Need help with a plum cider recipe

[J2W2]

Hi,

I've only made one cider (apple), and that was years ago. It was ok, but nothing great. My wife is the cider drinker, and she had a plum cider a few years ago that she raves about. I keep meaning to try another one, so I thought I'd make a plum cider this winter.

I was not having much luck finding the necessary ingredient until a fellow member mentioned Coloma Frozen Foods. They sell a Red Plum Concentrate that is made with 100% fruit juice and has a brix of 65. I'm planning to make a three-gallon batch, so I was thinking two of their quart size concentrate, diluted with 2.5 gallons of distilled water. The site says the recommended ratio is 1:467, yielding 1.25 gallons per quart of concentrate. My ratio would be 1:5, which I wouldn't think is too far off the recommended ratio.

I'm planning to use SafCider AB-1 (Balanced) dry yeast. I can't find any information on it's attenuation range, so I'm not sure how to calculate my expected F.G. I haven't decided on a target ABV yet, but I'll probably shoot for something in the 5-7% range.

This seemed pretty straight forward until I put it into BeerSmith. It's giving me an estimated O.G. of 1.055. Unless I'm missing something, wouldn't two quarts of 65 brix concentrate, diluted with ten quarts of water, create a three gallon solution with a Brix around 10.83? My calculator says that's an O.G. of 1.043. BeerSmith also shows a F.G. of 0.997, for an ABV of 7.9%, but again, I don't think the O.G. is correct, and I don't know if the F.G. is either since I wasn't able to provide the correct attenuation range when I added this yeast to BeerSmith.

My other question is on process. The Coloma site says it's pure juice, no preservatives or other additives, so I assume I'll need to heat it at least to a pasteurization temp, if not a low boil, to kill any potential wild yeast?

As I said, I need help with this one. Anything is appreciated, but a sample recipe would be great, as would advice on process (heating/boiling) or anything else.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Drewch]

Their website says the concentrate is made by heating under a (partial) vacuum. I'd suspect they're heating to a pasteurization temp in that process. But you could prob ask their customer service to be sure: [email protected]

Since most fruit juices are almost all simple sugars, assume very high attenuation. I've done a handful of of ciders, and they've all run down to 1.000 FG or even lower.

[edit: fixed a typo]

 

[Raptor99]

Two quarts of concentrate at Brix 65 combined with 10 quarts of water yields a Brix of 13.565. That is equivalent to SG 1.0549. Depending on which calculator you use, to the potential ABV is about 6.5-7%. If your FG is 0.997 then the ABV would be about 7.6% to 7.9% depending on which calculator you use. So that is very close to what you got from Beer Smith.

There is a very useful calculator at FermCalc JS

 

[madscientist451]

I've never heard of plum cider, so I did some hunting around for a commercial example.
In the UK there was something called Plum Jerkum that was then blended with cider.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plum_jerkumAnd here's a producer that makes several different kinds of Jerkum:
https://www.missiontrailranches.com/taproommenuHere's a description of a home made version, the comments below the article provide much information. It seems like the variety of plums used makes a big difference and the beverage can be somewhat acidic.
https://twothirstygardeners.co.uk/2013/01/plum-jerkum-pressing-plums-worcestershire-style/#commentsHere's a few old recipes, however I wouldn't use either one:
Recipe
I have a few pounds of plums sitting around so I'm going to experiment with the following method:
Freeze the plums, then let thaw and remove the pits. Place in muslin bag and add some "second run" cider I made this year. Let it ferment, then pull the bag, rack to glass jug and let age a while. Maybe have to back sweeten or blend with something else to taste.

 

[J2W2]

Their website says the concentrate is made by heating under a (partial) vacuum. I'd suspect they're heating to a pasteurization temp in that process. But you could prob ask their customer service to be sure: [email protected]

I sent them an email. I'll update the post if I hear back from them.

Two quarts of concentrate at Brix 65 combined with 10 quarts of water yields a Brix of 13.565. That is equivalent to SG 1.0549. Depending on which calculator you use, to the potential ABV is about 6.5-7%. If your FG is 0.997 then the ABV would be about 7.6% to 7.9% depending on which calculator you use. So that is very close to what you got from Beer Smith.

There is a very useful calculator at FermCalc JS

Obviously it's not quite the simple math I thought it was. Thanks for confirming the numbers; good to know BeerSmith is on track. Sounds like it could be a fairly potent cider!

I've never heard of plum cider, so I did some hunting around for a commercial example.
In the UK there was something called Plum Jerkum that was then blended with cider.

Thank you for all that information. I believe we may have come across the cider in the Czech Republic, but I'm not 100% sure on that.


Based on all this info, I think I'll proceed with a trial batch. Probably just the concentrate, distilled water and yeast. It sounds like I may need to stabilize and back sweeten, or just stabilize if I could catch it at the right time. If the taste is still not there I can try mixing it with an apple cider too. If I get something worthwhile, I plan to keg and force carbonate it, then bottle with my beer gun.

Thanks again to all of you for the help!

 

[J2W2]

Got a quick reply from Coloma: "The plum concentrate has been pasteurized, but there is always a chance there could be some wild yeast that has gotten into the product. I always try to err on the side of caution. I have not heard of any problems, but…. So sorry this is not much of an answer."

So it sounds like the best bet may be to treat it somehow before pitching my yeast.

 

[Maylar]

Use the standard dose of 1 crushed Campden tablet per gallon. No heating needed.