Ice Cider, Yeast Suggestions

[garbagegeezer]

Hello all.

I've had an interesting first attempt at making ice cider

Froze 20# apples in my freezer
Ground them into frozen pulp
Tried to press juice, but way too frozen (didn't take temp)
Let thaw overnight until temp was approximately 25F
Got a little over a gallon of super syrupy must (SG 1.074)
Mixed in 1.5 camden tabs

Has anyone done an ice cider like this before? I was trying to replicate the 'leave the fruit on the trees' method, rather than pressing and freezing the must afterwards.

Also, Any suggestions on yeast to use for an ice cider???

 

[Tusch]

Nope never done it, but COOL! haha I've seen a few do the other method of freeze concentrating the must, but not freezing the fruit first.

What kind of FG are you shooting for? Are you wanting it sweet, semi-sweet, or dry? Most any wine yeast will still take it dry 1.000 or less, giving you in the range of 10+%. If you are wanting a sweeter brew, look into beer yeast. Ale and hefe yeasts have been known to leave some residual sweetness. I think if you look at the better then apfelwein thread you could get an idea on yeasts to use based on your FG desires, since this is only a bit higher strength then the original apfelwein recipe.

 

[garbagegeezer]

Thanks,I ended up going with L1118 Champagne yeast from my local shop. Im going for a bit on the dry side, but I'd like to have a little bit of the apple flavor left over.

Maybe I'll save some of the batch juice to mix in during secondary?

 

[iamatuna]

How did this turn out?

I am thinking of making a batch of something similar in about a month or so.

Also a random question. How acidic was the juice? I have read that when pressing the frozen apples malic acid (the main acid in apples) percipitates out at around -2 deg C and that it stays withing the apples if pressed when frozen?

Cheers

 

[Calder]

It's been 2 years since he posted anything. I doubt you will get an answer.

 

[Moobesor]

I thought an ice cider should begin at a gravity of 1.13 or more before fermentation.

Also, fermentation may have to be stopped to achieve the sweetness desired. Campden tablets and potassium sorbate and cold crashing, raking into secondary et cetera.

Presently I am attempting Ice Cider. Yesterday I extracted about 1.5 gallons from 4 gallons of fresh pressed cider. Only achieved 1.10 gravity so I am freezing again. The rule states you should get about 1/4 ice cider from original juice quantity.

I will post the results.

The only yeast I have on hand is Lavlin 116. Perhaps a bit too strong for this application, but will try anyway. Hopefully I can stop fermentation at desired gravity level. Not easy with this strain I heard.

 

[roadymi]

I thought an ice cider should begin at a gravity of 1.13 or more before fermentation.

Also, fermentation may have to be stopped to achieve the sweetness desired. Campden tablets and potassium sorbate and cold crashing, raking into secondary et cetera.

Presently I am attempting Ice Cider. Yesterday I extracted about 1.5 gallons from 4 gallons of fresh pressed cider. Only achieved 1.10 gravity so I am freezing again. The rule states you should get about 1/4 ice cider from original juice quantity.

I will post the results.

The only yeast I have on hand is Lavlin 116. Perhaps a bit too strong for this application, but will try anyway. Hopefully I can stop fermentation at desired gravity level. Not easy with this strain I heard.

I would think that using a yeast with lower alcohol tolerance would be a better option than trying to stop a freight train of a yeast.

1.1 is pretty high for juice, you probably started around 1.05 or so.

I thought the whole purpose of Ice cider was to end up with a flavorful sweet desert type wine? Gon't understand why anyone would want to take it dry.

 

[kewlio250]

so many thread revivals today!