Strawberry Cider questions!

[Robcore]

Hi everyone. New to forum, first real home brew, blah blah blah etc.

Sadly I failed my first home brew attempt some months ago when I tried to make a regular cider from a kit (I know, how did I manage that.) Some of the equipment was handed down to me, some was new (the keg and ferm bucket included.) Having sodded this up, i'm getting my dad to help me as he's had a fair bit of experience with it, but we're deciding on the best method of creating a Strawberry Cider ready for the summer.

Method 1: Brew cider, flavour with strawberry cordial. A bit crap, but will no doubt result in something that will go down a treat in the sunshine!

Method 2: Apple juice and strawberry juice together (possibly kit juice,) brew solely from this with no secondary. Not sure how it will taste at all.

Method 3: Brew cider, brew strawberry liquor of sorts in a DJ from real strawberries, mix together. Will result in some strange liquor/cider hybrid.

Method 4: Brew cider, then ferment again with strawberries when it's ready.

Okay, we're a bit crap to be fair, but we're after something fun to drink for the summer. Would prefer to have this tasting sweet and fizzy rather than leaning towards scrumpy, more like a commercial cider (strongbow/scrumpy jack/brothers, etc.) I'm aiming for somewhere about 7.5%

Any help would be appreciated! cheers!

 

[g_rath]

I would go with option 4. But that is just from my experience with adding fruit to beer and not liking fake things in my beer. I’m guessing you can keg because you said you have one. I would say to kill the yeast when its done fermenting/ conditioning and just sweeten to taste with sugar or apple juice.

 

[zoebisch01]

Eek. This should be long underway already! I would normally concur with g_rath's suggestion and say #4 as well but given the time frame you are looking at, and then waiting for the berry glop to clear will be really pushing it.

I'd use an Ale yeast that Flocculates fast like Fermentis S-04. The add some Strawberry syrup into the secondary (make sure it is sugar and berries, otherwise use just a flavoring). This will bolster your alcohol content, clear quickly and hopefully give you the flavor you are after.

P.S. Welcome to the forums!

 

[BigKahuna]

Okay, we're a bit crap to be fair......sweet and fizzy rather than leaning towards scrumpy,

Your local lingo makes me smile.
What about apfelwein and dump a mess of strawberries in there? OR find a gallon or 2 of 100% juice flavored with strawberries....mix that all in. 5 weeks from now is June 10th, 2 1/2 weeks in bottles to carb up is just in time for 4th of July weekend....
OH...wait....You guys don't celebrate that do you? Just given you the raspberries.
Welcome to the forum.

 

[Robcore]

#4 would be really tight by the looks of things, which isn't a great idea. After all, this is my first (hopefully successful) homebrew, and i'd rather us have copious amounts of cider on tap than have to wait another month for it and miss the good weather. It's been seering hot here for the past few days...I have sunburn and it's May! In ENGLAND!

Is there any way to speed up the process of making Apfelwein? Seems easy, but i'd like to have it in a month if possible - I get the feeling apfelwein won't be sweet and fizzy either so something else might work better to suit my taste. Hmmphh. The juice idea is great though, probably the best thing would be to brew just primary with a mixture of apple and strawberry, then flavour it at the end with non-fermentable sugar and strawberry and apple syrup. Sure, it's kinda fake reall,y but I can get to serious brewing when the bulk of the summer is over

Will using Ale Yeast not make the cider flatter than Champagne Yeast? Please excuse my rubbish knowledge of this subject

Cheers for all your help so far!

 

[zoebisch01]

Will using Ale Yeast not make the cider flatter than Champagne Yeast? Please excuse my rubbish knowledge of this subject

You will get the carbonation post fermentation. You let it completely ferment, it will always finish dry regardless of what yeast you use, it's just the nature of Cider. This past year, I did one batch with an Ale yeast, one with a Wine yeast and one Natural. Guess what, they all finished with the same gravity. Flavor profile, well that has to wait until it's conditioned. I plan on doing a write up when that is done. But what it will do, I have found, is substantially decrease your primary fermentation time if you use an Ale yeast. The Wine came in second in terms of speed and the natural ferment is still clearing.

 

[Robcore]

Excellent, Ale Yeast it is...any words on chapagne yeast fermenting time?
will get this bad boy underway at the weekend.

 

[fireball]

my cider's have been hitting 1.000 SG in just over a week with Lalvin 1118, it's been trickling off from there.

Excellent, Ale Yeast it is...any words on chapagne yeast fermenting time?
will get this bad boy underway at the weekend.

 

[david_42]

If you are looking for a summer cider, I'd keep the ABV low ~4%. It will also be ready to drink much sooner and the strawberry flavor should come through better.

 

[jezter6]

I've never done cider, but I have done strawberry in beer and it is the one flavor that has not reduced one bit in the 15 months I've had it in bottles.

 

[dragonlor20]

You might try checking Trader Joe's (I don't know if they have that where you live) or some other organic-type store to see if they don't have strawberry juice of some kind. Fermenting that once seems faster than fermenting apfelwein once and then fermenting again with strawberries. Plus you would, of course, be getting strictly strawberry cider.

 

[Ooompa Loompa]

I'd say do a 5 gal batch of apfelwein, let it sit for a month, kill the yeast, then throw it in the keg with 3 cans of strawberry juice concentrate. I'll bet that would be awesome.

 

[Freezeblade]

You might try checking Trader Joe's (I don't know if they have that where you live) or some other organic-type store to see if they don't have strawberry juice of some kind. Fermenting that once seems faster than fermenting apfelwein once and then fermenting again with strawberries. Plus you would, of course, be getting strictly strawberry cider.

I've actually finished up a cider-style drink using Trader Joes "Sir Strawberry" which contains White grape, apple and strawberry juices. As far as I know, stawberry juice is not sold at trader joe's, however you can get strawberries pretty cheap (here at least, we are in strawberry season), blend them up and add to your apple juice, that's what I'm planning on next actually. On the "Sir Strawberry" ferment, turned out sweet, but kinda bland, next time I'm going to add brown sugar instead of cane, possibly give it more character. it's wonderful for a hot summer day though, fizzy and refreshing.

 

[warboss100]

as im fron england i can't buy strawberry concentrate from a can sadly, so how much strawberry syrup would you need for 5 gallons of apfelwien?
cheers.