Pomegranate- Black Cherry Hard Cider

[kyleaubu]

Just a simple 1 gal batch of cider that I started today just for the fun of it.
So here's my super easy recipe

2L Pomegranate Juice
1L Black Cherry Juice
1 12oz can Frozen Apple-Cherry concentrate
1/2 tsp Yeast Nutrient
1/2 tsp Yeast Energizer
1/2 tbsp Distillers Yeast

Warm juice and concentrate to around 90°F and add yeast nutrient and energizer. I re hydrated my yeast with a little water at 110°F and 2 tbsp. table sugar. Pitched the yeast and is now in the primary. After a week or two I'll rack to secondary and top up with water to make 1 gallon.

I didnt take a starting gravity on account of my hydrometer being busted into a million pieces. I'm just going to let it ferment out and see what happens. I plan to use honey to back sweeten if I so desire at that point.

The problem I'm having is, I don't know how much bottling sugar to use for carbing or how long to let it carb for.

Any thoughts, suggestions, friendly criticism? I'm ALWAYS open to new ideas and advice.

 

[aellis]

Sounds good, report back how it is once it's done. I've got one going that i didn't take an OG on, I just wanted to try something and see what happened. I think it's kinda fun to just see how it turns out. Knowing the ABV isn't super important to me most of the time.

 

[kyleaubu]

Yeah, on cheap experimental batches like this, I don't usually bother with numbers. Although with the distillers yeast, had I been able to read SG, I could've gotten a super high abv.

 

[kyleaubu]

Ok, so in trying to control the temp of my fermenting cider, I screwed up and got it too hot. :smack: Fermentation ceased. SO... I added a half cup of sugar and a little more distiller's yeast and it fired right back up again. Guess we'll just have a slightly higher ABV.

 

[aknox]

Any updates on this? I have 2 L of Pomegranite juice sitting around

 

[kyleaubu]

Just bottled this last night with 1oz dextrose. Unfortunately we had a siphoning malfunction and exposed it to a lot of oxygen. Hopefully it's ok. We'll see. I think it'll carb up fast due to the distillers yeast. Had just a couple oz left after bottling. Tasted good. Would make a pretty good wine with a little back sweetening.

 

[GlimpseTheVoid]

So, how did this work out?


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

 

[zazzzler]

Sorry to post on such an old thread. I tried this exact recipe (minus yeast energizer) and like yourself, I never took a reading on it (completely spaced it). After about a month, I opened a bottle and I have zero carbonation (I used the Fermenter's Favorites™ Fizz Drops). I'm curious if I killed the yeast?

However, it tasted like a red wine. It was dry and tarty, but not overwhelming. It was pretty popular. I'm making a second batch in a few weeks and I plan on remembering to take gravity readings.