Day 7: Cranberry Cider

[jkw4701]

Hello everyone,

I love cider and enjoy brewing all types of cider to share! This particular cider is a traditional English cider but I used 20% cranberry juice instead of apple juice. It is fermented with the new Ciderhouse yeast (first try with it since Bull City started selling it) for about 3 weeks. I bottled it right after that as calendars were due then. Hope it's aged well and that you enjoy it! It should have a little more tartness than usual but preliminary taste tests proved it to be somewhat sweeter than the usual English cider yeasts. I had also hoped it would have a bit of a red color but it will need more juice for that. Enjoy!, Jennie

PS: Sorry for double posting as my fiance, Ian (Day 6), seems to have forgotten his login information.

[Scott H]

I like this cider a lot! When I poured it I got a lot of foam which settled quickly, and the cider in the glass was bubbling for almost five minutes, so lots of good carbonation in there. It's beautifully clear as well. The taste reminds me a lot of apfelwine... the tartness of the apple is right up front. I almost wish you'd used more cranberry. I could smell the berries when I poured it, but I can't really taste any cranberry in the cider.

How was the ciderhouse yeast to use? I've made a few ciders that suffered from "rhino farts" (yes, that's actually a term). The gas let off by the fermentation smelled like rotten eggs. I would love to use a yeast that wouldn't do that.

Great cider, thanks for contributing this to the calendar!

[scott22]

Sparkly carbonation, clear and delicious. Ditto on pumping up the cranberries more.

[tony]

It was beautifully clear with a touch of pink with lots of carbonation and a crisp finish. My wife really liked it, so do you mind expanding more the traditional english cider recipe? I'm a complete noob on ciders, so if I understand you used 80% apple juice? Any good sources for unpasteurized apple juice? (I may have just missed the boat this year.) Will the standard wyeast yeast nutrients work for a cider? Thanks in advance.

[jkw4701]

Thanks for the feedback! Here are some answers:

Cider is super easy to make. My basic English cider is as follows: 5 gallons of apple juice (No preservatives other than Vitamin C...I buy the Target brand) and some yeast. I generally use Nottingham yeast for English cider. You can use Montrachet or Champagne for a drier, more apfelwein-like character. This time I tried the Ciderhouse yeast. It was a little Rhino-farty, but nothing like Montrachet. That stuff will make a room stink. Cider/wine nutrients may help a little bit, but I feel its more trouble than its worth since I've got to boil-sanitize it and there's no boiling involved with cider-making. You can definitely use fresh-pressed juice, but you run the risk of bugs growing in it, and boiling/pasteurizing it basically makes it into the same thing you'd get at the store. I've done some small-batch experiments with fresh-pressed juice and given up on it due to about 20% of them coming out funky.

Glad you enjoyed it!

[BullseyeBrewing]

Really liked the cranberry addition. Nice tartness. I'm surprised the 20% didn't give a stronger color/flavor.

[hoppingwolf]

I don't drink much cider, but this was awesome! I love the champagne like effervescence coupled with the tartness of the cranberries. I could see more berry juice giving it a pinker color and more tartness, but it was great as is.

Questions from a non-cider brewer:
How long does a standard cider take to ferment?
Does a cider typically benefit from aging or is it usually good to go within a few weeks of fermentation?
How did you prime your bottles for the carbonation? Standard corn sugar or something else?

Thanks!

[jkw4701]

Answers:
1) Most ciders take 2-3 weeks to ferment.
2) They definitely benefit from aging if you are willing to wait a couple months (I usually am not).
3) I prime them with corn sugar the same as a pale ale-- 2.4 vol. CO2.
Glad you like it!

[kczars]

I really liked this, as did my wife who loves cider! We both loved the champagne like carbonation.
Another question, we tried to brew some cider a year or so ago and it came out tasting like apple whiskey/apple rubbing alcohol. Do you think that was the yeast? Or the juice we used? Something else? This has renewed my wife's interest in homebrewing and I'd like it to be a success this time.

Kyle

[deansquishman]

This was an enjoyable cider---very much like a champagne feel---loved how light it was

[jadixon]

I really enjoyed this cider -- well balanced, champagne-like carbonation, nice and dry. It left me longing for more cranberry flavor, though the aroma was really nice.

[ricky]

I expected this to be drier and to have more cranberry, though I certainly wasn't disappointed. I really liked it.

[brewingbryan]

Finally catching up after being sidelined by dental surgery!

I rather liked this one. Highly carbonated, which was nice. I thought it was a rather good contribution from the cranberries. having worked with berries before, I feel like you usually end up the "essence" of the fruit rather than the store-created taste we're used to. I think this and the cider work well together. Nice tartness on the finish.

[tallguybrewer]

I am very far behind on my calendar, but would like to get comments out there. I enjoyed this cider a lot. This calendar alone has taught me that I need to expand my horizons and get into cider making. I really enjoyed the dryness of this cider. I also did not get a lot of cranberry, but I like the idea.