Raspberry TC - probably

[Roddy]

Stuck on 23 ltrs of Asda SP apple juice last night, and bought a bottle of Lowicz Malina (Raspberry), to flavour/prime with once it's fermented out....

Didn't add any extra sugar, as the SG of the apple juice on its own was 1.045, so if it gets to 1.000 (which it should, or less), it'll be around 5.7-6.0% abv

Unless I have a eureka moment and decide to flavour it with something else :whistle:

 

[as13]

I'm thinking of doing something very similar - but it's my first try at a cider.

When you say 23 ltrs - is that all juice? Or did you mix with spring water as I have read others describing?

Do you think the Polish cordial stuff will remove the need to add any sugar to prime?

 

[Roddy]

Hi as13

Of the 23l, 22l is juice and the rest of the volume is strong tea (for tannins) and a bit of extra water that I mixed up some pectolase in (stops it going cloudy because of pectin in the fruit juice).

I won't need to add any sugar in at all, and the Lowicz syrup will take care of the priming sugar element. I'm intending to put all of the syrup in, which equates to about 7.5g per 500ml bottle. I prefer a fairly fizzy cider, I didn't put all of the syrup in the similar cider I just made, and I wished I had.

You can put in some water instead of juice, but I bought the Asda smart price apple, which was 65p per litre, so for 22 it was only £14.30 and £1.30 for the syrup. I think it makes for more depth of flavour with all apple, compared with kits I have made with only 4l of concentrate and the rest water etc...

Good luck !!

 

[as13]

Hey Roddy,

Thanks for the info!

I'm looking forward to having a go! Hopefully I'll have something nice to consume in the summer!

 

[Roddy]

the summer ? I'm drinking the one I started about 4 weeks ago... pretty daym good too !!

 

[as13]

Really? I got the impression you needed to leave it in the bottles around 3 months!?

4 weeks sounds even better!

 

[Roddy]

Bottled last night with a whole 440ml bottle of Lowicz raspberry bunged in for priming..

Works out to 8g of priming sugar per bottle.. I like it fizzy... although I'll post up if I end up having to paint my ceiling after opening one haha

 

[as13]

Cool!
Mine has been fermenting since Monday night!

All looks good so far!

I've got a bottle of that raspberry stuff too, so definitely let me know if you end up with any bottle bombs!

Did you batch prime? I was thinking of using a syringe to prime the bottles.

Cheers,
Andrew.

 

[matt666]

8g priming sugar should be fine, I use a heaped teaspoon which is about the same weight

 

[Roddy]

Hi Andrew

I used to prime each bottle with a coopers carb drop (google it), but now prefer to batch prime by siphoning off into a carboy, so I can control the priming sugar more accurately.

 

[as13]

Cheers,

Did you sweeten yours at all?
My wife likes a sweeter cider - I'm not that bothered!

 

[Roddy]

hi mate, no I didn't in the end, didn't fancy putting a mountain of candarel in it !
I might try wine sweetener though next time, that's more concentrated I think

how's your cider coming on, have you taken a gravity reading yet (have you got a hydrometer yeh?) My ciders usually ferment out in about 7-8 days (at 25deg c)

Cheers,

Did you sweeten yours at all?
My wife likes a sweeter cider - I'm not that bothered!

 

[as13]

I think it's doing OK!

My OG was 1042 and today it's at 1001

It smells pretty much like cider, but very opaque....

I guess I'll take another reading tomorrow and figure out if it's ready to bottle!

How does it look compared to yours?

View attachment uploadfromtaptalk1430824075258.jpg

 

[Roddy]

yeh it will be pretty cloudy, I bottled mine last Thursday and it's conditioning somewhere warm just now, until the weekend

It's completely clear in the grolsch bottles I put some in and almost clear in the brown coopers PET bottles

looking forward to cheeky sample at the weekend !

I think it's doing OK!

My OG was 1042 and today it's at 1001

It smells pretty much like cider, but very opaque....

I guess I'll take another reading tomorrow and figure out if it's ready to bottle!

How does it look compared to yours?

 

[Roddy]

having a wee taste of it now, crystal clear

not very fizzy despite a whole bottle of Lowicz but that may improve slightly given time

nice flavour though, preferring it to the cherry version I did ☺

 

[Roddy]

yeh the fizziness had rounded out nicely, just right for me, but not so fizzy it's in danger of overflowing when a bottle is opened

 

[as13]

The first two bottles!

 

[Roddy]

nice work, taste good ?

 

[as13]

Aye, not too bad! A good amount of fizz and you can definitely taste the raspberry syrup. Too dry for the missus, so she hoyed a couple of canderel in.

Loads of sediment in the bottom of the bottles though - had to leave quite a bit in to avoid getting any in the glass.

 

[Roddy]

If you be sure not to glug it into the glass you shouldn't end up with that much left in the bottle...

It's all about the technique