Damson Cider Recipe Request

[Shirley Bassett]

Has anyone got a recipe for Damson Cider?

I have a scratter and 6 ton board press.

I currently have 60 litres of home pressed apple juice fermenting.

One of neighbours have offered me as many damsons as I can pick.

Thanks

 

[Dutto]

Welcome to The Forum!

I suggest that you search for Damson Cider or Plum Cider in the Search section (above right) where you will find lots of tips and a few recipes.

Enjoy!

 

[Shirley Bassett]

Well in the absence of any usable advice on a Damson Cider recipe, I followed my old boss’s advice, “JFDI”.

Rather than risk valuable home pressed apple juice, I went down the turbo cider route.

15 litres of Supermarket Juice, that contains 110g of sugar per litre. Typically ferments to 5.5% alcohol.

2.5kg of Damsons. These were frozen, then partially defrosted to aid de-stoning. Then blitzed in a food processor. Allowed to completely defrost, then had 250ml of boiling tea added, which also contained 1 Campden Tablet. This mush was stored overnight in a clean Demijohn, with added trap to see if natural yeasts were fermenting.

The mush was then added to the main fermentation vessel, along with the 15 litres of supermarket juice, which now contained.

1 tsp of Yeast nutrient,
1 pack of Gervin GV13 Cider Yeast,
1/2 tsp of Pectolase.

The vessel is fermenting like a good un.

Once fermented out, I may either siphon off, or possibly strain through muslin cloth to remove excess pulp.

I’ll then add more juice to make up to 18 litres and allow this to ferment out and then settle / clear.

Final intended step is to batch prime at 10g/litre of sugar before bottling.

 

[Dutto]

That looks superb! Well done!

Sorry there weren't any suitable recipes - so I hope you post one if the result is successful.

BTW, looking at the FV I suggest that you stand it in a deep tray (or a bucket), 'cos that krausen looks awfully close to where the brew may decide to make an escape bid!

 

[Shirley Bassett]

FV holds 19.5 litres. The volume in the photo is 18 litres, but this has been topped up, once the initial more turbulent fermentation has taken place.

It's currently just ticking over at the moment with a small head of bubbles on the top, but I take your point about it escaping.

Once I've either siphoned it off, or poured through muslin to get rid off the fruit pulp, I will add more juice to get it to continue fermenting to drive off any air that may be sitting on top of it in the FV.

Aim is to eventually end up with 19 litres of settled cider, which will be siphoned off any debris and then have sugar added to carb up in the bottle.

I reckon it will be about a month before it's ready for its initial tasting.

 

[Shirley Bassett]

Small sample of settled damson cider. Taste is very fruity, but quite dry.



I managed to get 19 litres of cider that I batch primed with 190g of sugar.




This was then bottled into 36 Kopperberg cider bottles and 1 Savanna dry bottle (clear glass) to enable me to check post carbonation clarity and settling. These are now in my boiler room to be kept warm whilst carbing up.



Should be ready to go in a couple of weeks.

​

 

[terrym]

Looks good.
Damsons should add another dimension to what I found was a pretty boring drink when I did my one and only TC.