Pretty good timing... I am just about to bottle a batch of blackberry-sage cider.
- I never use campden tablets, but if you're worried about the wild yeast or other potential bugs on the blackberry skins, go ahead and use them.
- Pectic enzyme has purely cosmetic function: it will make the cider more clear. I didn't bother at first, but then noticed myself making excuses for cloudy ciders and wines in front of friends. A little bit goes a long way, so now I use it regularly. If you don't want it or need it, don't use it!
- Making a sweet cider is a complicated topic because there are so many ways of doing it. You can probably just search the forums for that.
Anyways, here's my recipe! The blackberries add a lot of tartness and fruitiness that is absent in store-bought apple juice. I would double the amount of sage if I were to do it again, the sage didn't really come through except as a subtle tannic astringency. You could probably also substitute fresh basil, which has proven to go really well with blackberries in other brews I've made. If you are completely uninterested in either, just leave them out, but I think they add complexity.
1 gallon store-bought apple juice
1 lb blackberries (use 1/2 lb for a less tart, more mellow flavour)
1/2 tsp yeast nutrient
1/4 tsp pectic enzyme
10g fresh sage
Yeast: Wyeast 1388 (yeah, not commonly used for cider: I had a reclaimed batch in the fridge which I use for mead but was worried it had died out ... thankfully it didn't and it seems to have been a good choice of yeast, it seems to amp up the fruit flavours) ... I've also used S-04 and 71B-1122 with good results.
Freeze the berries, thaw them, and crush them in a sanitized bowl. Pour everything in the fermenter along with the apple juice.
Take HALF of the sage and steep it in boiling water for 15+ minutes. Pour the resulting tea in the fermenter.
If you are using a carboy or fermenting right in the juice bottle, take care to leave a lot of headspace because the berries are going to rise when fermentation peaks and could potentially pop off the airlock and leave a mess ... I know this from experience
. When fermentation is nearly complete, just add the apple juice you removed, it will ferment but it will be much less active and shouldn't cause the berries to rise.
The berries will slowly turn pale and gray and really gross looking... don't worry, everything's fine, nothing's infected, chill out!
When fermentation has ended (about a week, if you're using yeast nutrient), put the other half of the sage a secondary fermenter and rack on top of it. You can probably also just put them straight in the primary fermenter if you want and not bother with secondary. However, doing a secondary should help clear out the crud from the blackberries.
Let it sit another two weeks, and it should be ready (3 weeks total since pitching the yeast). If you are patient, let it sit for 4 months.
