Plumber's Cider

[SoCalPlumber]

you may be doing something similar to a solera or may want to.

That was a fun and interesting read. Having information at our fingertips is amazing, especially if you grew up long before the internet like I did. Outdated encyclopedias were my internet until I turned 40. And knowing human nature as I do I'd bet the last two generations take it for granted.

Solera cider. Has a nice ring

 

[SoCalPlumber]

Batch 2 Day 11 Blueberry

Racked 1 Day early as I did not want to deal with the fruit.

As you can see the Blueberry departed a redish tint. The main flavor that was left is the tartness of Blueberries. Not bad at all.

I was ready to scrap the whole idea when it hit me, just soak any fruit on the last day, say last 24-36 hours before racking and crashing and BOOM.

I just downed that 10oz cup. Very nice. Almost tasted it

This just keeps getting better and better

 

[SoCalPlumber]

Batch 5 Day 1

Pitched yeast (Lalvin EC-1118 about a quarter teaspoon) today. 96oz Wallyworld White Grape Juice, $2.98 plus 24oz (1/3 C) sugar water. Using a 1 gallon plastic water bottle as fermenter.

Drank another 10oz of the Blueberry. Feeling every bit of it. That last litter won't last but til tomorrow

This is killing me how easy it is. Why isn't every one doing it? Or are we trying to keep juice prices low with lesser demand? I'm all for it. Not telling anyone I know about this. F'em

 

[fluketamer]

wow the color on the blueberry is awesome. if you werent drinking it so fast id say to add pectinase to clear them.

the white grape juice wine will be thin. and could be hot . its bordering on pruno. you should try mixing it with some strong bodied fruit like black currant, mulberry, black berry forest berry juice next time.

even so try fermenting that white grape completelly dry and back sweeten with dark juice.

everyone is doing this or at least a lot of people are. that juice wine htread has 3000 replies and 1/2 million views.

all this talk of cider . im going to put up 2 gallons of grahams tomorrow i love that stuff. and you have convinced me to add some juice.

cheers

 

[fluketamer]

yooooo pluuuuuumber

party about to get started

thanks for the inspiration !

im going with 1.5 gallons of AJ
.5 gallons of cherry ( which is really apple pear grape and cherry in htat order)
i couldnt get to the specialty store for pure cherry which i think is ok cause that can sometimes taste a little medicinal

maybe 200 gms of sugar i havent descided yet on what i want the abv to be.
(plus the usual suspects - tannin citric pectinase, nutrent , wine yeast etc )
then at kegging i will back sweeten with 1 quart of juicy juice cherry
going to ferment at 62-64 for 3 weeks
excited for this

 

[SoCalPlumber]

yooooo pluuuuuumber

View attachment 840536

party about to get started

thanks for the inspiration !

im going with 1.5 gallons of AJ
.5 gallons of cherry ( which is really apple pear grape and cherry in htat order)
i couldnt get to the specialty store for pure cherry which i think is ok cause that can sometimes taste a little medicinal

maybe 200 gms of sugar i havent descided yet on what i want the abv to be.
(plus the usual suspects - tannin citric pectinase, nutrent , wine yeast etc )
then at kegging i will back sweeten with 1 quart of juicy juice cherry
going to ferment at 62-64 for 3 weeks
excited for this

Check this

Tastes like a nice Rośe.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME? How on earth can I produce an apple cider that tastes like a Rośe in 12 days? I'm at a loss.

I'm pretty much going to put the fruit addition on hold for now as I don't want to deal with it and the possibility of mold growth and I'm going to try the perpetual bottles.

I took out and drank about 24oz from Batch 4, not sure how many days but it was nice. I replaced with fresh juice. I'll do the same tomorrow with the other half gallon. I'll rack them next week and take out another 24oz or so and keep them going for a bit.

I had put the blueberry in a 2 ltr soda bottle and capped it tight last night. No carb today but again, Rośe.

I've got another 96oz aj which I'll start this coming weekend and still 6 half gallons that I'll use to keep all the the bottles going as I dip into them weekly

 

[fluketamer]

i still cant get over that color.

my cider is already bubbling after only about 4 hours. i used m10 ale yeast as i have had better luck with ale yeast than with kv1116.

ive descided to just throw 1.5 gallons of Apple juice and .5 gallons of bilberry juice onto the yeast cake after i rack this cherry cider into a keg.

hoping for a blueberry apple cider with a dark blue color and about 5-6 percent abv

psyched

i forgot to mention white american oak chips really add amazing depth, body, flavor, needed tannin, etc to fruit wines and ciders especially grape based ones. i get the very lightly toasted ones. i have used them in primary adding them a few days before racking or bottling.
i have also used them as a tincture in everclear for a few days . then added to the wines. (go gentle this can really get a lot of flavor out of the oak.)

 

[Rish]

put the fruit addition on hold

I sense that you like to experiment so if you want to play around with fruit additions you might want to try fruit jams since they don't float (and add more sugars for abv!). I've done a strawberry mead with Smucker's strawberry jam that turned out good. It was a 2 pack from Sam's so you've inspired me to do a cider with the other 32 oz!

 

[fluketamer]

i tried once a black currant jam in apfelwein and it didnt work.

how would you go about making an apple cider with blueberry jam cause that sounds really good.

how when would you add the jam rish ,

thanks

 

[SoCalPlumber]

I sense that you like to experiment so if you want to play around with fruit additions you might want to try fruit jams since they don't float (and add more sugars for abv!). I've done a strawberry mead with Smucker's strawberry jam that turned out good. It was a 2 pack from Sam's so you've inspired me to do a cider with the other 32 oz!

I make strawberry jam every year

 

[Graham H]

I sense that you like to experiment so if you want to play around with fruit additions you might want to try fruit jams since they don't float (and add more sugars for abv!). I've done a strawberry mead with Smucker's strawberry jam that turned out good. It was a 2 pack from Sam's so you've inspired me to do a cider with the other 32 oz!

I’ve got a lingonberry jam cider currently on tap, and an apricot jam cider conditioning/clearing. The lingonberry is a repeat brew and has come out great every time I’ve tried it.

 

[fluketamer]

I’ve got a lingonberry jam cider currently on tap, and an apricot jam cider conditioning/clearing. The lingonberry is a repeat brew and has come out great every time I’ve tried it.

could you please post your recipe and process for jam cider. i like the lingonberry idea and can get it from ikea.

 

[Graham H]

could you please post your recipe and process for jam cider. i like the lingonberry idea and can get it from ikea.

I originally got my idea from the City Steading Brews YouTube channel. They made theirs from IKEA jam, too, so you can follow theirs for one version. My version uses jam from my local supermarket, but is about the same.

I start by warming the jar in a pan of hot water (switching out for fresh hot water as it cools). This makes getting the jam into my fermenter (narrow-neck 5L glass jug) a bit easier, as I have to use a funnel.

1 gal store-bought AJ (Treetop or Kirkland usually)
10 oz jar of lingonberry jam
1 tsp pectic enzyme

Shake well to incorporate, then…

1 pkt Red Star Premier Classique

0.6g Ferm-O at 24, 48, 72 hours, and again at 7 day mark (2.4g total)

Fermented at room temp (RSPC chosen for this reason) until SG stabilized. Racked to secondary and conditioned for a month. Stabilized w/ K-sorb and K-meta, then added ~140mL (all I had on-hand) of FAJC. Kegged and carb’d for about a week.

Came out tart, not too sweet but not dry, and crystal clear.

 

[SoCalPlumber]

I originally got my idea from the City Steading Brews YouTube channel. They made theirs from IKEA jam, too, so you can follow theirs for one version. My version uses jam from my local supermarket, but is about the same.

I start by warming the jar in a pan of hot water (switching out for fresh hot water as it cools). This makes getting the jam into my fermenter (narrow-neck 5L glass jug) a bit easier, as I have to use a funnel.

1 gal store-bought AJ (Treetop or Kirkland usually)
10 oz jar of lingonberry jam
1 tsp pectic enzyme

Shake well to incorporate, then…

1 pkt Red Star Premier Classique

0.6g Ferm-O at 24, 48, 72 hours, and again at 7 day mark (2.4g total)

Fermented at room temp (RSPC chosen for this reason) until SG stabilized. Racked to secondary and conditioned for a month. Stabilized w/ K-sorb and K-meta, then added ~140mL (all I had on-hand) of FAJC. Kegged and carb’d for about a week.

Came out tart, not too sweet but not dry, and crystal clear.

Looks really good! Thanks for sharing I haven't read anyone using jelly and I've done what I thought was a deep dive.

That would totally eliminate the floating fruit growing nasty mold. We compost everything we can other than meat, dary or oil so I've seen more than my share of how organic compounds breakdown *que meme: "It's the circle of life, Simba"

Finishing the last of the Rośe

2nd and last glass. Bummer. I'll be trying this again, someday. I really want to do the continual, rack, take half to drink and replace the other with juice and give it a week. I might add the fruit to the crashed and bottle cider. Being in the fridge should delay mold growth. It'd only be a day or two as that's how fast I drink them

But seriously this has been worth the time and effort. Really liked that flavor.

In a day or two, weekend for sure I'll be dipping into another 2 half gal bottles of aj for more nector

 

[Graham H]

Enjoying a half liter of lingonberry cider on a Friday evening…

 

[SoCalPlumber]

Enjoying a half liter of lingonberry cider on a Friday evening…
View attachment 840743

I stole about half (30 oz) of plain 'ol regular apple cider

from a half gallon bottle and I replaced with fresh aj and plan on stealing from it again in about a week.

This weekend I've got grape cider about ready to try but no replacement juice but I will be starting 1 gallon of aj to add to the rotation and thinking of moving the half gallons to 1 gallon bottles which would give me about 1.5 gallons to drink per week. Plenty.

I'm truly amazed just how good this stuff is and how easy it is to produce

 

[Raptor99]

I'm pretty much going to put the fruit addition on hold for now as I don't want to deal with it and the possibility of mold growth and I'm going to try the perpetual bottles.

I took out and drank about 24oz from Batch 4, not sure how many days but it was nice. I replaced with fresh juice. I'll do the same tomorrow with the other half gallon. I'll rack them next week and take out another 24oz or so and keep them going for a bit.

We should call this "perpetual cider." I am interested if you have any more information about doing this. Drink some, add some juice, wait, repeat. Has anyone else done this?

You might need to add some nutrients once in a while as well.

 

[fluketamer]

Enjoying a half liter of lingonberry cider on a Friday evening…
View attachment 840743

gorgeous -
does the lingonberry come through. did it start much darker and turn that golden. i dont see bubbles is that carbed or still. im jealous and will have to start some jam cider soon.
ooh i just got an idea. wham jam cider. mix jam and AJ. dump onto freshly racked yeast cake and in 2 weeks wham - jam cider. thats my next venture.

i just got an ispindel and couldnt wait so i broke a cardinal rule and opened up my current feremnting 1.051 cider to throw in the spnidel .

its already at 5 percent abv and climbing ..

I stole about half (30 oz) of plain 'ol regular apple cider
View attachment 840746
from a half gallon bottle and I replaced with fresh aj and plan on stealing from it again in about a week.

This weekend I've got grape cider about ready to try but no replacement juice but I will be starting 1 gallon of aj to add to the rotation and thinking of moving the half gallons to 1 gallon bottles which would give me about 1.5 gallons to drink per week. Plenty.

I'm truly amazed just how good this stuff is and how easy it is to produce

plumber great work on that cider . great bubbles. that looks very professional and you just started . - nice . great interactive running thread btw

We should call this "perpetual cider." I am interested if you have any more information about doing this. Drink some, add some juice, wait, repeat. Has anyone else done this?

You might need to add some nutrients once in a while as well.

yeah - people are definately doing this.
heres something similar but he doesnt tap as he brews.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/meet-the-magical-clown-car-cornelius-keg.710752/
i like the idea but there are some issues that would need to be worked around.
trub dumper could help extend the process on a larger scale and oxygen ingress would have to be fixed etc.

and there are similar threads on reddit and on here.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/continuous-use-fermentation.686951/
this techniques is sort of a combination of continuos fermenting and solera brewing sort of

 

[Graham H]

gorgeous -
does the lingonberry come through. did it start much darker and turn that golden. i dont see bubbles is that carbed or still. im jealous and will have to start some jam cider soon.
ooh i just got an idea. wham jam cider. mix jam and AJ. dump onto freshly racked yeast cake and in 2 weeks wham - jam cider. thats my next venture.

The color is definitely a bit darker than unflavored apple cider. It’s been carbonating for about a week at serving pressure, but I lose a bit of that to the rapidly dissipating foam on each first pour. Once the tap is chilled, it retains more bubbles. I don’t often pour more than once in a single session, alas.

The lingonberry contributes nicely to the tartness and adds a little flavor and aroma, but is nowhere near the taste you would get straight from the jam. I definitely think it’s suitable; friends who like it really enjoy the taste, whereas friend who don’t like tartness think it has too much “bite.” If you haven’t yet, I recommend watching the CSB video on YouTube that was my inspiration.

 

[SoCalPlumber]

this techniques is sort of a combination of continuos fermenting and solera brewing sort of

I'm going to start calling it Solera Cider, it fits

I know there are "proper" methods that are time tested and proven that help make the difference between a good and great finished product consistently, whether wine/cider or beer or whatever. We all know this and why some of us, like me waited to dabble in fermenting.

I never thought I could get an end product this good for pennies on the dollar.

I've got 3 pounds of Blueberries and plenty of sugar and pectin to make some jam this weekend

Keep in mind I only gave the fruit about 36 or so hours in a day 10 fermenting apple cider to produce a very nice tasting Rośe. Amazing.

Thanks to all who have stopped by and added a wealth of knowledge here. Blown away

 

[SoCalPlumber]

Batch 4 Day 10

Dynamite. Still some grape flavor and yet here I am feeling 10 ozs. and another 10 to go

Batch 5 Day 5

1 gallon White Grape. Bubbling away and making my mouth water.

Batch 3 Day 11 & today's selection

I stole about 30ozs from the apple yesterday and replaced with fresh juice. Hope to harvest about half again next week. Really getting excited of the prospects and mixes of Apple and grapes

 

[fluketamer]

found this on sale for 2.99 per gallon!!!

it has k sorbate in it. i am going to try to get around that by pitching it right onto the current yeast i have fermenting my cherry cider now once i keg it.

i found this triple cherry juice from geo hills

im going to throw a liter of that in there also.

i also found a liter of my favorite - bilberry juice

this gives the most bang for your buck in terms of bluberry flavor and color.
im going to prolly back sweeten with that in the keg for my cherry cider or make a seperate blueberry apple cider.

like you said plumber the combinations are endless,

 

[SoCalPlumber]

View attachment 840881

found this on sale for 2.99 per gallon!!!

it has k sorbate in it. i am going to try to get around that by pitching it right onto the current yeast i have fermenting my cherry cider now once i keg it.

i found this triple cherry juice from geo hills
View attachment 840883
im going to throw a liter of that in there also.

i also found a liter of my favorite - bilberry juice

View attachment 840884
this gives the most bang for your buck in terms of bluberry flavor and color.
im going to prolly back sweeten with that in the keg for my cherry cider or make a seperate blueberry apple cider.

like you said plumber the combinations are endless,

Oh hell yeah! I stole more of the Grape

Couple of these 16oz'ers. YUM! Not much of the gallon left. One or two more cup fills. It's been better than expected and I'm feelin' it

I didn't make Blueberry jam yet buy it's supposed to rain all week and doubt I'll leave the house baring a client emergency.

I've got another 96 oz bottle of aj I'll start tomorrow in a 1 gallon bottle adding sugar water. WOOT!

 

[SoCalPlumber]

Mt Dew wine?
https://www.mensjournal.com/news/homebrewer-tastes-mountain-dew-wine-first-time

 

[Graham H]

like you said plumber the combinations are endless,

Of the last dozen-or-so of my experimental batches, most have been made with 1 gal AJ + 1 qt of another juice (both added to primary). Then I’ve stabilized and back sweetened with FAJC.

I’ll have to try running two batches side-by-side where the first is done as above and the second only includes the flavoring juice for back sweetening. Thanks for the inspiration!

 

[fluketamer]

Of the last dozen-or-so of my experimental batches, most have been made with 1 gal AJ + 1 qt of another juice (both added to primary). Then I’ve stabilized and back sweetened with FAJC.

I’ll have to try running two batches side-by-side where the first is done as above and the second only includes the flavoring juice for back sweetening. Thanks for the inspiration!

have you ever made hard cider with the cloudy cider you get at orchards or framers market. i always use store juice cause the end product is crystal clear like wine or champagne. but the cloudy cider tastes so much better then store juice.. im wodnering if you can get it to clear with pectinase or bentonite.

also i tried my motts cider with juicy juice cherry after it bottomed out at 1.002 and about 6.4 percent abv. its insanely good. motts with ale yeast is my go to it never fails. not too dry like a light white wine with intense apple aroma. just like i like it. the cherry didnt come through but i know ill get it to come out with the backsweetening. i think im done using wine yeast for ciders.

since i have the gallon of orchard cider and the liter of bilberry juice you have convinced me to try your method and put it in primary and back sweeten with fajc. im sure it wont taste bad. im just a little worried the brown cloudy cider with the black purple bilberry may look like sewage water in the glass.
lol

i like this back and forth inspiration.

cheers

 

[SoCalPlumber]

i like this back and forth inspiration.

I believe this is the reason this site exists

You and Graham and killing it and I'm loving all the thoughts and ideas here. I'm gonna keep pluging along with:
Batch 6 Day 1

96 oz aj 16 oz water 1/3 cup cane sugar and a bit of Lalvin EC-1118 champagne yeast.

I am going to rack 3 half gallons of the aj this week, steal some, OK HALF, and set up a 1 gallon like this batch above for rotation.

Batch 5 Day 7

White Grape. My mouth puckers every time I look at it I'm going to try and let this one go real dry.

There was still about 2 ltrs of the purple grape cider left

so I added 16 oz sugar water. Going to let it sit for awhile and buy more juice, move it into a 1 gallon bottle and add to the rotation even though I'm guessing it will get real dry and may not be near as good as 10/11 days of fermenting.

This is what i was hoping for and it was a very good cider for me as it still retained that wonderful grape flavor with some alcohol. I was feeling it after a 10oz glass My current favorite with the blueberry added to the aj a very close 2nd but that one really tasted more like Rośe wine then a cider.

Here's to a cold rainy week with lots of cider to drink

 

[Rish]

has k sorbate in it

The lemon juice used to make Skeeter Pee has it, too. That recipe calls for putting it in a gallon jug, shaking it vigorously, covering the mouth of the jug with loosely with foil, then repeat a couple of times a day for 3 days, removing the foil and swirling after shaking. I've done that and always have a good fermentation. Might want to give it a shot!

 

[SoCalPlumber]

Currently cooking

White Grape Day 9 Oh my, I can't wait to try as a cider. A few more days.

Apple Day 2 I won't be dipping into this until next weekend. Long wait

Apple Batch 2 & 3 after stealing half+ and refilling with fresh juice and some sugar water last week and now combined into 1 gallon. This weekend I'll rack this and steal half and refill.

I do have about a liter of the purple Grape left. Had a glass last night and as I thought it's getting drier. Still has a bit of Grape flavor though. I think when I do make this in the future I'll plan on 11-12 days ferment, rack and fridge to start drinking. This one won't get any better for my tastes and I like this one as a cider

I'm amazed at how much I've gone through in the past month Gonna start another gallon soon to add to the weekly mix and gotta buy more juice!

 

[SoCalPlumber]

Friday

Last of the Grape. A bit drier but still good stuff. 20oz and feelin' it. Lovin' it

I stole half gal from Batch 2 & 3

for this weekend. Doesn't seem like near enough

Feeling good and look who wants to nap on me

 

[fluketamer]

hey plumber im going to try the cherry cider tonite when i get home from work. it tasted great before i backsweetened it after it had a slighty (unwanted ) earthy flavor. im hoping that will settle out when the yeast settle and the cider clears.
btw he looks very comfy

mine just likes to take up space . here he is adding his "flavor" to the kettle

 

[leedspointbrew]

have you ever made hard cider with the cloudy cider you get at orchards or framers market. i always use store juice cause the end product is crystal clear like wine or champagne. but the cloudy cider tastes so much better then store juice.. im wodnering if you can get it to clear with pectinase or bentonite.

also i tried my motts cider with juicy juice cherry after it bottomed out at 1.002 and about 6.4 percent abv. its insanely good. motts with ale yeast is my go to it never fails. not too dry like a light white wine with intense apple aroma. just like i like it. the cherry didnt come through but i know ill get it to come out with the backsweetening. i think im done using wine yeast for ciders.

since i have the gallon of orchard cider and the liter of bilberry juice you have convinced me to try your method and put it in primary and back sweeten with fajc. im sure it wont taste bad. im just a little worried the brown cloudy cider with the black purple bilberry may look like sewage water in the glass.
lol

i like this back and forth inspiration.

cheers

Here's my first cider, Mott's over S-04 yeast cake; once again I'm hoping S-04, my favorite yeast, is the hero. It hasn't failed me yet.

 

[fluketamer]

this cherry apple cider came out really better than expected.

i back sweetened it with triple cherry juice and unfiltered apple cider ( i think that accounts for the haze) forced carbed in the keg. with a little gelatin.

its so good im going to make it a regular in the line up. next i will try blueberry/ apple cider .

 

[Graham H]

its so good im going to make it a regular in the line up. next i will try blueberry/ apple cider .

My blueberry cider just finished carbonating. Definitely tastes good, but I think next time I’ll ferment the apple juice, stabilize, and backsweeten with blueberry juice. The batch I’m drinking now was made with both apple and blueberry juice in primary, and I think that caused a loss of some of the flavor.

 

[fluketamer]

My blueberry cider just finished carbonating. Definitely tastes good, but I think next time I’ll ferment the apple juice, stabilize, and backsweeten with blueberry juice. The batch I’m drinking now was made with both apple and blueberry juice in primary, and I think that caused a loss of some of the flavor.

yeah the yeast tends to strip through flavor and color. backsweetening with dark fruit juices adds back the sweetness and color and a little flavor. too,.

 

[Rish]

apple and blueberry juice in primary, and I think that caused a loss of some of the flavor.

You can wait to add the blueberry until after the initial apple juice fermentation is done to preserve its flavor.

 

[Graham H]

You can wait to add the blueberry until after the initial apple juice fermentation is done to preserve its flavor.

Do you mean adding the flavoring juice before stabilizing or after?

 

[Rish]

Add it before and let it continue to ferment is what I was suggesting but if you want to backsweeten the cider with the blueberry juice you would add it after stabilizing. You could also do a combination of both; ferment some and sweeten with some.

 

[SoCalPlumber]

Solara Cider

This is the first approx half gallon of the Solara cider. Not bad but has lost more apple flavor so I added a 6oz Tree Top fruit + water

but really didn't add much flavor. I racked the other half into a 96oz bottle and filled up with fresh juice. I'm thinking of pouring the smaller bottles back into a larger bottle and adding Blueberries.

I've got another gallon to steal from this weekend and I will be adding 1/2 cup of Blueberries to the half I'll be drinking soon, racking the rest and adding more juice.

The white grape, while drinkable has been the worst so far. I've got maybe 24oz left and I plan on racking and adding some Blueberries.

The purple grape juice makes a great cider but adding berries to the apple is about as good.

I filled 2 half gallon bottles with water, yeast and the lees from an apple juice ferment and will be experimenting with flavoring after fermentation.

Hard to believe I've gone through about 8 gallons of fermented juice since the first of the year

 

[SoCalPlumber]

Today's elixir

The Solara aj. Tomorrow's juice

Solara aj and the last of the white grape. Didn't even thaw the berries.

I racked the rest if the 2nd bottle of aj

Got 2 96oz bottles half fermented and half fresh. I have one more holding the apple cider which will be ready next weekend.

Fermenting sugar water

with added lees from an aj fermentation in place of yeast nutes. I like several flavors of bottled water flavor packs with an artificial sweetener and will try them first. I'll give these sugar waters 2 weeks and start 2 new ones every week. Prison hooch