Duplicating “Serious Scrump”

[Douglasj110]

Hello all!

New to the forum, new to the home brew game. I have a baseline understanding of this basics of fermentation, but that’s about it. I have brewed a few beers and had success. I decided I wanted to try and duplicate a cider, which I know know will be far more difficult than my previous brews. I am hoping to duplicate the cider called Serious Scrump, made by Two Towns. It is a pretty strong cider coming in at 11% ABV. I know they concentrate the fresh pressed cider in order to concentrate it as is slowly thaws out. I know they use an English ale yeast to ferment it. Other than that, I’m clueless. I was hoping maybe some of you might have some ideas. Thank you!

Doug

 

[sacandagabrewing]

This is really just a shot in the dark but from what I would think, I would follow their advice and press your own, freeze it, then let it thaw out and collect the runnings. The logic behind this, if I had to guess, is that sugar doesn't freeze as well as water so the sugary part of the apple juice will melt first and leave the frozen water behind. This way the remaining liquid has a higher percentage of sugar because the water has been removed. As for yeast, I would use something like Nottingham? or maybe WLP 007 to deal with the higher OG because Nottingham leaves it pretty sweet for me.

I guarantee one of the smarter folks will come and give you a much better answer but that's my shot in the dark. Worst case, just give it a shot and see how it goes

 

[Douglasj110]

This is really just a shot in the dark but from what I would think, I would follow their advice and press your own, freeze it, then let it thaw out and collect the runnings. The logic behind this, if I had to guess, is that sugar doesn't freeze as well as water so the sugary part of the apple juice will melt first and leave the frozen water behind. This way the remaining liquid has a higher percentage of sugar because the water has been removed. As for yeast, I would use something like Nottingham? or maybe WLP 007 to deal with the higher OG because Nottingham leaves it pretty sweet for me.

I guarantee one of the smarter folks will come and give you a much better answer but that's my shot in the dark. Worst case, just give it a shot and see how it goes

Thanks for the reply! I had to cut my original post short because the baby was losing his mind and typing on the phone was getting old, but now I have a moment to include more...

So I bought some Simply Apple juice from the store and froze it. I thawed it out and collected the juice. This was quite a pain, as it took almost 5 large containers to produce 1 gallon of the concentrated juice. It was also difficult for me to do so in a way that I could guarantee that nothing else got into the juice, so I had to pasteurize it when I had collected it all. The original gravity of Simply Apple was 1.052, and the gravity of the concentrate went up to 1.07. I have no idea if this is a good increase, or if i just wasted my time freezing and thawing the juice.

Funny you should mention Nottingham, that is exactly what I used! More by chance than anything. I definitely prefer my cider more dry, so I think I will take your advice on the WLP 007 for the next attempt, thanks for that!

Any thoughts on filtered vs unfiltered? Also, any thoughts on pasteurizing the final product? Thanks again!

 

[sacandagabrewing]

well from 1.052 to 1.070 will increase the abv from 6.56% to somewhere around 8.5% (assuming the yeast takes it all the way down to .002 but you get the idea)

I've been meaning to experiment with 007 so please reply back and let me know!

As far as filtering goes, I tend to leave it unfiltered. I like the rustic look of it but that's also because I personally don't see the point in filtering. You can if you like but its all personal preference.

I guess the pasteurizing is also depending on what you do. If I bottle, I just bottle it dry and let it crash so it doesn't need to be pasteurized. If I keg, I will hit it with sulfite and sorbate in order to prevent re-fermentation. What do you plan on doing?

 

[madscientist451]

The original gravity of Simply Apple was 1.052, and the gravity of the concentrate went up to 1.07. I have no idea if this is a good increase, or if i just wasted my time freezing and thawing the juice.

The Serious Scrump is 11% ABV so you could "cheat" by adding frozen apple juice concentrate or re-freeze what you previously collected until you hit your target ABV. Also, the leftover ice from the freezing process still has some sugar in it, you can use that when brewing a beer if you want to be frugal.
I've had sulfur issues when using Nottingham yeast in cider, yeast nutrient may help if you notice any sulfur.