Berry cider halfway done

[phug]

Today I racked my cider onto a kilo of mixed frozen berries, two weeks from now I should be bottling If all goes well.




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[domingo]

Looks beautiful!

 

[phug]

Note: leave a teensy bit more headspace next time pink cider had just begun working it's way out the top of the airlock. Starsanned rag fresh airlock plus blowoff tube


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[bernardsmith]

Did you add pectic enzyme to the berries before you racked the cider on to them? Your berry cider may take a while longer to clear without the addition of the enzyme. That said, I believe you can still add the enzyme after the fermentation has ceased (it's my understanding that the yeast interferes with the action of the enzyme which is why it is typically added about 12 hours prior to pitching the yeast).

 

[phug]

I didn't add any. But I also didn't add any the last time I made this recipe and I was satisfied with the end result, which was not exactly clear, but still something I was happy with, as we're nearly all my friends. If it ain't broke...


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[phug]

Ok when I racked onto the berries my SG was 1.006. After I racked 19 litres onto one can of ajc 283 ml or approximately 108grams of sugars or 125 if you include the carbs that aren't listed as sugars, at which point the SG read 1.007. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1416715540.637415.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1416715567.535422.jpgThe ajc should only have added about 2 gravity points, so in theory the gravity before priming was 1.005 or thereabouts. I'm hoping ican salvage a hydro sample from the dregs from secondary, we'll see how well the yeast settles out. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1416715438.016824.jpgdon't those berries look fantastic?View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1416715495.227117.jpg
Hydro sample was tasty even though it was warm. And the finished product looked like this View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1416715612.860309.jpg I did manage to clog my bottling wand with a tiny bit of raspberry but that's fixed now, and my spigot on my bottling bucket somehow didn't flow right anymore when I got to the last 6 bottles, so those we're funnel fill. Some cheesecloth would have helped prevent that, but there's always next time. In the end I got 18.9 litres into bottles. These should be ready for Christmas.



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[phug]

Bottling wasn't too bad from sanitizing the bottling bucket to cleaning up It wAs just about two hours. Bottles had been prerinsed and put away clean and dry. And my spray bottle of sanitizer and bottle tree were handy. Only had one set of hands but over 15 litres went into swing tops so I'm sure that helped lots


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[rowan57]

Looks really good! What would you put your final ABV at?

I think bottling is easy if you have a half sensible process. Like you, I clean / sanitise bottles before they get put away, then a quick rinse and spray with a bottle of sanitiser and they are good to go! I have quite a good setup using my counter top and a low bench which I sit on.

 

[phug]

Somewhere around 5.5 percent. I'm estimating my store juice at 1.045 the priming ajc adds about .002 assuming that one pound of sugar increases one gallon by .040. And the nutritional info on the berries gives me 78 grams of sugar per kilo which would increase the SG by a hair over .001. Fg was 1.006-.007


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[phug]

Correction og was 1.048 plus .001 berries .002 priming sugar fg was 1.005 which means abv was 6.1


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[phug]

Progress check on a short fill. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1417819878.946134.jpg the berry is there in the taste an aroma. It's slight bitter, and a little bit acidic which is nice. Some residual sweetness, not totally dry. Which was expected. If it weren't a kolsh glass there would be more colour in the picture.

I'll run this past some folks who tried the last one. I'm not tasting the alcohol. It's more like the flavour of unsweetened pomegranate juice. But it is warming up my ears after the first two swigs.

 

[kgressler]

Did you know use ec1118 with this batch as well or go with a ale yeast?

Looks great.

 

[phug]

S04 for this recipe

 

[MarkKF]

S04 for this recipe

Good choice

 

[Archer]

Did you carbonate?

 

[phug]

Yep, primed the five gal batch with one can of ajc. It's been conditioning a little over two weeks now. I'll be bringing some with me to Christmas dinners.

 

[asnutter]

THAT looks awesome...great color, great post...Now, I have to go to the store and buy some more ingredients...

 

[phug]

I might shorten the time on berries to one week instead of two and possibly thaw and smash the berries first to make it easier to get them into the carboy via funnel. I ha to plunk all the blackberries in one at a time because they were too large for the neck of the carboy. If anyone else wants to make this and confirm the results we can post it in the recipe thread.

 

[kgressler]

Hey phug I've got something similar brewing as of Monday the 25th. 5.75 gallon of store bought juice on top of 48 oz of frozen mixed berries(Black blue and raspberries)
I really want a high berry flavor finished product so I thought I would rack on top of another 48oz of berries during my secondary fermentation and cold crash with a gravity of 1.010 or so.
Not sure how much flavor I can expect from it so I may run to the store and get some extract if needed.

My cider stock has started to get low so I have to start building my supply again.:rockin:

 

[phug]

You're a little bit more than doubling the total berry count of mine(if you do the second berry addition), I think you'll get pretty good flavour. It might not be a bad idea to keep an eye out for some extract.

If you cold crash at 1.010 after the second berry addition is done I think you'll probably get the flavour you're looking for.

 

[macaler]

Phug- thanks for sharing this process.

My last/and first batch was back-sweetened with concentrated berry juice. I was pleasantly surprised on the results. seeing this thread has given me the idea to back-sweeten with crushed berries. this may provide more flavour than canned concentrate.

Thanks

 

[kgressler]

Phug- thanks for sharing this process.

My last/and first batch was back-sweetened with concentrated berry juice. I was pleasantly surprised on the results. seeing this thread has given me the idea to back-sweeten with crushed berries. this may provide more flavour than canned concentrate.

Thanks

The problem I see back sweetening with crushed berries is the seeds. You can put some in the secondary fermentation then rack into a bottling bucket you may still end up with some. But to add them at bottling time may turn into more of a hassle then you think. I would stick with turbinado or frozen concentrate etc then a raw berry. JMO

 

[kgressler]

I think I should have used 5.5 gallons not 5.75 gallons I walked downstairs yesterday afternoon and had quite the mess in my bathroom. Popped the airlock off and had purple blow off everywhere. Attached a blow off hopefully the heavy fermentation is about over and very glad I had it in the bathroom where clean up was easy.

 

[phug]

oh yeah, that's the drawback of using whole or crushed berries. I was staring at the airlock for days praying that the berries wouldn't clog it and pop it out.

leave some headspace initially, the problem with the berries is that they catch the co2 and it floats the berries up past the surface of the cider.

 

[kgressler]

Yup, thats exactly what happen. Checked it this morning and it appears to be all good now. fermenting a little warmer then I like(68 degrees) but well within what it should be.

 

[kgressler]

Hey phug how would I go about estimating my ABV? I started at 1.045 but then I added the 3 lb's of berries. Obviously I cant take a gravity reading once I added the berries. I am mostly curious because I racked off the berries at 1.020 on Sunday.
I dont want this to be turpentine if i add another 3lb of berries again. I dont really want to go over 7-9% Most of my ciders are 5-8% just not sure about how much sugar is added in when i added the berries. Any idea how i can get a rough estimate?

 

[phug]

Brewpal has Raspberries listed as 2 points per lb per gallon, and I agree from my experience that it's a fairly neglibible amount when adding whole fruit.

You've got 5.75 gallons, and 3lbs so your total increase from the berries won't be much more than 2 gravity points (if that, assuming that you manage to get full extraction). Don't worry about turning your berry cider into hooch from the addition of too much whole fruit, realistically I don't see it happening with normal levels of fruit.

If you juiced the berries and only added liquid, we'd be talking a different story.

So go ahead and add the other 3 lbs once you've hit terminal gravity or whenever you feel comfortable.

 

[kgressler]

Well summer got in the way so this sat for almost 3 months in the secondary.
Not a big deal but what I found was most strange. I took a gravity reading and it was 1.010. Really thought it would be 1.00 or below since it sat for so long. I found this so strange I took the ready multiple times and with 3 different hydrometers. They all read the same.
Even tasting it as I bottled it you can definitely tell this is sweet.
Would the mixed berries cause this to stop fermenting similar to when we've used pear juice?

Not necessarily a bad thing but I may have to try and duplicate this and see if the results are the same.

 

[phug]

good question. not sure what yeast you used, but my notes say mine stuck at 1.006, Not too far off yours, but still 1.010 would be nice. I'm assuming you corrected for temp since it would take quite a temp difference to influence 4 gravity points, it would be noticeable. that being said, mine was at 1.006 before the berry addition, and then again after, even after restarting fermentation with the berry addition.

I have a batch in progress that i'll be adding berries to in a week or two. I pitched s-04, and I'll let you know what gravity I see pre and post.

I will be upping the berry quantity on this one. looking for more colour and a more noticeable berry character.

 

[kgressler]

good question. not sure what yeast you used, but my notes say mine stuck at 1.006, Not too far off yours, but still 1.010 would be nice. I'm assuming you corrected for temp since it would take quite a temp difference to influence 4 gravity points, it would be noticeable. that being said, mine was at 1.006 before the berry addition, and then again after, even after restarting fermentation with the berry addition.

I have a batch in progress that i'll be adding berries to in a week or two. I pitched s-04, and I'll let you know what gravity I see pre and post.

I will be upping the berry quantity on this one. looking for more colour and a more noticeable berry character.

I used the exact same yeast s04. I added the berries at the beginning but never did add any further to the batch.

It's all carbed up plan on breaking a bottle or two open this weekend to test. I post back with the results.

 

[kgressler]

Well It Carbed up real nice like.Threw my pet test bottle in the fridge yesterday morning and had a taste last night. Its a bit sweeter then I like. We've been really enjoying Vander Mill ciders lately and compared then two and my cider is definitely sweeter. Tasted great but just a tad too much sweetness.
Went ahead and bottle pasteurized them just to be safe because I have no idea why it stopped fermenting at 1.010.

Let me know what your berry cider finishes at if you could.

 

[phug]

sure thing. I'll take a sample before adding the berries, and let you know the finishing gravity later on.

 

[phug]

my refractometer and correction math is saying that mine is at 1.006. I haven't added berries yet, since I haven't found the blend I want, but I need to get on that. when I crack it out to add the berries, I'll be taking a hydro reading to confirm.

 

[Maverik]

So you guys are just using frozen blackberry's? Also do you add any sugar? Going to get a batch going tonight myself was just wondering what I need to get

 

[phug]

A mix of blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries, from the frozen section, usually comes as one bag. No added sugar. I'm shooting for something north of 200 g per gallon

 

[kgressler]

I didnt add any extra sugar like phug stated just use frozen berries. I used one bag that was 48oz and it left a pretty good flavor and a slight ruby red color.

This is the second time I've made it once with fresh unpasteurized juice which has been my best cier I've made thus far. And then this current batch was with store juice and it is pretty damn good too.

I also enjoy using raspberries a lot.

 

[kgressler]

my refractometer and correction math is saying that mine is at 1.006. I haven't added berries yet, since I haven't found the blend I want, but I need to get on that. when I crack it out to add the berries, I'll be taking a hydro reading to confirm.

Sohow long do you plan on leaving the berries in? This is going in your secondary correct?

 

[phug]

I leave it in about 10 days, maybe 2 weeks. the last times I did it was in secondary, This time I'm going to add it to the bucket in primary after confirming that initial fermentation is complete and FG reached.

The bucket is purely for ease of berry removal at the end. I'm not going to rack to secondary, I'll just let the berries settle on top of the yeast that has already settled out.

 

[Maverik]

Thanks for the info going to add fruit to the primary tmw let you know how it works out

 

[Maylar]

This thread inspired me to split off a gallon of my current batch and try something different. I found a 12 oz package of mixed berries in the grocer's freezer -

My cider had finished primary at 1.000 (3 weeks with S-04) so I stuffed the thawed berries and juice into a 1 gallon secondary. The next morning it appears to be happy -

Going to let this go a couple weeks and bottle it. I wonder how I'm gonna filter out the seeds?