Blueberry Cider

[Tusch]

It was officially put into secondary the day of my last post. I added 5 pounds of blueberries, 62oz of pure blueberry juice (DAMN that's expensive) and about a gallon apple juice. Had to replenish what I took out for those four bottles. I was a little worried about taking all the yeast out and then adding a bunch of fermentables in, so I rehydrated some ec-1118 and through that in today.

 

[gwood]

Man...this stuff is going to be crazy.

 

[Tusch]

Well, I'm assuming crazy is a good thing. haha Sucker blew through the airlock, not enough to bust it, but it was bubbling sweet sweet violet gold. After emptying the cider from the airlock, cleaning it up a bit and refilling it, its bubbling away nicely.

 

[Tusch]

Yup bumping my own thread again, I think I am about 3/4 of the posts in here haha.

Anyways, woke up today to a full airlock AGAIN. This cider is possessed and in a good way. Cleaned out the airlock, siphoned out some more and reassembled. There's no way it can happen again, right?

 

[Tiger]

Did you crush the blueberries?

I ran into this problem - the blueberries initially swelled and (I presume) fermented within the berry until they burst ... but in the meanwhile, since the gas was contained like a whole bunch of little balloons, they displaced tons of liquid, which went up, up, up, and out ...

I had to change the airlock several times - finally (with reluctance but resignation) pulled off some of the juice. Didn't have a blow-off tube handy.

Good luck ...

 

[Tusch]

I stuck with the method that was advised to me, since they were frozen berries, I thawed them and refroze them several times to break down the cell walls. Then added them whole to the carboy for secondary, just like I did for primary. I didn't have to take much liquid out, my berries did not burst in primaryand don't expect them to in secondary. My problem was i filled the carboy very full when I topped it off, then when the berries floated to the top, they took up much more space, since many floated above the liquid level. This displaced too much brew and forced it all up once active fermentation restarted.

 

[scinerd3000]

I stuck with the method that was advised to me, since they were frozen berries, I thawed them and refroze them several times to break down the cell walls. Then added them whole to the carboy for secondary, just like I did for primary. I didn't have to take much liquid out, my berries did not burst in primaryand don't expect them to in secondary. My problem was i filled the carboy very full when I topped it off, then when the berries floated to the top, they took up much more space, since many floated above the liquid level. This displaced too much brew and forced it all up once active fermentation restarted.

what size carboy are you using?

 

[Tusch]

Its a 6 gal. glass carboy. And even though I took some more out yesterday before it got the chance to overflow, guess what I woke up too today? Jeeze, how long can this go on for.

 

[DIY Brewing Company]

You didn't sweetened the stuff you bottled too? If you did you are going to be having some bombs going off with them.

 

[Tusch]

I sweetened some of it in bottles with splenda, I am aware of the dangers of bottle bombs, I also used wine bottles with corks.

The brew left in the carboy was not "sweetened" since it is still very much so fermenting, I top it off with more juices and berries when I went to secondary.

 

[scinerd3000]

it will finish when it finishes. I have some Apfelwein going and its been fermenting for a montha dn im sure it will be another few until i can bottle. Check the gravity and then again a week later. If the two gravity numbers match then its done and you can bottle. Thats really the only way to know...

 

[Tusch]

I know I know, I was saying that as a joke. I started this batch over 3 months ago, was more amazed at how crazy of a fermentation was kicked up after topping off. I don't plan on bottling it for several more months.

 

[scinerd3000]

i never understood the purpose of bread yeast concept....what does it do that brewers yeast doesnt?

 

[Tusch]

I don't know, make bread? Where did that question come from?

 

[scinerd3000]

"71b yeast"

i guess i wrongly assumed you were using bread yeast because of the B....oops? sleep deparvation must be to blame... i have heard of people fermenting with bread yeast but i never knew why

 

[Tusch]

The most common use of bread yeast in brewing, is JAOM. If you don't know what it is, search, its a good recipe and its quick. Bread yeast is used, because it is cheap (not that good yeast isn't) and its readily available without having to have a LHBS. The whole JAOM can be made up of things you buy at any grocery store.

It's like a starter yeast, setting the hook to see if this hobby will pull you in

But no, this recipe does not use bakers yeast. And when I repitched a few days ago, I used ED-1118, which is creating a MUCH larger krausen, unlike the 71 which had next to none. This more prominent krausen is what is causing my overflowing airlock, since I was topping up based on the primary fermentation, I didn't expect such a difference, guess I was wrong! haha

 

[Tusch]

Well I took 4 bottles home from my apt. Gave one to SWMBO on her move in day, which was last Saturday (new apt. for her). She is letting it age, per my advice. But I did drink one bottle unsweetened with a friend of mine. I had had a few drinks already, though not feeling a buzz. After enjoying just two glasses, that 10.5% really caught up to me fast. It was quite good, though I can't wait to see how this is in a few more months!

 

[gwood]

Well I took 4 bottles home from my apt. Gave one to SWMBO on her move in day, which was last Saturday (new apt. for her). She is letting it age, per my advice. But I did drink one bottle unsweetened with a friend of mine. I had had a few drinks already, though not feeling a buzz. After enjoying just two glasses, that 10.5% really caught up to me fast. It was quite good, though I can't wait to see how this is in a few more months!

10.5! Yikes :rockin:

 

[jameswardpeterson]

its so hard to follow all of the changes in this recipe, haha. It sounds amazing. I'm looking to do something blueberry that I plan to age for a very long time. it's a competition between this, blueberry mead, and blueberry wine. (uhhhh... what else is there?) I think im going to go with this though since im not in the position to pay for the honey of a mead and the wine looks so so compared to this. now to go though all of your posts and find out what to add when...

 

[Tusch]

Primary Recipe is as follows:
5 gallons Apple Juice
4 lbs. Frozen Blueberries
1.5 cups Craisins
2 lbs Light Brown Sugar
2 Cans Apple Juice Concentrate
1 pkt 71b yeast, rehydrated

Secondary:
added 5 pounds of blueberries
62oz of pure blueberry juice
1 gallon of apple juice

Secondary was for aging and adding a ton more blueberry flavor, plus I had to replenish the brew I took out for the four bottles.

Thanks for making me figure out what my final recipe ended up being. At first I was like, what's so hard about finding the recipe, then I tried to find it haha. It's been aging in secondary since april, won't be touching it for a while. The benefit of living in Indiana, but living in Ohio for 3 months, forced patience. I could post a pic of one of the beautiful bottles, labeled and nice and clear if anyone is interested.

 

[BigKahuna]

I could post a pic of one of the beautiful bottles, labeled and nice and clear if anyone is interested.

OMFG.
POST THE PICTURES ALREADY

 

[jameswardpeterson]

Yea, I'm ready for some pictures. I really wanna see what the color turned out to be.
Thanks for summing up the recipe. I thought it was more complicated than it was, it was just a real challenge finding the post of what you added to the secondary. I'm ready to start this brew sometime this week.

 

[Tusch]

Ok, will setup a bottle tonight to settle for a nice pic. Could take a day or two, have a CRAZY schedule, but love the enthusiasm Kahuna haha.

 

[Tusch]

Wow, this sucker cleared again fast, the yeast is all nice and clumped together, so switching between laying on its side (sediment on side) to on its flat is incredibly fast.

Here's the money shots, showing on its color, clarity and that bitchin label (hooray for glue) but it isn't quite big enough for wine bottles, better for beer bottles.

 

[BigKahuna]

NICE....
Great looking bottle of juice.
I think the small Label looks great on the bottle.

 

[Tusch]

Yeah, I go back and forth on the label size. The pics are a bit grainy, because I took them fast, but I assure you it is crystal clear. It has somewhat of a mix of a reddish brown color, changing with the light.

 

[gwood]

Nice pics. Glad to hear this came out so good. Is the recipe updated on the first page, or did it not change?

 

[Tusch]

Will update original post, the only way it changed was in secondary. The only problem is the secondary additions don't add up to the original 6 gal, because I took 4 bottles out of primary.

 

[ryscott]

Any update on how the secondary is coming along? I'm looking to make a variation of this very soon.

 

[Tusch]

Just moved it to my new apt., but I'm gonna let it age for a while longer, no idea or plan yet. I will give it a taste and testing once I finish moving to that apt., should be either this coming week or in a month.

I love how I have gotten so much interest! I would love to hear anyone else's path if they do replicate. This was my first recipe I came up with (mostly, I mentioned the help I got) on my own so I can't wait for more final results!