Frozen Apple Sauce

[browning348]

I have about 5-7 gallons of frozen apple sauce from a local my wife made for the kids and I've got a feeling it's not going to get eaten. Can this be made into cider? If so what would be the best steps?

 

[gratus fermentatio]

IMHO, it would be more trouble than it's worth, but if you can figure out a way to pres/filter/separate the remaining juice from the pomace, then have at it. If you try to ferment something that thick, the yeast won't be able to move & reach the rest of the sauce. If you try to thin it with water, it will taste watered down. If you try to thin it with more juice, all you're doing is adding sediment to the cider, which defeats the purpose. You might as well just leave the sauce out & ferment the juice.

I'd save that sauce for other things, like baking it into cookies, using it on ham/pork chops/etc...
Might work well in a home made BBQ sauce, or even in an icecream recipe. If you have a food dehydrator, you can make it into fruit leather. You can use it in many ways, but I think not in cider making.
Regards, GF.

 

[madscientist451]

Hopefully its frozen in quart containers, not whole gallons. If you get in the habit of serving it out at dinnertime, they'll eat it. Maybe it needs more cinnamon or a touch of honey, do a taste test with them and see what they like. Hey its cold out, good time for baking some applesauce cake.
Getting juice out of it for cider isn't going to work, I've tried it. There are all kinds of brewers using fruit puree added to a secondary, that's something I wanted to try with apple sauce. Maybe adapt one of the Graff recipes found on this site, or try a sour beer?

 

[bernardsmith]

Not sure I totally agree with FG. I have successfully fermented jam several times -The trick is to add enough pectic enzyme to break down the pectins that undergird the sauce. Rather than dilute the sauce with water add some apple juice...

 

[browning348]

So it my be possible to use the pectic enzyme in the primary fermentation to break down the solids and make a liquid that clears in the end?

 

[BendOrnewbie]

I used the Luc Volders, pectic enzyme experiment as a guide to juice frozen applesauce. The pectic enzyme worked amazingly well for a high yield of juice. I used the enzyme preferment and strained through a nylon. I didn't put the small amount of remaining pulp into the fermenter--just the strained juice.