Inthenaki
New Member
Hi team, wondering if anyone has done a hopped cider with a blackberry addition? Its an experiment- but wondering, do you think its a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ and why?
Hopped Cider with blackberry
- Thread starter Inthenaki
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I tried adding blackberry once. When the sugar has been fermented out, what is left is awful! With hopped cider you need to be ready to take the hops out as soon as the flavour profile is right as a day or two makes a heap of difference.
I don't want to sound like a grouch but that is my experience, however anything is worth a try.
I don't want to sound like a grouch but that is my experience, however anything is worth a try.
Plasticmetal
Member
I've never been much for blackberries because I go for boysenberries based on availability (and flavour that's more than just sugar). With that said, though, berry ciders are great and I could see hops complimenting them well if used correctly. Off hand, I think that your biggest challenge will be managing bitterness and acidity. Coincidentally, I'm also playing with the idea of a hopped fire cider myself, possibly with berries, but as full disclosure I've never actually done a hopped cider so I can't give you real notes on the hopped bit.
I think you should develop this idea and look at doing it. I'm 100% here for it.
You probably have your own system worked out for the berry / fruit bit, but if not here are my thoughts:
For additions you're looking at three main options:
I recommend looking at the latter two options if you don't already have your own system for this worked out, and here's why:
I'm thinking about this in the same context as I would for a mead - Whole fruit additions in secondary are totally doable, but I'm not a fan of it because it requires continuous monitoring for flavour and takes a relatively long time compared to the other two methods. This is totally a personal quirk of mine but when I add flavouring agents I like to make the addition / play with it if necessary and then be done with it so I can forget about the project in secondary without any loose ends. Not a bad option, though.
I would recommend using berry juice if this is at all practical for you. I need to post my notes for doing so, but you can turn a pressure cooker into a steam-juicer and get plenty of berry juice out of 3-5 pounds of frozen fruit. This is usually what I use to add fruit flavours to my projects, and I strongly recommend making a cider with some added boysenberry juice if you ever have the chance to.
Lastly a quick note on flavouring agents: When I made my first batches of cider I used boysenberry pancake syrup as an all-in-one back-sweetening / priming / flavouring agent. Obviously the usual rules apply in terms of finding products with no preservatives, made from actual fruit, etc. but I would encourage anyone reading this to not overlook this option. My go-to brand of syrup is Pioneer Valley and I've made some pretty good stuff from it.
TL;DR I think a hopped berry cider absolutely worth pursuing, and berry ciders are the bomb.
I think you should develop this idea and look at doing it. I'm 100% here for it.
You probably have your own system worked out for the berry / fruit bit, but if not here are my thoughts:
For additions you're looking at three main options:
- Whole berries
- Berry juice
- Organic or non-organic flavouring agent
I recommend looking at the latter two options if you don't already have your own system for this worked out, and here's why:
I'm thinking about this in the same context as I would for a mead - Whole fruit additions in secondary are totally doable, but I'm not a fan of it because it requires continuous monitoring for flavour and takes a relatively long time compared to the other two methods. This is totally a personal quirk of mine but when I add flavouring agents I like to make the addition / play with it if necessary and then be done with it so I can forget about the project in secondary without any loose ends. Not a bad option, though.
I would recommend using berry juice if this is at all practical for you. I need to post my notes for doing so, but you can turn a pressure cooker into a steam-juicer and get plenty of berry juice out of 3-5 pounds of frozen fruit. This is usually what I use to add fruit flavours to my projects, and I strongly recommend making a cider with some added boysenberry juice if you ever have the chance to.
Lastly a quick note on flavouring agents: When I made my first batches of cider I used boysenberry pancake syrup as an all-in-one back-sweetening / priming / flavouring agent. Obviously the usual rules apply in terms of finding products with no preservatives, made from actual fruit, etc. but I would encourage anyone reading this to not overlook this option. My go-to brand of syrup is Pioneer Valley and I've made some pretty good stuff from it.
TL;DR I think a hopped berry cider absolutely worth pursuing, and berry ciders are the bomb.
I haven't done a blackberry cider yet, but my raspberry cider was good. It's best to use fresh, fully ripe berries. I would try about 1 lb. of berries per gallon of cider, or more if you want a strong berry flavor. With the added berries, it will taste better if you stabilize and backsweeten a little bit before bottling.
I have never added hops to cider, but I would use a lower bitterness variety and only add a very small amount. I am not a big fan of hops, so if you love the bitterness you might want to add more. It depends on the flavor profile that you are looking for.
I'm just thinking out loud here, but I think I would add the berries/juice first and let it fully ferment, then add a bit of hops and pull it out when the flavor is right. Beer has quite a bit of sweetness from unimplementable sugars, which is balanced by the bitterness of hops. But fully fermented cider does not have any sweetness, so it is easy to make it too bitter with hops. The goal is find a pleasant balance between acidity, bitterness, and sweetness. These need to be in balance with one another.
