Blackcurrant Cider

[Roddy]

Popped another on this morning, after the success of my Lowicz primed/flavoured recent couple of ciders

23l Asda smart price apple (£2.50 for 4ģ pack x 6)
Pint of strong tea
5 tsp pectolase
5g Youngs cider yeast
OG 1.045

Will prime with 440ml bottle of Lowicz

View attachment uploadfromtaptalk1431864439937.jpeg

 

[Frogbrew]

Where was the blackcurr ant lowitz from Roddy, haven't seen that one..
Are you not adding any lowitz to the primary?

 

[Roddy]

we have many polish shops in Edinburgh, the place I got the blackcurrant, has a whole aisle of syrupy stuff

 

[matt666]

How much are you priming with per bottle?

 

[Roddy]

I'll stick the whole 440ml bottle in to batch prime the 23l.. The blackcurrant variet is about 60odd g of sugar per 100ml, less than the 83g that the raspberry variety had, which turned out perfectly

 

[Frogbrew]

Ok roddy i'll check out the local polish shop then...
I batch primed my cherry lowitz with just 100ml (84g sugar) for a 9ltr batch and its carbed up perfectly...

 

[Tay80]

Ok roddy i'll check out the local polish shop then...
I batch primed my cherry lowitz with just 100ml (84g sugar) for a 9ltr batch and its carbed up perfectly...

Lol you are basically making the same brews as me and drinking the same, I am chuffed with the tom Caxton lager lovley mouth feel to it I just had a proper bit of luck been given 14 demijohns and a load of equipment glass test jars, hydrometers hundreds of bottles and airlocks, bungs etc got a few TCs on the go one with beetroot smells amazing I usually do raspberry, apple and grape then prime with the syrup good stuff

 

[Frogbrew]

Beetroot tc? Interesting!

 

[Roddy]

I had a bottle of this from my wine cupboard last night, being the oldest h/m cider I had kicking around.

It was pretty nice, certainly mellowed a little bit from when it was first made. Might try and keep a few more back next time !

 

[Diverch]

Big Tesco stock the blackcurrant flavour now.

 

[Pirate_Pete]

G'day Roddy.

I stumbled across this forum while looking for cider recipes. This looks great with the syrup.
I was only planning on making 1 gallon batches but somehow I don't think that'll be enough.
Although I think 23L will be too much.
Next time I'm shopping I'll check out what apple juice is available. I'm not sure about that
Polish syrup though. I might have to search around for an alternative.


* so you don't put sugar in? It just ferments from the sugar in the juice.
then the syrup does the secondary fermentation once it's botttled.
Is that correct?

 

[Roddy]

hi mate, yes that's exactly it ! The polish stuff is pretty widely available now, not always blackcurrant but usually at least raspberry and/or strawberry in all the big supermarkets... might need a polish deli for the blackcurrant one

 

[Pirate_Pete]

hi mate, yes that's exactly it ! The polish stuff is pretty widely available now, not always blackcurrant but usually at least raspberry and/or strawberry in all the big supermarkets... might need a polish deli for the blackcurrant one

Unfortunately not widely available in my part of the world.
I'll have to take a look in the deli's and supermarkets and see what I can find.

*Took a quick look yesterday and couldn't see anything like it. There's no Polish community where I live, so chances would be slim.
I had more luck getting this kind of stuff when I worked in Sydney. The rep at our company could always find time to run the odd
errand for me.

 

[fivegoldstars]

How have these ciders turned out? I usually make apple and raspberry cider using Princes juice - turns out nice, but there's a really nasty head whilst fermenting which makes me lose a good 1/5th of the brew. At the moment, I've got a Lowicz brew on in a 5l demijohn - I've used a full bottle of Lowicz in it though. Based on the above posts, I'm wondering if I've over egged it.

 

[Roddy]

so a bottle of Lowicz and 4l odd of apple ?

 

[fivegoldstars]

so a bottle of Lowicz and 4l odd of apple ?

Yes. The stuff I usually use is about 10% raspberry, 90% apple, so I figured a full bottle would up the raspberry to about 15% in a 5l demi (and yes, it is a 5l demi).

 

[Roddy]

hmm... will probably be pretty damn strong, did you take a hydrometer reading at the start?

ie. the sugar in the apple and rasp will probably be about 11g per 100ml

The lowicz has 85g (!) of sugar per 100ml

Be interested to find out how it tastes though 😨

 

[fivegoldstars]

hmm... will probably be pretty damn strong, did you take a hydrometer reading at the start?

ie. the sugar in the apple and rasp will probably be about 11g per 100ml

The lowicz has 85g (!) of sugar per 100ml

Be interested to find out how it tastes though 😨

....so, you're saying that the 200g of sugar I added was probably not required

 

[Roddy]

holy moly haha

apple juice on it's own will give you about 6% abv, so I would maybe drink yours while lying on the floor and save you the journey 😃

 

[fivegoldstars]

Schoolboy error.
I always use AJ and 200g of sugar to give me about 7.5%. Never bother with readings anymore - just do it by feel. Forgot to check the sugar content of the syrup though - quick calc sets this at a potential 13% should the yeast brew that high (its a cider/champagne yeast, so assuming it will).