4 WOW variations and 10l Cider (to be dry hopped)

Hi, this is my first time doing WOW variants and dry hopped cider.

Just getting everything ready and about to clean and sanitize the Dj's and new 10l fermenter bucket.


I'll make these in the usual way but here are the juices I'll be using for each DJ.
The juices were bought from Asda, 3 for £3 and the cartons of Apple Juice were 4L for £2.60
The Bottled water was from Tesco, £1.10 each I think, probably not needed here in Scotland as we have soft water but I needed the Bottles to act as Secondary fermenters, bought 3 of these (already have 1). Just need to drill out the lids and add the grommets when needed.

DJ 1 - 1 litre Red Grape Juice, 1.5 litres Apple Juice (307g total sugar in juice, added 800g to make 13% ABV approx.)
DJ 2 - 1 litre Red Grape Juice, 1.5 litres Summer Fruits (310g total sugar in juice, added 500g to make 9.5% ABV approx.)
DJ 3 - 2 litres Red Grape Juice,Strawberry and Kiwi, 0.5 litres Apple Juice (309g total sugar in juice, added 800g to make 13% ABV approx.)
DJ 4 - 1 litre Red Grape Juice, 0.5 litres Summer Fruits, 1 litre Apple Juice (308g total sugar in juice, added 800g to make 13% ABV approx)

10L Fermentaion Bucket - 8 litres Apple juice with another 2 litres to be added after about 4 days or so. (no added sugar 6.5%)

Right, time to get started.

Poured some Star San in my basin (brand new, washed and sterilized) then put the airlocks and bungs in then elevated the basin so everything was submerged.



Washed the demijohn's with VWP and gave them a brush with the demijohn brush, gave them a really good rinse then poured in some Star San then give them a good shake.
If your wondering about the foil, I use little squares of foil sprayed with Star San because I only bought 1 blank bung the others have airlock holes so the foil acts as a temporary lid.
The yellow lines on the side of the DJ's mark 4 and 4.5 litres.



The 10l bucket is new so need to wash and sterilize with VWP first, I later rinse thoroughly and Spray with Star San before use.



I always spray the bottle lids with Star San and leave for a minute or so before pouring into the DJ's



forgot to make the tea first so 4 tea bags in each mug, I then made another one later with 6 tea bags for the cider.



Spraying the Lids again with Star San before opening and pouring into the fermentation bucket.


I added the juice, sugar, tannin(tea), Pectolase and topped up with water to the bottom shoulder of the DJ then used my home made degas tool to mix it all together, works great to dissolve all the sugar really fast. :thumb:
I then added the Yeast and yeast nutrient and gave it a little swirl.

From left to right, (RGJ,Summer Fruits,AJ) (RGJ, Summer Fruits) (RGJ Strawberry and kiwi, AJ) (RGJ, AJ) (bucket - AJ)



1l Red Grape Juice, 0.5l Summer Fruits, 1l Apple Juice.



1l Red Grape Juice, 1.5l Summer Fruits.



2l Red Grape Juice Strawberry and Kiwi, 0.5l Apple Juice.



1l Red Grape juice, 1.5l Apple Juice.


There's activity in them all, some more than others.
I'll update the thread with more photo's as the fermentation goes along.

As mentioned in the title (I might also put this part in a separate thread) I want to dry hop some cider.
I'm going to make 10l cider then rack it off into 2 DJ's then dry hop in the secondary, 1 will be Cascade, any other suggestions for the 2nd?

Also, how much per DJ? I've read of people using 12.5g and also 25g per DJ.
I've never used hops before so I don't have a clue about this.

Ronnie.

Nice work mate [emoji4]

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

How much sugar did you add to each?

devexwarrior said:

How much sugar did you add to each?

Click to expand...

Sorry should have made that part more clear, I've edited the original post with this.

DJ 1 - 1 litre Red Grape Juice, 1.5 litres Apple Juice (307g total sugar in juice, added 800g to make 13% ABV approx.)
DJ 2 - 1 litre Red Grape Juice, 1.5 litres Summer Fruits (310g total sugar in juice, added 500g to make 9.5% ABV approx.)
DJ 3 - 2 litres Red Grape Juice,Strawberry and Kiwi, 0.5 litres Apple Juice (309g total sugar in juice, added 800g to make 13% ABV approx.)
DJ 4 - 1 litre Red Grape Juice, 0.5 litres Summer Fruits, 1 litre Apple Juice (308g total sugar in juice, added 800g to make 13% ABV approx.)

10L Fermentaion Bucket - 8 litres Apple juice with another 2 litres to be added after about 4 days or so. (no added sugar 6.5% ABV approx.)

The yellow lines on the side of the DJ's mark 4 and 4.5 litres.

Click to expand...

Don't worry about the 4.5 litre mark fill to the neck once racked, degassed, stabilised and finings have been added you will get 6 full bottles if filled to the neck if you leave it at 4.5 you probably wont.

Chippy_Tea said:

Don't worry about the 4.5 litre mark fill to the neck once racked, degassed, stabilised and finings have been added you will get 6 full bottles if filled to the neck if you leave it at 4.5 you probably wont.

Click to expand...

Yeah m8 no probs :thumb:, i just put a 4.5l mark while i was marking the 4l line just in case i need it in the future for whatever reason lol

Right it's been 10 days now, here's some photo's and bubble status.
I've had these in my kitchen to keep an eye on them and to watch the progress, the window is north facing and never gets direct sunlight, not that there's much of that here just now anyway.
A quick question :- when fermenting wine/cider should it be kept in total darkness?
My future wines/cider will be kept in a cupboard upstairs to ferment (not the boiler cupboard) which seems to stay around 20/22 degrees.

As these have been in my kitchen they have been pretty much fermenting at 18/19 degrees, even when the heating is on the kitchen stays around that temp.

RGJ, Summer Fruits, AJ - Bubble from airlock every 15 seconds.



RGJ, Summer Fruits - Bubble every 53 seconds.



RGJ, Strawberry and Kiwi - Bubble every 8 seconds.



RGJ, AJ - Bubble every 6 seconds.



Cider - hasn't been any airlock activity but it's definitely fermenting, will need to take a hydrometer reading to find out how it's progressing.



As you can see there's a varying difference in activity in the airlocks, I forgot to add in my original post about the yeast.
The RGJ/Summer Fruits/AJ and the RGJ/Summer Fruits I used Young's Super Wine Yeast Compound and ran out.

For the rest I used a yeast I bought from a brew shop online, when I ordered it, it was Harris Super Yeast but when I received the yeast it just says Super Yeast on the label with the shops name on the front of it, I then noticed a few days later it also says to ferment in a warm place between 21-24 degrees so it took longer to get started but it's been going now for about 5/6 days.

Due to the lower fermenting temps I'm going to leave them another 4 days then take some hydrometer readings then I'll have a better idea.

One last thing about taking samples, I thought I had a brand new turkey baster but forgot it's been used so I can't use that now but I had an idea, has anyone used their auto syphon outer tube in the same way as a wine thief is used?
Dip the tube in, block the top hole then transfer to the trial jar then unblock the hole to release the sample.

deeboi said:

One last thing about taking samples, I thought I had a brand new turkey baster but forgot it's been used so I can't use that now but I had an idea, has anyone used their auto syphon outer tube in the same way as a wine thief is used?
Dip the tube in, block the top hole then transfer to the trial jar then unblock the hole to release the sample.

Click to expand...

That's what I do: cane&tube twice is enough for a normal reading.

If you're using hops, it should stay out of the light. Darker is better. Hops are sensitive little things.
Looking good, all of it. You think it will all clear up? How much Pectolase did you use? (never used it before)

GerritT said:

That's what I do: cane&tube twice is enough for a normal reading.

If you're using hops, it should stay out of the light. Darker is better. Hops are sensitive little things.
Looking good, all of it. You think it will all clear up? How much Pectolase did you use? (never used it before)

Click to expand...

Do you use the whole autosyphon? or just the outer tube?

I still need to order the hops, I forgot all about that, thanks for reminding me. :thumb:
They should still be here in time for it going into the secondary though as fermentation has been slower than expected. Then I will keep it in the dark, thanks for the advice.

I think it's clearing, it was really dark purple to start with and seems to be getting lighter by the day, I can now see light through the RGJ/Strawberry and Kiwi one, the one I thought might not clear due to the puree in the juice but only time will tell.

I used 1 tsp of pectolase per gallon.

Just the outer tube: a small pull, deposit in the graded cilinder that came with the hydrometer, and most of the times I have to go a second time. Unless the gravity is SO high that once will do. But it feels like less cleaning afterwards :mrgreen:

I assume you go for pellets? Leaf hops are cool 'n all but quite a mess, and they absorb! Unbelievable. Last time I dry hopped I had Styrian Goldings. A bit mild, next time I'm gonna us a bit more explicit aroma hop.

Brilliant, I'm glad the idea works, I might take a reading from the cider later.

Yeah I was going for pellet hops, I've never used hops before but after watching some youtube videos i was thinking cascade for 5l but wasn't sure what to use for the other 5l, possibly citra, really not sure at all.
I've read the hop profiles but can't make my mind up as I'm not really sure what kind of flavour it's going to introduce to the cider.

Have you made hopped cider before? Just wondering how much to use per gallon.

deeboi said:

Brilliant, I'm glad the idea works, I might take a reading from the cider later.

Yeah I was going for pellet hops, I've never used hops before but after watching some youtube videos i was thinking cascade for 5l but wasn't sure what to use for the other 5l, possibly citra, really not sure at all.
I've read the hop profiles but can't make my mind up as I'm not really sure what kind of flavour it's going to introduce to the cider.

Have you made hopped cider before? Just wondering how much to use per gallon.

Click to expand...

Long long time ago I made a pineapple apple cider. I used about 60 grams of cascade (boiled them for 5 or 10 minutes in some apple juice) for a gallon of juice. Three liters of apple juice, 1 liter of pine apple juice, something like 300 grams of sugar, cider yeast, table spoon of nutrient. Never repeated it, pineapple never showed up in the taste, it tasted quite hard, but the hop was... interesting. Almost fruity.

Just checked the notes: somehow it ended up at 10% ABV. Maybe I added too much sugar. Or too much nutrient. But the hop was impressive. One of my favourites now, with Chinook and Target.

I also made a similar pinapple cider about 2 years ago but without the hops, didn't take notes (I've started now though) but I'm sure i added around 300g sugar too, there was also no real pinapple flavour and if i remember correctly it left alot of sediment in the primary too.
When i do this again i will not add any extra sugar and i read somewhere that adding the pineapple juice after initial fermentation helps retain some of the pineapple flavour. Worth a try.

I'm going to get Cascade and a few other varieties to try out on this and the next couple of batches of cider.

EDIT: ordered some hop pellets to play around with, 100g Cascade, 50g Target, 50g Admiral, 50g Bramling Cross, 50g East Kent Goldings all for £9.60 delivered.

Out of interest, why hops, what do you think it will give it, a beery flavoured cider?

deeboi said:

EDIT: ordered some hop pellets to play around with, 100g Cascade, 50g Target, 50g Admiral, 50g Bramling Cross, 50g East Kent Goldings all for �£9.60 delivered.

Click to expand...

Those prices are exceptional! Care to share your supplier?

Deltabrew said:

Out of interest, why hops, what do you think it will give it, a beery flavoured cider?

Click to expand...

For me, I want to try dry hopped cider because of the reactions it gets on the youtube review videos, people are amazed at how good it tastes.

I've never used hops in my life so can only go on what people say when reviewing it, I don't think it will bring a beery taste but the flavour in the hops seem to come out i.e. when people try cider dry hopped with Cascade hops they say they taste the cider then the citrusy grapefruity taste hits you.
I can't find hopped cider to buy where I live so need make it myself, I've been curious about the taste for a couple of years now so decided to make some.

GerritT said:

Those prices are exceptional! Care to share your supplier?

Click to expand...

Yeah I thought so too, I got them from probably the last place you would expect to look for hops, Keg Kingdom

deeboi said:

Yeah I thought so too, I got them from probably the last place you would expect to look for hops, Keg Kingdom

Click to expand...

Excellent, thank you! :thumb: Next time the crisper is empty-ish I'll shop hops there! Too bad the yeasts aren't as cheap as well, £1 for a notty would be fabulous.

The Malt Miller seem to be having a bit of a sale on hops too just now.

deeboi said:

For me, I want to try dry hopped cider because of the reactions it gets on the youtube review videos, people are amazed at how good it tastes.

I've never used hops in my life so can only go on what people say when reviewing it, I don't think it will bring a beery taste but the flavour in the hops seem to come out i.e. when people try cider dry hopped with Cascade hops they say they taste the cider then the citrusy grapefruity taste hits you.
I can't find hopped cider to buy where I live so need make it myself, I've been curious about the taste for a couple of years now so decided to make some.



Yeah I thought so too, I got them from probably the last place you would expect to look for hops, Keg Kingdom

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply, I've never heard of it before and it sounds tasty, i'm looking forward to reading the results!

Sorry about the lack updates, just recovered from a bug I've had for about 3/4 weeks now, anyway here's some photo's.

Start with the Cider, I received my Hops very promptly and after some reading decided to go with 15g Cascade in one and 15g Bramling Cross in the other one.


I syphoned the cider into 2x 5L water bottles (with grommet in lids for airlock) as all my demijohns are full.
I put this away in a dark cupboard which was 19/20 degrees for 7 days.
Here it is after 7 days dry hopping.


I had to improvise and cut up and boil/sterilize one of my daughters old tops to add to the end of the auto syphon to stop it picking up all the hops and it worked great.

Here's what's left after syphoning into my bottling bucket before bottling with the little bottler.
I decided to use clear 330ml Corona bottles so I would get more bottles for testing, each bottle primed with sugar, I have those measuring cups for bottle priming (330ml, 500ml and 750ml)

I got 16 bottles with Cascade hops, 4 of which I also added a spoon full of Candarel sweetener to.
I got 14 bottles with Bramling Cross hops, again added Candarel to 4 of them.
There all currently in the cupboard upstair sitting at 19/20 degrees, I'll leave them there for 14 days.

The smell from the leftover hops was pretty decent, the Cascade was just an intense smell of Grapefruit and Orange for me anyway and the Bramling Cross had a very strong aroma of Blackcurrant.

I tasted a little bit of each but because it was warm and un-carbonated it was hard to gauge what the final result will be but It's seems to be looking good.




On to the WOW variations, I only have 2 that have been racked and cleared.
On the left (Water Bottle) is Red Grape Juice, Apple and Summer Fruits and on the right (Demijohn) is Reg Grape Juice and Summer Fruits.

This is just after adding Fining A


This is just after adding Fining B, and I must admit I got a little bit worried when I seen all this sediment just build up and sink to the bottom of the demijohn right in front of my eyes, it was about 2 inch thick at the bottom at one point but it settled out in the end but still left a decent anount of sediment in the bottom of the FV's.




So after 24hrs it looks like this.


Today, 4 days later it's like this and I will bottle it later I think.


I also still have a RGJ, Strawberry and Kiwi and a RGJ and Apple still in primary with a bubble every minute or so that I need to sort out later too.
I'll add more photo's later.