RE: Loquat cider - has anyone tried making it?

[rtogio]

Hey all!

Has anyone out there ver tried to make cider out of loquats? I made some wine out of a bunch this past year, but it's a lot of work for a drink that, while ver approachable, doesn't really have any of the qualities people love about the yellow fruits. I figured since they are distantly related to apples (they've been called "Japanese medlars" in the past, but they're actually a member of the rose branch of that family) the sweet juice might make a better cider instead.

Any thoughts? Any suggestions or advice is welcome and appreciated.

 

[kiai]

Old question, new answer. Two weeks ago, I crushed 18 pounds of pitted and deflowered loquats, cooked it to 180 degrees, let it cool, and then added yeast nutrient, pectic enzyme, and rehydrated Windsor yeast with 2 pints of water. After a week (should have done this after 3-4 days) transferred the liquid and squeezed out the juice into a carboy. It only yielded about 2 gallons of liquid maybe less. This weekend I will siphon it into bottles though I haven't tasted it since last week. After the primary fermentation, the taste of loquat was present and it was super dry. I added a half-pound of sugar because of how dry it was, though I wonder if I that was a mistake.

 

[kiai]

Transferred to bottles yesterday. It had tartness which it did not have before. Was 2 gallons exactly. Despite adding sugar the week before, it is still very dry. I think it just became more alcohol. After racking the secondary fermentation, added 75 grams of sugar for carbonation and then bottled. Planning to try a small bottle on Friday.

 

[kiai]

Tasted a bottle last night. It was delicious! At first i poured a little into a glass and tasted. It tasted like it did post-primary, like the sugar had done nothing. But it was good enough so I poured the bottle into the glass and at the bottom was bright loquat-colored sediment. Surely not all dead yeast. (At the very bottom was some yeasty-looking sediment. Image attached of the one clear bottle i used.) The flavor was mostly in this sediment. It was bright with just enough sweetness for the flavors to come through. The tartness was decreased since racking. The smell of yeast was there but it did not taste too yeasty if at all. If it did I couldn’t taste it over the loquat. I had not let this bottle sit long enough at room temperature so there were next to no bubbles (though the gasket was crushed so maybe there were bubbles that escaped).

I think i will try another bottle tonight that is still sitting out. Room temp here is 65. Will try not to forget to measure Brix for an idea of alcohol content. My guess is about 5% judging by my brain’s reaction... oh wait. I shared it with my husband and had most of it. Maybe more like 7% since original Brix reading was 12.5. How does one calculate with additions of sugar and water? This was my very first cider. (I’ve never made beer/never siphoned before so this was all new to me.)

 

[kiai]

Tasted another bottle and it was even better! Realized also that the first bottle was from the bottom of the carboy and may not have had the tartness due to possible extra sediment including some of the yeast sediment. The bottle we had last night was light, tart, effervescent and absolutely delicious. I'm already planning how to do it next time. The only major different thing I would do is rack it twice earlier in the primary and a second time from carboy to carboy as long as the loquat sediment is clearly separate from the yeast sediment. Again, the flavor is in the sediment. This time I flipped the bottle upside down like Orangina to mix the sediment. The remaining yeast sediment mostly stuck to the bottom of the bottle after flipping, but it almost came out when pouring. I tried tasting what was on the bottom and that was not good. So, 10 days in bottles seems good enough. I think I will refrigerate all but one bottle and see how 14 days at 65 degrees goes.

 

[Blacksmith1]

Next time let it age longer in the carboy and settle. Stabilise it before backsweetening and bottling. I so want to try this but don't currently have a source for loquats