Cyser cider tips

[bluestone]

Hello. I ve got a load of freshly pressed apple juice from an apple called "summer red". The juice has a gravity of about 1.04, its watery and lacks a bit of flavour and body I feel .

In short what do I do with it. Add white grape concentrate, honey, raisins, caramelize a part of it ... ? I like tips on low or high alcohol cider,cyser,apple wine etc...

Thanks for tips bluestone

 

[skunkboy]

For body: grape concentrate, grape tannin, oak, raisins :
to kick up the potentian alcohol, and add some flavor : honey, brown sugar :
make it clear it clear a bit faster : pectic enzyme

 

[Chevette Girl]

Condensing/caramelizing some of it could boost the flavour, I tried that last year in my slow cooker for one of my batches but I haven't had a taste yet

(I also don't recommend using the slow cooker for it if you let the liquid level go down much, the ceramic liner for mine cracked!)

+1 on pectic enzyme, if you want to be able to taste the honey you'll want to have around half the sugars come from it, so boost to at least 1.080, or higher if you want a stronger cyser.

I did a plain old cider with K1V-1116 that worked out really well, I primed it with honey but you really can't taste it in any way.

You can also add a bit of juice from some more tart or flavourful apples to perk things up a bit, I like to toss some crabapples in when I make cider.

Raisins or white grape concentrate for body is a good plan, I use that most of the time when I use pears because they turn out a pretty thin wine too. I use a couple hundred ml of concentrate or a pound of raisins per gallon.

You can also always spice things up, check out some of the recipes here, Ken Schramm's Fall's Bounty or Oskaar's Mutiny on the Bounty... Or even Mars Colonist's Apple of my Chai (I tried that last year too, smelled wonderful but again, haven't tasted it)

 

[bluestone]

From my understanding. Summer red is a red dessert apple. Its a cross between Golden Delicious' x 'McIntosh(???)

pectic enzyme :
When do I add that? And is it necessary.

You can also add a bit of juice from some more tart or flavourful apples to perk things up a bit, I like to toss some crabapples in when I make cider...

Crabapples is that like wild growing apples? Any replacements(red currants) that will do if I cannot get my hands on it?

You can also always spice things up, check out some of the recipes here, Ken Schramm's Fall's Bounty or Oskaar's Mutiny on the Bounty... Or even Mars Colonist's Apple of my Chai (I tried that last year too, smelled wonderful but again, haven't tasted it)

I could not find the last two recipes. Ken Schramm's Fall's Bounty adds 1 lbs of brown sugar why would he wanna do that?

For the recipes:
I condensed/boiled 19 Liters down to 10 and mixed with the rest 50 L(?) and 1 L cherry juice from my freezer.
I splitted the juice into 3 separate plastic fermenter containers. Added a pk of k1v116 and ~1.1 lbs thompson raisins a piece.

First part: a cyser ~20L+. To increase gravity Im adding a light summer honey~2,5 kg(wild raspberry,wild flora)or ~2kg+1lbs brown sugar and 0.5 L homemade apples molasses made from medium high heat boiled apple juice(the rest of the apple juice about 4L ~1 US gallon).
Second part: ~25L Im going to ferment dry and freeze to make an apple jack. It will be interesting to compare that to the cyser.
Third part: ~20L(+-) I dont know so far is just a cider.

Improvements?

Any body tested the mini juice presses the health food people use like this type "Omega J8006 Nutrition Center Juicer" this product http://www.amazon.com/Omega-J8006-Nutrition-Center-Juicer/dp/B001L7OIVI/ref=zg_bs_289926_2 sounds perfect for getting juice from smaller amount of fruit and berries.

 

[bernardsmith]

Not perhaps the best forum for this suggestion but apple ale is one great way to add 'body' to cider. You make a basic beer (perhaps 2.25 lbs of 2- row or maris otter and about .25 lbs of 20L crystal malt per gallon) and you add 1 gallon of the beer to three or four gallons of the cider then pitch the yeast). This is more cider than beer but the maltiness and the proteins of grain make for a lovely drink. (you could also add hops (say 1 oz of citra or EKG during the boil). If you have not made beer then ignore this post but apple ale is one of my favorite ways to drink cider in the fall.

 

[bluestone]

...You make a basic beer (perhaps 2.25 lbs of 2- row or maris otter and about .25 lbs of 20L crystal malt per gallon) and you add 1 gallon of the beer to three or four gallons of the cider then pitch the yeast). This is more cider than beer but the maltiness and the proteins of grain make for a lovely drink. (you could also add hops (say 1 oz of citra or EKG during the boil). If you have not made beer then ignore this post but apple ale is one of my favorite ways to drink cider in the fall.

So you basically make 1 part beer the "traditional" way with bittering and aroma hops and mix that to 3 or 4 parts cider and ferment it with an ale yeast? I did not think beer and cider necessarily was a good match. Im generally not a big fan of making beer because I feel its generally a lot of work and I got very limited equipment, but thanks I might give that a shot. Also Im already out of honey till next august so I could use other fermentables.

Would it still work if I already fermented the cider part? should I then mix in unfermented or fermented beer?