Flavour into Cider

[Verb77]

I prefer Cider over Wine and have been experimenting a little with my brews.

I first started by just filling my demijohn with apple juice adding the yeast then bottling when ready with a little sugar. Was getting around 5% strength, but the cider was a little dry / sour tasting. I assume this is because the yeast has changed what sugar there was into alcohol.

I also tried adding a sweetener to a few bottles. Doesn’t quite work. It just tastes like cider with a sweetener in.

Now I’ve started just adding 3 litres of apple juice plus 1 litre of water with chopped fruit and 50 grams of sugar to the demijohn and I’m still achieving 5% but it is still tasting a little Dry / Sour.

Is there anything I can do to get some more flavour into my ciders?

 

[Cussword]

I grated in a ginger root to 20 litres. Really good :thumb:

 

[disco_monkey79]

You could add a carton of a different type of juice? I did a half-and-half with Tesco exotic juice. It ended up tasting of pineapple - unfortunately, I don't like pineapple, but the OH does.

Perhaps try adding just one carton of whatever takes your fancy, and see how it ends up?

 

[evanvine]

Your TC needs tannin!
Only a sweetner will take the sharp edge off, unless you add AJ/sugar immediatly on serving.

 

[bullseye]

Most on here are better qualified to answer your question better than me, but i did a gallon of cider using Honey rather than sugar and it turned out great. :drink:

 

[evanvine]

i did a gallon of cider using Honey rather than sugar and it turned out great.

What an excellent idea!
You wouldn't be having any idea about how many gravity points 1lb honey adds to 1gal would you?

 

[bullseye]

i did a gallon of cider using Honey rather than sugar and it turned out great.

What an excellent idea!
You wouldn't be having any idea about how many gravity points 1lb honey adds to 1gal would you?

I only used 100gram of Eucalyptus honey to the gallon, i gently heated a cinnamon stick in a litre of apple juice for 15 minutes. The mixture was brown in the DJ and i thought i made a mistake, but it fermented out and finished a lovely orange colour and it tasted very nice indeed.

 

[Moley]

i did a gallon of cider using Honey rather than sugar and it turned out great.

What an excellent idea!
You wouldn't be having any idea about how many gravity points 1lb honey adds to 1gal would you?

The only jar I have to hand says it's 76% sugar, so that would be 12 oz out of your 1lb, which would give about 27 points in the gallon.

 

[Verb77]

Is there a way of equating Gravity Points before amounts of sugar / honey etc. are added.

I have read posts where people have been able to work out Gravity Points from the amount of sugar contained in a juice.

Is it possible??

 

[Moley]

Yes, sugar contents are usually printed on juice cartons, so if you have known sugars and a known volume it's quite straight-forward.

If you add sugar to a volume it gets a little more complicated because you'll then have a greater volume due to ‘sugar bulking’ and the maths needs adjusting.


Let us suppose you have 4 litres of apple juice which each contain 90g of sugar, you add that pound (454g) of honey and top everything up to 5 litres with water.

4 x 90 = 360
454g honey x 76% sugar = 345g sugar

Total sugar = 360 + 345 = 705g in 5 litres

705 / 5 = 141g in 1 litre

100g sugar in 1 litre gives 36 points, don't ask why, just take it as a known value.

1.41 x 36 = 51

Your OG is 1.051

 

[Verb77]

Yes, sugar contents are usually printed on juice cartons, so if you have known sugars and a known volume it's quite straight-forward.

If you add sugar to a volume it gets a little more complicated because you'll then have a greater volume due to ‘sugar bulking’ and the maths needs adjusting.


Let us suppose you have 4 litres of apple juice which each contain 90g of sugar, you add that pound (454g) of honey and top everything up to 5 litres with water.

4 x 90 = 360
454g honey x 76% sugar = 345g sugar

Total sugar = 360 + 345 = 705g in 5 litres

705 / 5 = 141g in 1 litre

100g sugar in 1 litre gives 36 points, don't ask why, just take it as a known value.

1.41 x 36 = 51

Your OG is 1.051

THANK YOU very much :thumb: