Blackberry cider, when to add them

[paddyb2]

I’ve just been out and gathered some blackberries with the aim of adding them to the cider I’m making this weekend.

I’ve seen some mention about heating them in water first, but a lot of them are very mushy, so I’m not sure their will be a lot left of them after doing this.

I was planning on adding them now, as I don’t know how many will be left on the bushes when I go into secondary or if the ones I have will keep that long.

Are either of the above essential?

 

[MrRook]

I just brewed a wheat beer yesterday with the intent of adding some wild blackberries in a week. All I plan to do is make sure they're clean before I add them.
You can freeze them and add them later. Freezing actually ruptures the cell walls releasing more blackberry goodness.

 

[paddyb2]

Thanks. Are you adding the whole or juiced/pulped? Is this in your secondary or primary fermenation?

 

[MrRook]

Thanks. Are you adding the whole or juiced/pulped? Is this in your secondary or primary fermenation?

Not sure yet, probably whole.
Primary, I haven't bothered with a secondary in many years.

 

[paddyb2]

So you add them whole while fermentation is still happening? Do they break down while this is happening, is there much sediment?

 

[MrRook]

So you add them whole while fermentation is still happening? Do they break down while this is happening, is there much sediment?

I add fruit once primary fermentation is done, usually 3-5 days.
It's been so long since I've done this (I'm terrible about keeping notes) I can't really say how much sediment, but there is bound to be some. I did make this current batch larger than my normal size to account for sediment.

 

[Barley Rubble]

I have just recently brewed a dark fruit cider using a combination of fresh and frozen blackberries. The fresh blackberries which were stored in the fridge, started to form a white furry coating on some of the fruit, so I put both the fresh and the frozen in 500 ml of water and boiled for 15 minutes. I mashed the fruit down with a plastic potato masher so the fruit was a thick pulp. When cooled, I strained the thick liquid through a sterilised muslin cloth into the FV. Thereby reducing the amount of sediment created during the fermenting process. Obviously there will still be some sediment, but it will be a lot less than putting whole fruit into the mix. I tipped the pips and fruit skins from the muslin cloth onto my compost heap, so absolutely no waste!

 

[paddyb2]

OP here. I don't know if this was the best thibng to do, but I bit the bullet jucied the blackberries and added them to the apple juice and fermented the whole lot in one go. Two weeks in, fermentation has stopped and the juice has starteted to clear. Will probably put into secondary this week. I could still add more berries at this point, but I'm unsure of the process. If I add them to primary or secondary, do I need to start the fermentation process again?

 

[Gerryjo]

OP here. I don't know if this was the best thibng to do, but I bit the bullet jucied the blackberries and added them to the apple juice and fermented the whole lot in one go. Two weeks in, fermentation has stopped and the juice has starteted to clear. Will probably put into secondary this week. I could still add more berries at this point, but I'm unsure of the process. If I add them to primary or secondary, do I need to start the fermentation process again?

Fermentation will restart due to the sugars being released by the fruit but let it sit for 2 weeks and by then it will be cleaned up by the yeast...

 

[paddyb2]

Thank Gerry. There are very few berrys left on the bushes now, so I'm going to leave it as it is, but will try something a bit differenmt next year.

So it would go something like this:
Put apple juice in primary until it stops fermenting
Add blackberrys, and leave again until fermentation stops
Bottle or secondary

Is that right?

 

[Gerryjo]

Thank Gerry. There are very few berrys left on the bushes now, so I'm going to leave it as it is, but will try something a bit differenmt next year.

So it would go something like this:
Put apple juice in primary until it stops fermenting
Add blackberrys, and leave again until fermentation stops
Bottle or secondary

Is that right?

I would go ahead and bottle but before you add the berries make sure they are clean and sterile as you don't want to add any nasties to the fermenter...

 

[paddyb2]

I washed them well being pulping them, but I don't know about sterile? I raised this point in another thread:
https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/re-sterilise-equipment-each-day-of-use.89290/
How do we actually sterilise fruit before juicing? I always serlise everything that touches it, but dunking the apples/berries in VWP is surely going to taint the taste?

 

[jof]

I have used sodium metabisulphate to sterilise fruit in the past in the form of campden tablets.

(Sodium metabisulphate is commonly used as a preservative in commercial wines - its often in the ingredients - or if not its listed as it can cause alergies for some people)

 

[paddyb2]

Yes, I add campden tablets in primary for 24 hours before adding yeast.

So, next question, why do I need to spend so much time steralising all the aparatus if I can just steralise the juice with campden tablets?