Scrumpy with store bought ingredients

[pmcp]

I do not have access to gather my own "scrumpy" apples, so I was interested if anyone has some ideas how to make a scrumpy hard cider with store bought ingredients and ingredients I could buy at a home brew store? Thanks in advance. Go Bills!

 

[JulianDave]

I had to look up 'scrumpy' and it says a harsh or course high ABV cider. Is that what you're looking for?

 

[Kickass]

Please describe your desired characteristics of “scrumpy”. It can have differing meanings across different regions.

When I make a scrumpy cider from store bought juice I boost the abv a little and add oak. Those two characteristics give me a boldness I associate with “scrumpy”.

 

[pmcp]

Best example I found to describe "scrumpy cider" is a rough and tumble, hazy, maybe even a little chunky, "farm hand's drink." (From Drew Beechum's "Everything Hard Cider Book.") The recipe in that book calls for added raw chopped steak. Ew. Not happening. Thanks.

 

[Drewch]

From what I've read about scrumpy, the "dynamic equivalent" would just be fermenting the cheapest apple juice available to you.

If you want to try to replicate historic scrumpy, I guess you could try fermenting it hot (maybe with a mixed culture blend?) and adding (heavy-handedly) some malic acid and wine tannins to get a "coarser" character.

Thoughts?

 

[pmcp]

Thank you Drewch - I like the ideas!

 

[Drewch]

Wikipedia says it should probably packaged and served still rather than carbed, be quite tannic, and be hazy. You could buy the unfiltered juice / cider to try to get the haze to carry over, then degas as it's fermenting, and add wine tannins & acid blend for complexity.

Kinda want to try this myself now....

 

[Kickass]

I don’t think scrumpy should imply unpalatable. Maybe just, unrefined. I agree with the wine tannin. Personally, I think oak accomplishes the same function with added character.

I believe acid enhances cider as a whole and this isn’t necessarily a scrumpy character.

I don’t think I’d ferment warm either. Again, unrefined is the goal, not a hot boozy mess. This is a s why I like to boost the abv but still maintain my standard fermentation temp.

 

[Maylar]

Some people consider scrumpy to be "farmhouse" cider. Made from orchard cider, fermented cold for months with wild yeast. Not cleared, cloudy is expected. These people make a good one:

General 1 — JK's Farmhouse Cider