Mangroves Jack strawberry and pear

[fabz]

Hi, I am fairly new to brewing and have just started my first cider. Unfortunately I didn't scrutinise the instructions to well, and mistakenly added the packet of flavouring at the beginning of the recipe. I had a taste test (it's been sitting in the fermenter for 7 days now) and the taste wasn't that great.

I was wondering if anyone could advise me on whether I should go ahead and bottle the brew as is, or whether I should add some strawberry concentrate to bring back the flavour and some sweetness?

Thanks for the help

 

[javalin]

Are you making a kit? I would wait and add flavoring after secondary fermentation, or whenever you were supposed to add that flavor packet to your cider.

 

[fabz]

Ya it was from a kit , but ya that sounds like the best idea. Will add it just before bottling and leave it to sit for 24 hours?

 

[javalin]

Now I'm rethinking this in the light of day. The concentrate will boost the amount of fermentable sugars in your cider, and will activate the yeast again. You could potentially use this instead of a priming sugar, but I'm not sure of the quantity of concentrate you would want. Sweetness isn't really something you can get in a cider unless your force carbing or using artificial sugars (non fermentable sugars).

 

[fabz]

I was wondering about the sugar the only problem is its clycaemic carbohydrate which has 24.9 g of sugar so not sure Wat my ratios will be, need to do some research

 

[elreplica]

I'm curious about this...how did the MJ Strawberry Pear cider turn out? I followed the recipe and excluded the sweetener for dryness sake...I'm going to keg a portion and bottle the rest...

 

[fabz]

Ya it was really good surprisingly, I made mine a bit sweet so next time I will try not be so heavy handed with the sweetener but the underlying taste was great... how did yours turn out?

 

[elreplica]

It turned out pretty good. I added 2g of the sweetener - about half the pack - and found it just about right. I did keg half and have yet to try the bottles. I'll let them condition for a few weeks yet. It was good enough that I'm going to try the pear one next.

 

[elreplica]

PS - adding the flavour during fermentation didn't change a thing I'm thinking. And leaving it on gas now for a few weeks has absolutely made this wonderful stuff! I'm hoping the sparkling pear cider turns out as good as one I made 25 years ago in a U Brew. I'm thinking it's going to be great!