First Cider Attempt - Final Results

Raspberry Cider

Side Notes:

I decided to backsweeten with a pound of lactose sugar. This worked GREAT. It was pretty dry to begin with, but this gave it just enough residual sugar to not make you pucker after drinking it. I sweetened a glass a little bit more with some Splenda, which made it way too sweet. One pound of lactose sugar seemed perfect. (I suppose now I can call it a Raspberry Milk Cider...eww.)

I carbed it with 2 cans of Treetop 100% apple juice concentrate. This was way too much. In fact, after 1.5 weeks of sitting in the closet, my bottle caps were bulging!! I had to put all the leftovers in the fridge to stop any active fermentation and prevent bottle bombs. When you pour it in a glass there is a head that fills the glass instantly and to the top. Next time I think 1 can of concentrate per 5 gallons will be perfect for carbing. Especially with cider, a big head isn't too good anyway.

Results

Aroma - Nice and "appley" if that's a word. There is a very faint hint of raspberry, but this is hardly noticeable by smell.

Appearance - Pinkish brown. Since there is much more apple juice rather than raspberry, the raspberry only slightly modified the color. So the majority of the apple juice (yellowish-brown) is coming through.

Taste - Nice! Most people let cider age in the bottle for at least a few months, and up to a year or two. But since we were going to a family gathering, most was consumed within a week or two. Still, it was very good. Time would only age it better. It has a slight yeasty taste to it, which I'm still trying to get out of all my brews (perhaps only with a filter). There is definitely an apple flavor to it (there should be!), and I think this would come out even more without the excessive carbing. The raspberry flavor wasn't as pronounced as I had hoped. Next time I may try a different flavoring (extract perhaps) or I'll just add it to the primary fermenter. I would definitely make this again, but I'd like to split it into two batches and only flavor half.

Aftertaste - Not much of an aftertaste. Fairly clean (other than a slight yeast taste) and finishes pretty dry. Gives a good belch with all the carbonation :)

Labels

Labels I've made to this point...Just thought I'd put them on here to make sure I always have them :)

Raspberry Hard Lemonade

I've been wanting to experiment with recycling yeasts. This is one of the more expensive aspects of a brew, as a good yeast can be between $7-9. When you divide that among 50 beers it's not too bad, but if you divide it among 15o beers (recycling it 3 times) it's even better. Doing this can drive down your batch prices to under $20 if you're not doing a real hoppy batch (and you can't beat 50 beers for $20!).

I used a Cider Yeast for the hard cider that I recently made, so this was a good time to experiment. I didn't want to spend $30 on a 5 gal batch to not have it turn out, so I only made a 1 gallon batch of raspberry hard lemonade. Here's my recipe...

Raspberry Hard Lemonade

Malt/Fermentables
Approx. 3/4 lb Pale DME
3-12 oz. cans Minute Maid Raspberry Lemonade Concentrate

Specialty Grains
None

Hops
None

Yeast
WLP775 English Cider Yeast - pitched approx. 400 ml of slurry from Hard Cider recipe

Adjuncts

None

Brew Day Stats

Brewed: 06/04/2008
Racked (Secondary): None
Bottled: 06/11/2008

Pre-boil Volume: guessed
Post-boil Volume: 3/4 gallon
Boil Time: 15 minutes

Cooling Method: Ice water bath
Cooling Time: Approx. 20 min.
Pitching Temp: 84° F

Fermentation Temp: 65-70° F (first sign of fermentation approx 20 min. after pitching)

OG: 1.092
FG: 1.024
ABW: 7.3%
ABV: 9.1%

Results & Photo's

Ultimately, this didn't turn out as I had hoped. I think I used too much malt, as the final brew had a lot of malt flavors, which detracted significantly from the lemonade and raspberry flavor.

Aroma - Overall, a malty aroma and quite sweet.

Appearance - Brownish-red. This was probably because of the excess of malt, as it contributed a dull brown color to the final brew.

Taste - Ha! Pretty much horrible. The excess malt flavor combined with the 9%+ alcohol content made for an excessively sweet character. Without the use of hops to balance out sweetness, it was just too much.

Aftertaste - Not bad actually. Occasionally I get a mediciny aftertaste, which was thankfully not present this time. Perhaps I'm weeding this aftertaste out.

Raspberry Hard Lemonade (Update)

This one turned out with a bit higher alcohol content than I expected (9.1%)...too much sugar I guess! I bottled it in plastic bottles, because I'm unsure what this stuff will do and if it has anymore fermenting left to do...didn't want any dangerous bottle bombs if it keeps going too much!

I also didn't rack to a secondary. I didn't think much would be gained by this so I skipped it. My gallon made a little over 7 bottles. A good test batch I think!

New Artwork

Big thanks to Lynn Frey for the new banner artwork. Go Lynn! She said she pulled on her "inner guy" to do this one. Let's hope Jesse knows about this inner guy she's got.

First Cider Attempt (update)

Yesterday I racked the cider into a secondary fermenter and added 3lbs. of raspberry puree. So, my hard cider has now turned into hard raspberry cider...yum. It's a bit dryer than I expected (there was NO residual sugar left over!) so I may end up backsweetening it a bit. BUT, I tasted it and boy was it good. Because it's dry it actually almost tastes like wine, but with the lower alcohol content, possible backsweetening, and after I carbonate it, it should taste more like cider. Here's an updated picture, and as you can see, the raspberry puree darkened it up significantly.

I want this...

It's like a mini-brewery...all automated. MMM...as Homer would say. It's a "Brew-Magic Brewing System."

First Cider Attempt

I haven't brewed anything for a few months now, really since before heading home for graduation. Even the parents have asked what I'm brewing, to which I have no answer. Living in Nevada, we're almost guaranteed nice weekends, so I was assuming that Memorial Day weekend would be no exception. The weather didn't cooperate, but before I realized that, I planned to make hard cider. I've really been wanting to make a hard cider for a while now, and since the process is so easy (compared to beer) it was a time-saver for a weekend of camping.

When I say easy, I mean easy. Pour a bunch of apple juice into a fermenter and add yeast. That's pretty much it. Now into the closet it goes...

I plan on racking to a secondary once primary fermentation is complete, and adding some fruit. Possibly raspberries, but we'll see. For now, I'll call it a raspberry cider.


Raspberry Cider

Malt
5 Gal. Apple Juice (Treetop)

Specialty Grains
None

Hops
None

Yeast
WLP775 English Cider Yeast

Adjuncts
3lbs. 1oz. Oregon Red Raspberry seedless puree (into secondary)

Brew Day Stats

Brewed: 05/24/2008
Racked (Secondary): 06/04/2008
Bottled: 07/06/2008

Pre-boil Volume: 5 Gal
Post-boil Volume: 5 Gal
Boil Time: N/A

Cooling Method: N/A
Cooling Time: N/A
Pitching Temp: 67° F

Fermentation Temp: 65-70° F

OG: 1.050
FG: 1.000
ABW: 5.4%
ABV: 6.7%

Results & Photo's

Aroma


Appearance


Taste


Aftertaste

Beer Journal

This is a beer journal of sorts. I've been homebrewing for a little while now, and I'm beginning to realize that taking notes of brews is an important thing. So, this blog is so I can keep track of what I'm doing, and so that anyone interested can peek, ask questions, leave comments, etc. Please feel free to leave suggestions!