Apple And Blackcurrant Cider

[blockhead83]

HI Guys,
Probably a little late to be asking this question as it's all ready in the fermenter and bubbling away but has anyone tried using apple and blackcurrant juice to make cider?
I made a sort of perry (80/20 pear and apple juice) for my girl friend a while ago and apart from drinking to early (the ones that were in the bottle the longest at the end were waaaayyyy better than the ones we drank after a month) it turned out okay.

Went shopping this weekend and while we were in the juice section to buy more apple and pear juice for a second go at the perry, she saw the apple and black currant juice so we bought 24L of that instead. I had been building up a starter in some apple/pear juice all week but figured it wouldn't matter with the change. basically it's 24L of apple and blackcurrant (90% apple 10% Blackcurrant) juice 400grms of lactose and a massive amount of champagne yeast, after building the starter week it was about 3 inches of yeast slurry on the bottom of a V8 juice bottle.

What do you guys think? Is this going to be a disaster?

all ready had a minor hiccup of sorts, forgot about the belt heater so the temp got up to around 28 I'm planning to leave in the primary for 2 weeks and then rack to a secondary for about 3 so I'm hoping the extra conditioning might clean up any off flavours i have caused.

 

[brettprevans]

temp too high try to get it down quickly

champy yeast will make it very dry. the lactise should backsweeten it a little. since youve gone champoy yeast. every few days stir up the yeast/slurry etc to try and get more of those champaigne characteristucs (ie bready flavours) see Thirsty Boys post here for info. blackberry might come out a bit tart or acidic. should be ok thought. i had a similar thought.

youll need longer than 5 weeks from what i hear for the juice to clear up.

edit: speeling is shite but i cbf fixing it

 

[bum]

Please let us know how this turns out. My idea for my next cider was to use all commercial apple juice but only use one of each brand/variety in the hope of adding complexity to the brew. I was thinking of chucking in an apple/blackcurrant blend to the mix.

 

[pdilley]

So long as you don't add sugar or simple sugars to fermentation bill you will get a dry ferment with the champagne yeast but not a high ABV so you won't be stuck with long term aging to get rid of hot alcohol flavours.

Get the heat down as the temperature inside the fermenter is on average 4 to 5 degrees C above the ambient temperature. Some estery profiles and throwing fruity flavours is ok with the yeast when doing ciders so don't worry as much as with beer, but still a little goes a long way, too much of it isn't going to impress. A champagne should ferment out clean but lower the temps to help it keep it clean.

I like back sweetening at the end after all the fermentation is done as a personal preference. Lets you fine tune each batches characteristic with a sweetness that fits the bill. Same with acid blend adjuncts.

I don't get much out of black currents but that might be genetics and my taste buds so if you enjoy it go for it. At 10% you might risk losing the flavour in the vigorous fermentation process so a few small batches might be in order or experiment with stabilising and then back sweetening with black current juice then balance the remaining sweetness out to taste.

 

[brettprevans]

maybe the old 'add ribena/generic blackcurrent cordial' will come in handy.

just remember to kill the yeast (various ways), or it will ferment out the added simple sugars in cordial etc

 

[stillscottish]

My last batch of cider turned out really dry. When I drink it I add a shot of apple juice to it to sweeten it a bit. Last bottle I only had apple and blackcurrant so I used that. Quite tasty and the Missus liked it as well. That's got to be a win.

Campbell

 

[beersatan]

FWIW - I did a 3L batch with the P&N apple 94%/blackcurrant 6% which was surprisingly good.
Turned out around 5.5% and still tasted sweet and not too dry. Not sure what the yeast is (Oztops #1).
Probably not a regular thing for me but will probably do again.

 

[blockhead83]

thanks for the advice guys, I don't have internet at home so I've got to wait to get to work to post so sorry about tardy reply.

I've heard about killing the yeast citymorgue2 but didn't do it with the last lot of apple/pear with this amount of lactose and it wasn't too dry,so i was hoping to not have to do it again i just primed with coopers carobonation drops although I was thinking about using some more juice to prime if i could be bothered working it out (i think the juice is about 18grms per 100ml sugar from memory) but on the otherhand I'm a pretty lazy ******* and carbonation drops seem easier.

the temps down around 16-18 now so should be okay, still plenty of activity and it's been almost a week. The little shed that i brew in smells the best it ever has with all that apple/blackcurranty C02 floating around.

 

[Uncle Fester]

For those who keg, I get around the dryness of a cider by adding 500g of sugar to 1lt of apple juice and shake it until dissolved. I add it to the keg and force carb. Just like Strongbow sweet. the ladies love it!

Just keep it cold, or it will start to ferment again. NOT SUITABLE FOR BOTTLING!

Fester Out.

 

[blockhead83]

Well, bottled this a couple of says ago. didn't seem too dry (i ended up adding another 200grms of lactose when i racked to secondary).
Anyone know how much pressure those plastic coopers bottles can take? Girlfriend complained the last lot of cider was a bit flat so I upped the sugar when bottling (3 drops instead of 2, tried a few with 4 :unsure: ) figured the worst that can happen is some bottles split.

 

[bum]

Well, if you're prepared for a bit of spillage I guess there's not much worse that can happen. Just make sure drink them all before summer if you're storing at ambient.