cherry cider juice recipe advice please

[Ashley]

Hi,

So I am looking to make a 23l batch of cider but need some advice on a couple of things...

I am thinking of using cherrygood original cherry juice. Ingredients are:

Apple Juice from Concentrate,Cherry Juice from Concentrate (Sour Cherry (19%), Montmorency Cherry (1%)) ,Water ,Elderberry Juice from Concentrate ,Natural Flavour ,Acid (Malic Acid)

I have never done all juice cider before so need to know if the cherry juice needs boiling first or if I can just add it straight in.

I was thinking 19l of tesco everyday cider and 4l of cherry juice. Would this give a good cherry flavour?

Is it ok to use wine yeast? About 5-6 teaspoons... does that sound about right? Also 5-6 teaspoons of yeast nutrient.

What else would I need to add? Sorry to ask so many questions but your advice is most appreciated.

Thank you in advance

 

[Ashley]

And also, I like a sweeter cider... should I add sweetener and if so how much?

Thank you

 

[Ashley]

OR... maybe do a turbo cider with 23l of edv apple juice and add some of this after prinary ferment...

http://www.luxebc.com/supplements-c...wU7UU4r_EJD3BmSnazzYTKIu9KPrJRZFOzhoCQzDw_wcB

 

[simkin]

I think 4 or 5 cherrygoods is a good idea. Maybe 18 AJ and 5 cherry.
I use wine yeast for my ciders and like the results. I like the lalvin all-purpose as it leaves good fruitiness and not too dry. No need to boil cherrygood. Oh, and I dont bother with nutrient either in ciders. As for sweetening, sweeten after its finished with artificial sweetener. Maybe get a litre and add measured amounts of sweetener and sip until you get to where you want and go with that amount times 22 for the whole batch.

Hope this helps. Good luck :smile:

 

[Ashley]

I think 4 or 5 cherrygoods is a good idea. Maybe 18 AJ and 5 cherry.
I use wine yeast for my ciders and like the results. I like the lalvin all-purpose as it leaves good fruitiness and not too dry. No need to boil cherrygood. Oh, and I dont bother with nutrient either in ciders. As for sweetening, sweeten after its finished with artificial sweetener. Maybe get a litre and add measured amounts of sweetener and sip until you get to where you want and go with that amount times 22 for the whole batch.


Hope this helps. Good luck :smile:

Thank you for the advice. I am off to tesco after work to get some imgredients. I also bought some cherry concentrate from holland and barratt this morning...

 

[Ashley]

UPDATE:

Got my ingredients today. Couldn't get cherry good so got tesco cherry juice drink. No preservatives in it...

18L Apple Juice
5L cherry juice drink
Granulated sugar (to bring the gravity up to about 1.065)
Canderell to sweeten after primary ferment.
4 tea bags for tannin
Cherry juice concentrate for flavouring after primary...

I shall let you know how I get on 😃

 

[Ashley]

As above but used 1.5kg of sugar. Sg 1.064. Further update in 10 days or so...

 

[Ashley]

Quick update...

...got home yesterday and had a blowout in the airlock. 23l of liquid in a 25l bin and I had a blowout. Wow. Replaced airlock and is all bubbling away nicely again...

 

[Ashley]

So i finished on 9.5% abv... it's very boozy. Needed more sweetener so it's medium to dry but more on the dry side. Cherry is coming through but not as much as the booze element. Theyre about equal but the booze is prominent. I reckon a bit less sugar next time... but very drinkable and 2 nottles (bottled in 1l bottles) will **** your day up. And the next. Trust me on this one 😃

 

[GeorgeSalt]

With the flavoured TCs I generally ferment to a dry finish and then serve with a splash of lemonade to taste. That also takes the edge off the alcohol if it's a strong brew.

What was the sugar content of the cherry juice drink? - you probably didn't need to add any sugar at all.

 

[Roddy]

Ashley...
See the H&B cherry concentrate, you put that in after primary fermentation yeh ?

I got some to use on my next batch (a turbo cherry), but I bottle straight from the primary, so presumably I need to just tip it in at the start, because I can't stir it up at the end of fermentation can I ?

(I'm new to this !)

 

[Ashley]

Sorry buddy i have only just seen this. Been off the forum for a while... hmmmm. I recommend racking to secondary so you can mix in your final ingredients in.

Ill be honest im not doing this one again as i wanted fizzy cider but have no means of force carbonating and the wine yeast ate all the priming sugar AND the sugar from the cherry juice. Probably needed way more sweetener but it was lethal too.

My mrs banned me from drinking it when she was in. It turned my mate into a babbling wreck in 45 mins. Fun but not tasty although you did get used to it after half a pint.

It was my first experimental brew and first turbo cider. Lessons learned i think

 

[Ashley]

With the flavoured TCs I generally ferment to a dry finish and then serve with a splash of lemonade to taste. That also takes the edge off the alcohol if it's a strong brew.

What was the sugar content of the cherry juice drink? - you probably didn't need to add any sugar at all.

Sorry for the late reply george. See my last post...

Not sure about sugar tbh. F**k me it was strong. Probably quite high tbh.

 

[Roddy]

haha I had a few bottles of mine last night, wasn't so much like cider but not unlike a dry rose wine taste... drinkable for sure, at the rate I would drink wine, not cider though unless I want to end up shmangled !

 

[Ashley]

haha I had a few bottles of mine last night, wasn't so much like cider but not unlike a dry rose wine taste... drinkable for sure, at the rate I would drink wine, not cider though unless I want to end up shmangled !

Lol i drank it like cider and yes. You DO end up shmangled

 

[Roddy]

This stuff is brilliant, take 2 bottles and see you in the morning ☺

 

[Ashley]

This stuff is brilliant, take 2 bottles and see you in the morning ☺

Lol yeah i was like that! Some friemds came over last weekend and i cracked open a 2l bottle. The cherry flavour really started to come through and it lost its yeasty taste. (But kept the smell)

It has become a fairly nicely rounded drink at nearly 2 months old. Too bad we opened the rest of the bottles really lol

 

[dave0w]

Well as you lot are all getting hammered on the stuff, it would be rude of my on to do a brew of this stuff :drunk:

Was the cherry concentrate any good? i have dont a few cherry wine brews but there only on 6 bottle form if the cherry concentrate is good it would be nice to add into a nice 30 bottle kit.

 

[Ashley]

The cherry concentrate really makes it dude to be honest. Without it it will just taste like apple cider. Would be good in a cherry wine once you have added findings so it doesn't get much it's sugar eaten but would rack to secondary and add bit by bit so you don't overdo it...

 

[baggybill]

Was thinking about doing a raspberry one for Xmas but I like the sound of this one :smile:

Couple of questions though - is one bottle of the concentrate enough for 23l? Did you use the whole bottle?

And Roddy, what was the fizz like with one carbonation drop? Did it throw much sediment in the bottle?