Blueberry Cider

[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

SG for Primary 1.075

When I tasted it between rackings, I decided it could use more blueberry both for flavor and color. It already tasted great, but I wanted more blueberry character.

I bottled 4 bottles as gifts and personal use and here is one of them, after a few months in the bottle, it was quite good. Really liked it dry.

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

The pure blueberry juice was really expensive, but totally worth it. When I tried it again after transferring to tertiary (off the berries a second time) it tasted amazing. At this point I am just aging and clearing it, don't expect to bottle for another month or two.

It picked up a lot of color in secondary and looks great now:

 

[ChshreCat]

That looks really tasty

 

[Stark]

That looks really tasty

It totally does! Has my interest. What was your FG or abv on this?

 

[Tusch]

Well it started out at 1.075 as mentioned, I let it go until it was at .998. This gave me 10.1% after primary. But in secondary I added 5 more pounds of blueberries, a gallon of apple juice, and half a gallon of pure blueberry juice. This addition definitely had a higher sg then the original brew, so I conservatively guess the final abv at 11.5% as it has finished at .994.

There are only two bottle left from the primary bottle batch. One is in SWMBO's possession and will be enjoyed on an occasion of her choosing and the other was a present for a friend of mine's 21st, so I'm not sure when she will be drinking it.

 

[auto]

What is the time periods for primary and secondary on this? Also any specific brand on the apple juice and cocentrate?

 

[Tusch]

Honestly I can't remember. I started it last January, and at the same time created this thread https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/blueberry-cider-51277/ The additions were made at the end of April. I can't remember if I had transferred it off the less prior to that or not, I will go check that thread

Turns out I start it in the first or second week of January and transferred it to secondary mid April. So that makes a 3 months primary. And after the secondary additions it sat until the second week of September, so that makes a secondary of 5 months. And then it sat in tertiary until the first week of December, so a tertiary of 3 more months, for a grand total 11 months. I gotta say the bottles from the December bottling are far better then those from May and they haven't even aged enough in my opinion. The newer additions of more blueberries, and more juice of both apple and blueberry really changed this brew. I love it sweet and dry, but I do prefer it chilled like a white.

 

[scinerd3000]

what was your final gravity on this?

 

[gamntbrewer]

I tried this recipe and was very satisfied with the end result. i did make a few mods though to the end product by sweeting it a bit more. i have been enjoying it now for about a month and everyone else seems to luv it. thanks for the post.

 

[billy_awesome]

Did you crush the blueberries? or just throw them in?

Where they frozen? (to breakdown the skin cells)

 

[Tusch]

Oooops haven't been checking my own thread... to answer the questions if you guys even check back in this is so late

scinerd3000: I believe my FG was about .999 on this one, but I am not certain. It may be in my main blueberry cider thread, I will check tomorrow and edit this here.

gamntbrewer: Absolutely love to hear you enjoyed the recipe so much, if you see this post some pics of your brew.

billy awesome: cool name haha I used frozen blueberries for this one. 4 and 5 lb bags. For both primary and secondary additions I thawed the frozen berries, froze them again and thawed them, and then repeated that again. The back and forth temp changes helps to create large ice crystals in the berries, breaking down cell walls and releasing all that great color and flavor.

Oh and I am loving this brew more and more everytime I drink it. I still have quite a few 12 ozers left plus what few 750s I got to keep for myself after gifting so many away.

 

[auto]

What was the bottling process for carbonation on this? Would this work in grolsch bottles or wine only? Transferring to Secondary as we speak.

 

[Tusch]

Didn't carb mine, although with its light body I think that would work quite well with it. You can't carbonate in wine bottles, only champagne, beer (crown) or fliptop (grolsch). I would go with 1-1.25oz of priming sugar for every gallon you've got. Did you alter the recipe at all or did you stick to my original? Either way, I'd love to hear how yours is going and what it looks and tastes like.

 

[scinerd3000]

so this is brewing as we speak. I used nottingham instead of lavlin and a can of blueberries in light syrup. Its lookin pretty scummy but smells amazing through the airlock

 

[Tusch]

Mmmmmmmmmm Fond memories of that baby brewing in my old apartment. It always did smell delicious from the beginning.

 

[scinerd3000]

im just curious- how did you figure out when to rack? I crushed the crap out of the bluberries i used so i got much more color but im already down to 1.000...i searched the origional thread but it didint say how long you have it until you racked over.

 

[Ryan_PA]

I just started a 3G version of this. I used 3G of fresh apple cider, 3 pounds of frozen berries, crushed by a potato masher in the fermenter, a chopped package of craisens, a can of pie blueberries in syrup, 2 pounds of lt brown sugar and 1 capdem tablet. Tomorrow I will pitch the yeast.

Looking forward to this one.

 

[Tusch]

Awesome, keep us informed on how it goes. Glad to see theres still some interest in this one. I need to make another batch of this.

 

[Ryan_PA]

First racking was done this weekend. I took a tasting, and am very happy with where it is. I will be adding 3 more pounds of blueberries this week, and I think it should be nice and flavored after that. Then time for some aging.

 

[flyweed]

Just curious Scinerd, but how do you "punch the cap" on that fermentation in a carboy? You should be doing so until the 1/3 sugar break. That would allow aeration and keep your berries from spoiling on top.

Dan

 

[Ryan_PA]

I used the food processor to puree the berries this time, and I added them to hop sacks. I think this will give a better flavor yield. The new berries and resulting juices are sitting with a crushed capdem tablet, I will rack on top tomorrow.

 

[auto]

Didn't carb mine, although with its light body I think that would work quite well with it. You can't carbonate in wine bottles, only champagne, beer (crown) or fliptop (grolsch). I would go with 1-1.25oz of priming sugar for every gallon you've got. Did you alter the recipe at all or did you stick to my original? Either way, I'd love to hear how yours is going and what it looks and tastes like.

Have stuck pretty close to the recipe, just tasted, and it is tart on the finish, but very clear and excellent nose. I think a little backsweeten and carbonation is due on this vintage.

 

[scinerd3000]

next time i make this- and i will deffinitly make it again- im going to add either raisins or tannin because when it ages it loses its body and it needs a bit more. Then again this is more of a wine than a cider but its killer still

 

[benharper13]

So I really want to make this recipe but I have a few questions I have munton's ale yeast and red star montrachet dry wine yeast. Could I use one of these yeast as a substitute? Also can I ferment this in an ale pale or is a carboy preferred?

 

[Tusch]

Either yeast will do, although if you used the ale yeast it will certainly leave a good amount of residual sweetness. If you don't want it very sweet or if you want it dry like mine was, you will need to lower the initial levels of sugar to account for the lower alcohol tolerance of the yeast you choose.

I at this point use an ale pale often, but for primary fermentation only. Once that is complete, I rack to an appropriately sized carboy to minimize airspace and oxidation risks. (Plus it looks oh so damn cool when it gets crystal clear and you can see the beautiful colors.)

 

[benharper13]

Like one pound brown sugar? what would you suggest dropping it to?

 

[Tusch]

I would suggest adjusting the ingredients to reach your desire OG or potential alcohol level. Keep in mind that if you want a similar flavor you should adjust all the added sugars, but to be simpler you could just lower the brown sugar amount. I'd probably mix it all up together without the brown sugar. Measure the SG then, and adding small (or calculated) amounts of brown sugar, raise the SG to your desired OG.

 

[pstohs]

Going to try this with a couple 1 gallon batches this week!

 

[sirstubbsalot]

So i started all of my cider/apfelwein endeavors for the year a week ago and they have been bubbling away ever since.

I wanted to do a blueberry apfelwein like this recipe, but my primary is already underway and I havent added the bluberries yet. Could I add the blueberries at this point? Will it change anything about the wine? Or could I wait for secondary to add the blueberries?

I'm somewhat new to the winemaking world, so any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Tusch]

As mentioned, adding fruit to primary and secondary have different strengths and weaknesses. Adding it to secondary would still add a lot of lovely flavors and colors, so go for it. I just preferred to get the benefits of both primary and secondary additions.

 

[specialized]

What size fermenter do you need for this? Sounds like its going to be spilling over in my 5 gallon.

 

[webos1]

Got this started in primary now, (two days ago), used about 4 lbs of blueberrys, all other ingredients the same in primary. Color looks amazing right now in primary. Used a blow off tube for two days, now air lock is bubbling away. One question for you. I am thinking of skipping the pure blueberry juice in secondary as it is a bit pricey at my LHBS. Do you think this will deminish the profile to much? I guess I have 3 months or so to make that decision be fore it goes into secondary.

 

[Tusch]

I bought the blueberry juice from a grocery store, it was cheaper than the lhbs for me. That's up to you, it certainly darkened my brew and added more bb flavor. Nothing wrong with changing it up though. Also the schedule was just how my brew went, no need to stick strictly to it. Still loving other people enjoying this, as it was my firat original recipe. Need to do another batch or something similar

 

[Tusch]

Oh and I use a 6 gal carboy but just make adjustments for your equipment and keep in mind losses due to berries

 

[StressGranule]

This sounds amazing, I was just wondering where do you get cans of apple concentrate from (what do they look like)?

 

[Tusch]

Its just the frozen apple concentrate that you buy at the grocery store to make juice from concentrate. Just make sure it has not preservatives just like your juice

 

[webos1]

OK, so only been in primary five days, for reference. My questions at this point are:
How long before the blueberries will fall down to the bottom?
Should I occasionally swirl the carboy to keep them all wet;this I think would also serve to "rouse the yeast" throughout primary.
Is the pure blueberry juice you found at the grocery store in a can like found at the LHBS?

As of last night the airlock has slowed way down, thanks in advance for answering my questions.

 

[Tusch]

Sorry in advance for my answers:
I do not know haha. I'll check back in the thread but I'm not sure if I noted how long that took for the berries to drop.
Swirling is fine, but you might want to "punch" them down gently instead to prevent adding you much air as fermentation slows down.
I believe my juice came in a bottle on the natural and organic kind of area of my local grocery store.
I would imagine any rousing of the yeast or berries will pick the fermentation up a bit for a short time, so be prepared.

 

[ColoBrewer420]

I have never made a cider/wine yet but my girlfriend has her heart set on this recipe. I have all the proper equipment, but have one major question. Do you boil the juices at all? I am used to brewing beer and was wondering if just dumping everything in a (sterilized) carboy would stay sanitary? Any advice appreciated.

 

[Tusch]

Never boil juice, unless of course you trying to make jam

 

[Mitch311]

I have never made a cider/wine yet but my girlfriend has her heart set on this recipe. I have all the proper equipment, but have one major question. Do you boil the juices at all? I am used to brewing beer and was wondering if just dumping everything in a (sterilized) carboy would stay sanitary? Any advice appreciated.

I used blueberrys in a can. They are pastuerised already for long storage.

The thing I did differnetly to others in this thread is I put my blueberries in blender and bascially made it into a watery paste. Then I put all into a 5L demijohn (or other steril container) with pectinase for 24hrs.

Put Apple juice and yeast straight on top.

Results were amazing, everyone Who tried it liked it. I stopped when it was still sweetish (1.15 SG I think). I found the blueberry "bits" all fell out with the yeast. I just racked off the top and straight into the fridge.

Very very easy to drink too much.