Adding Fresh Peppers to Cider with Fruit

[EricKitt]

Hello All,

My wife bought me some equipment to brew cider with over Christmas and I'm two weeks into my first batch. I started with 5 gallons of pasteurized cider, added my yeast and nutrients and let it ferment for a week until I saw the airlock come to a standstill.

I then racked the 5 gallons into 4 separate 1 gallon jugs and two smaller mason jars and added some frozen fruit to each of them after freezing/thawing it a few times. Strawberries, peaches, raspberries, blueberries, cherries, and pomegranate/cranberry.

I threw on some airlocks and let them sit for about a week now. There was activity in the airlocks, the strawberries actually had a lot, but they're starting to slow down now.

What I would like to do next is taste each of them then maybe add peppers to two of them, jalapeno to the strawberry and habanero to the raspberry.

What is the best way to do this? Remove the stem and seeds from the peppers, put them in a cheesecloth bag and just drop it them directly into the jug for a few days? How do I sanitize the peppers? Let them soak in some vodka? Should I remove the fruit now? That leads to my follow on question.

How should I remove the fruit from jugs once I'm completely done and ready to transfer the cider into bottles for carbonation/drinking. Do I pour the cider through a strainer (removing the fruit) into another container, back sweeten that, then add some priming sugar and transfer it again to a bottle? Do I use a racking cane and just rack from the bottom of the jug, most of the fruit is at the top still.

Sorry, lots.of.qurstions, I might have went crazy with my first brewing experience with all the fruit additions, lol.

I think next time I'd like to add the fruit to some bags and drop it in the cider to eliminate this issue of removing it.

 

[sugar and fruit]

A bit late for jalapeno advise but my first attempt, 2 years ago, was similar to yours.
I just used imported Motts aple juice, wine yeast and sugar and finished with a very non ciderish but acceptable tipple.
Put crushed red berries in half and that was the nicer mix.

Chillies and ginger I used in an oranges only brew, bitter on bitter was perhaps not the choice but you do get that mulled taste. Never repeated it though, too distinct a taste and its just not like spicy food.

Have you continued with brewing or gave up cus it did not taste like the cider you expected?

Where I live I have access to cheap fruits and sugar but virtually no equipement or chemicals. My yeast is filtered from the residue of previous batches all way back to that original attempt.

If you are still going, let me know and I can share my experiences of going crazy with fruits and the simple filtering processes I use.

 

[doublejef]

If you are still going, let me know and I can share my experiences of going crazy with fruits and the simple filtering processes I use.

Please tell us more.

 

[sugar and fruit]

What is the best way to do this? Remove the stem and seeds from the peppers, put them in a cheesecloth bag and just drop it them directly into the jug for a few days? How do I sanitize the peppers? Let them soak in some vodka? Should I remove the fruit now? That leads to my follow on question.

How should I remove the fruit from jugs once I'm completely done and ready to transfer the cider into bottles for carbonation/drinking. Do I pour the cider through a strainer (removing the fruit) into another container, back sweeten that, then add some priming sugar and transfer it again to a bottle? Do I use a racking cane and just rack from the bottom of the jug, most of the fruit is at the top still.

Sorry, lots.of.qurstions, I might have went crazy with my first brewing experience with all the fruit additions, lol.

I would love to doublejef but you would have to be more specific.......... like EricKitt was- poor guy was crying out for help and no one came to help him, he is probably still sat in his pantry holding dried out chillies and staring at pickled fruits buried in sediment.

 

[doublejef]

Ok.
Which kind of fruit did you use?
You ferment it alone or with apple juice? I mean, do you make like fruit hard cider or apple cider with fruit?
If answer 2, do you press the fruit and add the juice to apple cider or do you put the fruit directly in it?
Which one do you think was the best and why?
Do you think some fruit can bring som kind of sweetness impression as it is something often missing into hard cider for a lot of people?

 

[sugar and fruit]

To be clear, I make fruit wines, as my initial attempt at Motts apple juice, sugar and yeast, was not cider. Using out of date Lalvin wine yeast did not help. Tried local pears with amazoned Red Star and ended up with pear wine.

My advice to the OP would have been general, about filtering and sharing experiences of fruit use, not cider specific.
Also as a first attempt, not fret too much about complicated must do processes , just brew.

I have no press, so I throw in chopped or blended fruit, peel and all.
I soak removed fruits and beans for more juice, , osmosis sucks out loads of nutrients and yeast

I use local South American fruits, half of which I dont know the English names.
I avoid acidic fruits as they start off ok but dont seem to last when bottled. Including water melon.
Oranges, I dont get a bad smell, are high in juice and the peel ferments well, add berries later to avoid bitterness
Bananas, lots of nutrients but turn to floaty clouds and never stop fermenting, good for a starter.

Sugared corn or any other cheap grains as a base. Sit or 2 weeks, add fruits till drained of colour and you get a mental fermentation when cleaned and more sugar is added.

Whole fruits produce a lot of sediment but it will settle to a fertile slurry. Justs keeps fermenting no matter how many times I add water. In fact, I end up starting new batches just not to waste that bubbling wonder.

So in regards to cider....... can only suggest brewing the fruits seperate for easier filtering and add to the main brew later.
Blended or chopped whole fruits to increase surface area

Sweet better, Mangoes, red berries, papaya etc. Rasberries are my go to to sweeten up any mix but I have found too much of any fruit will be overpowering and in truth, you rarely get a ditinct taste of the fruit you re using anyway, its not friut flavoured gelo.

Bitter in small quantities and take your chances.. Forget pineapple........

Chillies, it aint a curry, dont bother

That was far from a professional resume of practices but some might find bits helpful