Adding fruit to cider.

[monkeybutler]

Hi all.

Due to the current situation meaning a lack of supplies I have decided to try making a cider. Just to practice i’ve started with a simple apple juice and cider yeast but I am going to try adding some fruit (i’ll probably start with peaches) and maybe sweetening my next batch and I have a couple of questions.

1) Are there advantages to using frozen fruit rather than juice? I prefer the idea of using actual fruit in the demijohn rather than just pouring juice in but what would be the difference in the end product?

2) If I use actual fruit, for example frozen peaches. When should I add them? If I were to ferment just apple juice and then use potassium sorbate and metabisulfite in order to back sweeten my cider would I get a stronger peach taste by adding the peaches after the fermentation has finished or should they be in there from the start?

Thanks in advance!

 

[steveinUS]

If you can acquire it, I prefer using fruit puree over whole fruit to a cider or mead, because it is much easier to add it to the taste level you want. I would not add it up front, but wait until primary fermentation has been well under way for awhile. If it continues to ferment some of the fruit puree, it's easy to add more later.