider but I guess it was just backsweetened with Vimto rather than fermented with it.

If you're getting sulphur then that might point to a yeast nutrition problem?

With regards to yeast nutrient, I used 1tsp of Fermax for the whole lot in total. It's the only I have in hand. I have used it in my other brews, all have been successful.

The smell it was giving off; it was more than a sulfur smell, more like a puke smelling rotten durian (no offense to durian, i like it as a fruit, exotic, better than viagra ). The smell of the brew was so bad that even flies rushes inside the flatin swarms, in less than a minute when I racked it, and I am staying on the 18th floor!

So I had to do the only logical thing to do, down the toilet it went. It did not smell nice, by right it will not taste nice.

Next brew please....

 

[piojo]

I see you pasteurized it, so I'm not sure why this happened, but it certainly sounds infected.

My first thought was that the Ribena came that way, only temporarily protected by acidity, lack of oxygen, and osmotic pressure. (Like honey, which can have yeasts, bacteria, and even botulism spores.) You diluted, buffered, and aerated, so it became a microbial soup. That shouldn't have happened due to the simmering, but there are some thermophilic food spoilage microbes. It seems unlikely that Ribena would be full of them, but it's all I can think of.

 

[Jon Eduardo]

I see you pasteurized it, so I'm not sure why this happened, but it certainly sounds infected.

My first thought was that the Ribena came that way, only temporarily protected by acidity, lack of oxygen, and osmotic pressure. (Like honey, which can have yeasts, bacteria, and even botulism spores.) You diluted, buffered, and aerated, so it became a microbial soup. That shouldn't have happened due to the simmering, but there are some thermophilic food spoilage microbes. It seems unlikely that Ribena would be full of them, but it's all I can think of.

My best bet with what has happened was the sudden change of weather around here. As most of my friends says, the country has two seasons, raining and not raining, and that happens within an eighteen hour span. Plus during the ferment, I noticed some grayish mold blooms on top of cupboards, and sudden wind gusts sprayed the spores all through out my working area. It may have been the cause, despite my diligent efforts on cleaning and vacuuming prior my tending sessions.

Since that brew, I stopped doing my preparations near the living room area. Clean air conditioned room seems to be the answer, no dust, do dampness, no nosy housemates, no infection .

So far my next batch of hard cider is underway, fermenting very strong and almost running dry, very fragrant, the way it should be. Just cold crashed that spitting and bucking 1 gallon of alcohol joy a few hours ago. Cheers!