Light Cherry Cyser

[Brann_mac_Finnchad]

Light Cherry Cider

3 gallons Treetop Apple Cider
1 gallon Pomegranate Cherry Juice
5 pounds honey
Safale US-05
3-4 vanilla beans

Heat honey to liquid, mix with 1 gallon of juice, hydrate yeast in ½ jug of cherry juice, and pour everything into 5 gallon carboy.

9-12-12; OG is 1.082 giving me a finished ABV of around 8-9%.

9-15-12; SG is 1.060

9-19-12; SG is 1.040—mulled a bit for hot cider for the family…twas good.

9-23-12: SG is 1.028—put in fridge for cold crashing. I did not rack to secondary, but bulk aged, on the lees.

12-27-12: SG is slightly less—didn’t actually check. Bottled. As is my tendency, I bulk pasteurized to prevent bottle fermentation.

I opened up one of the few remaining bottles last week, and am really wishing I had more
I would also like to note that it made a superb Daube de Beof...

 

[jeffc]

1 gallon Pomegranate Cherry Juice

Do you have a brand? Is is tart and pure? Or reconstituted from frozen?

 

[Brann_mac_Finnchad]

I cannot remember the brand off the top of my head (didn't note), but it was something fairly common in the juice isle, and wasn't a store brand. It came blended, in a 1/2 gallon (I think) jug.

 

[TheManchesterMorgue]

I started a variation on this about 6 weeks back.

4kg Honey (Wildflower)
15 litres Sainsbury's cloudy pressed apple juice (Uk here)
4 litres biona pure tart cherry juice
Lalvin D47

Racked about two weeks ago and added a couple of decent quality vanilla pods.

Colour is a lovely rich burgundy at the moment. I think I used more honey to try to get more of a meady quality. Fermented dry and maybe backsweetened a little ABV is expected at around 16%.

Did this clear for you when you made it? Could you give any tasting notes on how the flavours came together pr other info on the end result?

Cheers.

 

[Brann_mac_Finnchad]

Out of the bottle it is slightly cloudy. I don't think that it's from yeast solids, but I may have set some of the pectin when I pasteurized. I wasn't too concerned with clarity on this one, since I made it as a session cider (for drinking quantities of at New Years) (see photo).

Flavours: Can't help that much, there--poor palate. I do have one or two bottles left, and, if I remember when I open one, will try to do a tasting and post the results.

 

[TheManchesterMorgue]

Hmm. That does look quite different to mine at the moment. Never done a cyser before so went for more of a mead than cider quality. Here's what mine looks like 6 weeks in. Hope it's as good as I'm hoping for next Xmas...

 

[TheManchesterMorgue]

(Apologies for sideways pic. Phone doesn't seem to want to post right way round)

 

[Brann_mac_Finnchad]

It was more of a brown with a reddish tint at the beginning. My photo isn't the best (reflections).

Lol--no problem. My head turns.

 

[zhubbell]

Getting ready to get this going, but it's my first cider so I have a couple questions:
1. Everything just gets mixed together right off the bat at room temp right? Other than heating the honey
2. Some cider recipes on here call for apple juice, some for cider - what difference does this result in?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[Brann_mac_Finnchad]

Sorry for delay.

Yes, everything gets mixed together. Honey gets heated just enough to make mixing easy.
Cider isn't clarified, and may have more flavour. Use what you have. Unfortunately, living where I do, I cannot get fresh cider.