Reverend Nats Sacrilege Sour Cherry-looking for a clone recipe
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madscientist451
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Haven't had any Rev. Nat's cider, its not available out here in the boondocks, but I have made a sour/tart cherry cider.
The basic recipe is to make a decent base cider, let it ferment age and clarify using whatever method you prefer. If the base cider doesn't taste good, don't expect the adding the cherries to help so get your base cider figured out first. Hint: If you are pressing your own apples, scale back the tart varieties because the cherries will introduce a big dose of tartness. Rev. Nat's information (below) says he uses Granny Smith apples and so maybe he scales back on the cherries but more likely the Granny Smith apples he gets on the west coast aren't as acidic/sour/tart as the ones from around here that never really get ripe.
Anyway, after the base cider is ready, obtain fresh sour cherries from your local orchard or buy frozen from the store or I suppose you can use the cherry puree available from various suppliers. If using fresh, freeze them, then thaw, toss in your brewpot about 1 lb at a time and mash them up using a potato masher or something similar. Put the cherries in a carboy and add the finished cider. I use about 1 lb per gallon of cider. I use a plastic better bottle carboy for this as the larger opening makes it easier to get the cherries in/out. Put on an airlock, and keep in a cool place, the fermentation will kick off again. you want this fermentation to go slow, so you don't blow off all the flavor/aroma. I like to run it in the low 60's. After it stops, rack it off and let it age or drink right away, you'll probably want to backsweeten, it will be extra tart.
Don't toss out the cherries yet, if you are frugal, and have extra cider you can add more cider to them because they don't give up all their flavor/tartness right away. Use about 1/2 as much cider as the first time, and if you started with a 5 gallon carboy, dump the used cherries to a 3 gallon carboy and use that. The fermentation won't kick off as strong the second time around, or maybe not at all.
Rev. Nat uses Granny Smith apples, probably uses cherry puree, is adding pear juice, spices, and Ale yeast, so getting a clone will take some experimentation.
From The Rev Nat Website:
Others profess to produce a cherry cider, but none begin with 100% sour Granny Smith apples (eschewing all other apple varieties for their lack of sourness) unified with the superior Montmorency sour cherry (aka Prunus cerasus, a superior and vastly dissimilar cherry to Prunus avid, the bird cherry, the mere mazzard, so commonly used in cough syrup and children’s sweet-snacks), fermented with an English Ale yeast (procured from a fine brewery in Chiswick, London), rounded out with a spot of Bartlett pear juice (undeniably the world's greatest pear-flavored pear) and completed with a touch of spiciness (largely attributable to the ghost chili pepper, although married with a secret spice), precisely enough to make your vigor race and spirits embrace another gulp.
This is a cherry cider like none you have ever tasted.
The basic recipe is to make a decent base cider, let it ferment age and clarify using whatever method you prefer. If the base cider doesn't taste good, don't expect the adding the cherries to help so get your base cider figured out first. Hint: If you are pressing your own apples, scale back the tart varieties because the cherries will introduce a big dose of tartness. Rev. Nat's information (below) says he uses Granny Smith apples and so maybe he scales back on the cherries but more likely the Granny Smith apples he gets on the west coast aren't as acidic/sour/tart as the ones from around here that never really get ripe.
Anyway, after the base cider is ready, obtain fresh sour cherries from your local orchard or buy frozen from the store or I suppose you can use the cherry puree available from various suppliers. If using fresh, freeze them, then thaw, toss in your brewpot about 1 lb at a time and mash them up using a potato masher or something similar. Put the cherries in a carboy and add the finished cider. I use about 1 lb per gallon of cider. I use a plastic better bottle carboy for this as the larger opening makes it easier to get the cherries in/out. Put on an airlock, and keep in a cool place, the fermentation will kick off again. you want this fermentation to go slow, so you don't blow off all the flavor/aroma. I like to run it in the low 60's. After it stops, rack it off and let it age or drink right away, you'll probably want to backsweeten, it will be extra tart.
Don't toss out the cherries yet, if you are frugal, and have extra cider you can add more cider to them because they don't give up all their flavor/tartness right away. Use about 1/2 as much cider as the first time, and if you started with a 5 gallon carboy, dump the used cherries to a 3 gallon carboy and use that. The fermentation won't kick off as strong the second time around, or maybe not at all.
Rev. Nat uses Granny Smith apples, probably uses cherry puree, is adding pear juice, spices, and Ale yeast, so getting a clone will take some experimentation.
From The Rev Nat Website:
Others profess to produce a cherry cider, but none begin with 100% sour Granny Smith apples (eschewing all other apple varieties for their lack of sourness) unified with the superior Montmorency sour cherry (aka Prunus cerasus, a superior and vastly dissimilar cherry to Prunus avid, the bird cherry, the mere mazzard, so commonly used in cough syrup and children’s sweet-snacks), fermented with an English Ale yeast (procured from a fine brewery in Chiswick, London), rounded out with a spot of Bartlett pear juice (undeniably the world's greatest pear-flavored pear) and completed with a touch of spiciness (largely attributable to the ghost chili pepper, although married with a secret spice), precisely enough to make your vigor race and spirits embrace another gulp.
This is a cherry cider like none you have ever tasted.
