Apple & Feijoa/Pineapple Guava

[crusader1612]

I'm getting gear together to make an Apple and Feijoa cider.

This is the recipe being used, I've taken this from numerous threads which has other fruit flavours, although with feijoa being a very tart fruit: See here http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feijoa

for those who still use gallons etc I'm sorry ive added approximate sizes: we use metric units (litres) in New Zealand. :rockin:

15 Litres of 100% Apple Juice in 3 litre bottles. 4(gal)
3 Litres of Feijoa Juice from the supermarket in 1 litre bottles(I could only find The juice with 30 % feijoa in it the rest is apple juice) Probably because its so tart. (1gal)
500Grams of Dextrose, 1 kg packet purchased.... (1lb)

1 Campden Tablet
Feijoas frozen for awhile, then thawed and flesh removed(weight to be confirmed, depends how many i can get off the tree). This will be mashed with the campden tablet.
Champagne Yeast 1-2 packets

The feijoa fruit itself will be added to secondary and transfer after probably 2 weeks, and be left again for a good period of time.

then bottled and conditioned for probably 2 months or so.

finally i get to my questions:
should i use one or two packets of yeast?
and should i warm the juice up and add the sugar to it, i have 5 bottles of apple and 3 bottles of the feijoa stuff?
the last thing is should i boil or just wamr or do none of the above?

Was thinking about adding two bottles of apple and one bottle of feijoa, then warming up two apples and two feijoas, with the sugar. , then top up with the last bottle of apple and add the yeast accordingly.

thoughts everyone? thanks. and i will keep thing updated on the progress, It's probably going to be a real panty dropper.

 

[UpstateMike]

finally i get to my questions:
should i use one or two packets of yeast?
and should i warm the juice up and add the sugar to it, i have 5 bottles of apple and 3 bottles of the feijoa stuff?
the last thing is should i boil or just wamr or do none of the above?

DO NOT BOIL! I'm not even sure that I can recommend warming the juice, I'd just mix it in at room temperature.

As for the yeast, use 1 pack, but make a starter with it 3 days ahead of time. That will give the yeast a chance to grow, and by the time you add it to the batch you will have a thriving colony that will probably be more than what two packs of dry yeast would be.

 

[crusader1612]

Cheers, Some recipes have actually said to boil some juice, which i though was a bit strange, so i'd ask.

when you say a starter, you mean rehydrate the yeast right?

Should be starting in the next week or so.....

 

[crusader1612]

Oh and do I need to add pectic enzyme? i assume this will make it look all clear etc.

 

[cyberlord]

A yeast starter is more than re-hydrating the yeast. There is sugar/nutrient and sometimes (I recommend) some of the must you are about to ferment in there. I do 50/50 warm water/must and a little sugar/nutrient. Pitch the yeast on it and let it run for a while. Yeast colonies double in size about every 2+ hours or so. Keep it covered but let it breath. Aluminum foil, paper towel, coffee filter all work well.

Pectin enzyme is recommended for a clear cider but not essential. I use it.

 

[k-trips]

Hi Crusader - fellow NZer here - would be very interested how your cider goes - I assume you are using Fresh Up juices?

Just this weekend I made some sophisticated prison hooch out of the Fresh Up 3L bottles..

When are you starting on it?

 

[k-trips]

I started last Friday and this was how I did mine.. (took half an hour from unpacking juice to sitting back and relaxing)

- got 2 x 3L bottles of Fresh Up Crisp Apple. (not on special for $13)
- drained out 500ml from each (drunk 500ml as its not needed)
- heated remaining 500ml in microwave for 60 seconds
- sterilised 2 airlocks and demijohn bungs in Starsan (also sterilised and kept the original lids for post fermentation storage)
- stirred 500gms dextrose into the hot juice making 600mls juice (1kg dextrose for $3)
- poured 300mls of juice into each bottle and chucked lid back on
- shook like mad and then added half a packet of Safale S-04 yeast to each bottle (packet of yeast for $4)
- chucked air locks into the mouth of each bottle (2 bungs and airlocks cost <$15 if you don't have them to start with)
- added a little vodka to each airlock to prevent contamination
- left them to brew and went away for the weekend - they are now bubbling away nicely and should be in the fridge by the end of this week and perhaps even drinkable soon...

Hope they taste OK but there has been bugger all science going in to it so they may taste like crap - expect them to finish around 10-12% alc.
FYI - SG was 1.066 - hope FG to be 1.002 (ish) giving 9-10% abv

pic for reference

 

[crusader1612]

HAHA! thats brilliant, the missus burst into laughter looking at your bottles and then just said "why didn't you think of that:. I'm using the original apple flavour Fresh up - bought 15L on Special from Push N Shove. along with fresh feijoa juice, its apparently 30% feijoa?

your one should turn out well from what I can see. nice and easy, its a good apple cider really

Putting it down tomorrow with my day off, so should be an interesting experiment, keep me going on what your up to. hope its not to windy in welly, with the rough weather heading in!
Cheers

 

[k-trips]

Haha yeah simple rocks. I did my first brew from concentrate a couple of weeks ago and chucked up how I did it in one of my first posts on here.

However this time I decided to make one as simply and cheaply as I could with hopefully a palatable result.
Heaps of my friends were asking about making cider but whining about complexity and cost. I want to prove its not always the case.

So far I think Im heading down the right road. I took a hydro reading today and its at 1.028 already.

Also thinking about starting a blog from a learners point of view.
Most blogs assume you know about making homebrew already .
If I do I'll let you know. If not I'll be sure to document it here.

Good luck with your brew tomorrow. Keen to hear how it went.

Also hope it doesn't snow too hard...

 

[crusader1612]

a Minor delay - Snow has closed the brew shop and I cannot get my sugar! Looks Like I'll be doing it on Saturday Morning.....

 

[crusader1612]

DONE! Finally put it down this morning.

22 degrees C so will keep an eye on it fo 2 weeks then transfer into secondary with the feijoa flesh!

i warmed 2L oif feijoa with 5 litres of apple juice, dissolved the sugar in that, i only made it luke warm and i used 600grams of dextrose in this, but added another 700grams to get the Og further up.

Next Update 2 weeks

OG Was 1.058

 

[crusader1612]

Ok, so I just thought I'd check it, and it still is bubbling away very nicely, its in the spare room, which now smells like apples and yeast, but when smelt closely its like pure fresh apples. LOVE IT!

almost a week into it, looks like primary may have to extenc if this continues the way it looks like it will, maybe another week? then it'll be into secondary with my freshly thawed fruit! for a minimum of probably a month.

Quick Question to those still paying attention... in secondary, its not really fermenting, so opening the carboy will not cause too many issues if i take a sample after a month to make sure it doesnt go too tart? woith thetype of fruit im using...

 

[cyberlord]

If I interpret your question correctly, opening the carboy during an active ferment is better than opening once the ferment stops. The active ferment off-gasses co2 which helps protect the liquid.

But still tasting once in a while is not a problem. Using k-meta will help then as it off-gasses so2. Of course make sure the sampling tool is sanitized.

 

[crusader1612]

If I interpret your question correctly, opening the carboy during an active ferment is better than opening once the ferment stops. The active ferment off-gasses co2 which helps protect the liquid.

But still tasting once in a while is not a problem. Using k-meta will help then as it off-gasses so2. Of course make sure the sampling tool is sanitized.

Yeah I figured as much, I just wanted to be sure.
Man it Smells Amazing, I smelled the airlock, it smells like warm Apple Pie... lol.
Will take a sample in another week see what it looks like and the gravity too, then another a couple of days later to see what fermentation is doing (it's ok the primary has a tap on it) but I think It'll be looking at 3 weeks in Primary.

Cheers for your help so far, and I'll post a pic once its in the secondary/carboy.

 

[crusader1612]

Well, I'm just over 2 weeks in, and the weather is warming up a tiny bit., I walked into the spare room to find my brew at 26 degrees, which is a shame, because its been so steady at 22 Deg C, I'm thinking I'll take it off the heat pasd tonight if the temperature is up again, let it sit, and rack into secondary over the weekend.

BTW: Theres alot of crap at the bottom of the bucket, which I'm assuming means its starting to clear up, which I only want a little of this time around

 

[crusader1612]

Transferred over to Secondary on the weekend, Gravity is at 1.000, which is pretty good, one question, if anyone is still reading this, it has a wine like harsh taste, is this normal, given its my first cider i just want to make sure therers nothing wrong with it. lol

 

[crusader1612]

(I'm going to pretend people are still reading this, lol).
Gave it a taste test last night, and basically it tastes good, theres a slight feijoa taste to it, and it clearing a little bit, but the flesh isn't floating, some of it is, but still, I think i'm going to rack again then age for probably a month and bottle.

P.S: It's pretty potent.

 

[k-trips]

I'm still reading budd.

 

[crusader1612]

Haha, cheers buddy.
Transferredto teritiary for aging

 

[dariussadeli]

so whats the result for this cider? any good?

 

[jackfrost]

It going to taste hot for aleast 4-6 months needs to age to mellow out sounds amazing but will take time. Do you plant to stabilize and back sweeten?

 

[crusader1612]

Its been in a bottle for about 4 months now, and its getting better and better, plenty of carb, and very cloudy. theres still bits from the feijoa floating around, but thats ok, its not something i drink all the timne. and at 8.5% its probably a good thing. lol.
I learnt alot from it and know that when adding fruit to put it in a bag, lol.