Blueberry Cider

[mwhc22]

well its about 3 months since the initial brew day right now. when it really cold its half decent tasting.

 

[Tusch]

Yeah, I started this a year ago in January. When I tried it for the first time (other then sample tastings) from the bottle in may my friend liked it but I was kinda unimpressed with my own stuff. Fast forward to last december at bottling time and I enjoyed it thoroughly, and now it is amazing. Give it at least 6 months from fermentation, and a year or more and it will be amazing.

Also I forgot to say earlier how beautiful yours looks, and how similar it looks to mine. Scrolling quickly through the page, I honestly thought I didn't remember taking those pictures.

 

[matt1776]

Tusch,

From your experience, does this need to be bottled ala wine, or can I do it like beer?

I've never corked anything, so I'm a little apprehensive.
I wonder if using the Oxygen Barrier caps would work.

Any thoughts?
Matt

 

[gregbathurst]

Hi, I'm new to this forum so I hope its alright to butt in. I have been making wine for a few years and find that corking is fraught with problems. Only do it if you can hire or borrow a proper corking machine. Using screw caps or crown caps is much safer, you can fill the bottle right to the top to minimise oxygen exposure. I presume you are bottling your cider still, though it would be interesting to make some of it sparkling. I have tasted a few wines that have been spoilt by careless bottling with corks.

 

[Tusch]

If you use good corks and a good corker there should be no worries about spoilage, at least not in my limited experience. Yes you can always use crown caps and it leaves the option open for carbonation. I think this would go excellent with some bubbles so, matt, if you do end up carbing it let us know what you think. I've mentioned a few times that the light body, and dry finish would go excellent with the bubbles and tartness of carbonation.

 

[scinerd3000]

just though i would let everyone know. Trader Joe's sells pure blueberry juice for 6 bucks instead of 10ish everywhere else ive found. Thats per 32oz. And Tusch- this stuff smells incredible

 

[matt1776]

I decided against carbonating. Hopeing to bottle this weekend. I'll post results soon.

Matt

 

[Tusch]

Sweet, post some pics for sure. Also, I definitely remember scinerd! Smelled like sweet deliciousness and still gets better by the day, think I'll crack open a 12er tonight.

 

[matt1776]

OK. Just bottled today, didn't carb.

Overall I was satisfied, but was hoping for more blueberriness to the taste. Tastes like apple cider to me with a twist, altough that twist was $20 worth of blueberry juice. Still, it's some thing nice and diffferent.

Here's a question. Do I need to refrigerate?

Matt

 

[scinerd3000]

OK. Just bottled today, didn't carb.

Overall I was satisfied, but was hoping for more blueberriness to the taste. Tastes like apple cider to me with a twist, altough that twist was $20 worth of blueberry juice. Still, it's some thing nice and diffferent.

Here's a question. Do I need to refrigerate?

Matt

at least in my version theres enough alcohol to put down a horse. I wouldn't worry about refridgeration

 

[matt1776]

at least in my version theres enough alcohol to put down a horse. I wouldn't worry about refridgeration

LOL. Yes, it's strong!
:cross:

 

[SeaDuds]

Dear god. I just read through this whole thread, and I am just about drooling over my keyboard. I've just recently started my first brew [typical 1 gal. of cider] and I'm thinking this is a MUST for me down the line.

 

[Tusch]

Mine was 13% give or take so yeah it has a kick \m/

I wanna see more pics of people who tried it out. I'm thinking about starting another batch myself with a few tweaks now that I know some better techniques. Also thinking I'd add some vanilla in secondary to smooth out the flavor.

 

[McSierra]

I have a question.. Is anyone adding Yeast to the 2nd stage?

Here is what I've done.
4 Gallons - Apple Juice
2 Lbs Brown Sugar
2 Lbs Fresh Blueberrys
Baking yeast

Started at 1.093 and went to 12.13% in 22 days.

Yesterday - Transferred in to Secondary

Most of the Blueberry's made the Transfer into the new bucket as well

ADDED:
2 Lbs of Fresh Blueberry's after putting them in a food processor. (it was a paste)
32 Oz of Blueberry/Acai Juice
1 Package of Red Star Active Dry Wine Yeast

Plan is to let it run it's course for a month or so and then bottle.
This is my first attempt at any of this so I hope it turns out OK.

 

[Tusch]

No real need for the addition of yeast but certainly no harm in that. If you let it go dry (as it will naturally) you might get a bit more tart of a product than I have. The addition of the acai will certainly add some great flavor but might stand out in a dry wine, though I think I would enjoy it just like that.

Also, processing the berries will, as you saw with the secondary transfer, make racking difficult.

 

[Sirthomas42]

Wow, old thread with 1.5 yrs of inactivity. Well, in any case, after several months in the carboy, we bottled this today (along with our blueberry mead - YUM!). Followed the recipe pretty closely... we ended up topping it up at one point with an extra 32oz of blueberry juice. I *think* I did the math right, got a final ABV of 9.7%, and it tastes fantastic!

This was only our 3rd recipe we ever did, started many months ago -- I'm quite pleased it turned out well. With what I know now about winemaking, it's shocking to me how little I knew then, and that *anything* we started then even turned out drinkable, let alone delicious. Definitely on my "To Make Again" list, the only thing I'd change is I might add a fining agent -- it's a little cloudier than I'd like, but nothing that'd affect the taste.

*edit* I'm totally NOT buzzed on blueberry cider and blueberry mead bottled tonight.

 

[mwhc22]

Whoa I forgot about this thread... At any rate I opened a few bottles recently of this that I had left aging since 2008/2009 when I brewed it.

AMAZING!!!

I was expecting to dump it out but apparently 2years plus of aging made the blueberry and apple mellow out and play nice. If I could buy it in a store I would. It was that good. I may have to make another go at it and stick a couple cases in a friends basement for aging purposes.

 

[fendermallot]

only if you can trust the friend to not drink it.

 

[Tusch]

Beyond thrilled people are still enjoying this recipe, I need to find a bottle of this

 

[Tusch]

Oh and bottle all the stuff in my signature that is still "aging" in the basement

 

[Sirthomas42]

Tusch, when I first started making wine, and I found HBT, this recipe was the 2nd one I saw and thought "wow, I need to make this". I made Ed's Apfelwein first, then this cider. The wife and I are going to pick up some blueberries at the farmers market, so we can start another batch.

Other than adding a fining agent at the end (it tastes awesome, but isn't clear), I want to use a lot more blueberries -- hopefully that way, I can get all that great blueberry taste, without using way expensive blueberry *juice*.

*edit* 48 hours after bottling, SWMBO and I have plowed half the 24 beer bottles of this stuff. We have a bunch of 750s to (try to) age... but man, I wish we'd started a 2nd batch of this a month after the first.

 

[DWavs]

I started a gallon of this last week. I used 1 gallon of Motts, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 12 oz of frozen blueberries, and pitched 1/3 packet of Nottingham ale.

I got a SG of 1.058 but I took it before I put the blueberries in. It just now hit me that I probably should have taken the reading after I put the blueberries in? If so, how much do you think a 12 ounce package of frozen blueberries added to the SG?

 

[Tusch]

Check the package the blueberries came in, it should give you a sugar content amount and you can go from there. Still thrilled this gets made from time to time, I still have a bottle or two left

 

[GinKings]

I started a gallon of this last week. I used 1 gallon of Motts, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 12 oz of frozen blueberries, and pitched 1/3 packet of Nottingham ale.

I got a SG of 1.058 but I took it before I put the blueberries in. It just now hit me that I probably should have taken the reading after I put the blueberries in? If so, how much do you think a 12 ounce package of frozen blueberries added to the SG?

Blueberries do contain sugar, but they also contain juice, which increases your volume. I still debate how to calculate fruit additions, but I would expect the blueberries might actually lower your SG, since they have an SG around 1.040. I usually just ignore a fruit addition of this size.

Even if you ignore the juice from the blueberries, they are only about 10% sugar. A 12 oz addition would contain about 1.2 oz of sugar, which would only raise your OG by about 3 points.

 

[DWavs]

Still thrilled this gets made from time to time, I still have a bottle or two left

It has been less than a week and my blueberries, which are still at the top, have all this white gunk around them. I can't decide whether to be really excited or super grossed out.

 

[Tusch]

It could be foam due to fermentation. Are there berries being kept submerged at all?

 

[DWavs]

It could be foam due to fermentation. Are there berries being kept submerged at all?

1 gallon glass jug....9/10 of the berries submerged. Even the ones submerged have the white froth around them. Very active fermentation right now. Bubbling once every 4 seconds and major bubbles come up the liquid at the neck.

ETA: I actually took a spoonful of berries out yesterday and discarded them cuz I couldn't keep them submerged.

 

[Tusch]

Without seeing it I can't know. I would guess it's fermentation, bubbling up to the top through the berries. Seems like it would have been quick to go moldy.

 

[DWavs]

After 10 days, I racked on top of a new batch of blueberries. If I want to age it for a couple of months, do I leave those blueberries in there the whole time or am I looking at racking again a couple of weeks down the road and then letting it age after getting it off of the blueberries??

 

[Tusch]

I left the berries in secondary for a long time (3-4 months) and they eventually dropped to the bottom of the carboy ala post 66 in this thread. I then transferred to tertiary for further aging and clarifying. After a couple more months it was transferred to my bottling bucket and eventually bottled. Many of those were than aged for a LONG time, I still have a few hiding around.

PS sorry for not responding to your pm