Apple cider

[Droc]

I am going to pick up 6 gallons of fresh pressed cider from an orchard near by this weekend and was hoping to get some tricks for making a good still hard cider.
As of now I plan on using some peptic enzyme once I get it home and letting it sit for 24 hours before pitching yeast. One of the thing I was wondering is has anyone used dried cranberries in the primary. I've had some apple wines that have a hint of cranberry and find it delicious. I was also wondering if I should oak during the primary or if that's just going over the top. For some reason I cannot make a nice simple wine or mead, I have to add stuff to it. I plan to use a local honey for added sweetness, thinking about getting it up to around 1.080 sg.
Any tips you guys have would be greatly appeciated...

 

[jensmith]

I've added fresh cranberries to apple. Very nice! Dried should be ok, but I have not used them. Watch for perservitives in them. If any question about perservatives add after active fermentation. That way you still get the flavor without a stalled ferment.
I also like some tannin added to my apple wines. The best apple wine I ever had used honey instead of suger to bost abv. It is probely a type of mead. They have a special name for everything....

 

[Runningwolf]

Droc, I have made several wines from cider. Cinnamon sticks while aging, I found to be very pleasant. This time I am going to use cinnamon extract I made. Cloves can be ok but do not put more than 1 or 2 in 5 or 6 gallons. If I was doing cranberries I would put them in the secondary for 30 days before aging, rack and test in another 30 days and see how you like it. You could always add more. More ideas for you to ponder, Blend with Niagara, crab apple, or pears.

 

[Droc]

Okay, new plan of attack. 5 gallons cider, I'm going to sweeten with honey and top it up to six gallon with some pear juice/ mush (I have to find some ripe pears now), I'll throw in my peptic enzyme and k meta then let sit for a day or 3. Once that's done I'll pitch my yeast and let it go. Probably add some bentonite around day 3 or 4. When I rack it into my secondary (hopefully around 1.020 or so) and throw in some cranberries (I'm hoping to use those ocean spray cranraisin things) and 3 or 4 cinnamon sticks. I'll let that sit for a month or so before racking to another carboy for aging. I'm thinking about throwing some hard maple chips and wine tannin in at the beginning also. I have to sleep on that. How does that sound. I think it will be delicious.

 

[Runningwolf]

You got my attention.It sounds very interesting to me. Anxious to follow your journey on this one.

 

[Descender]

Dried cranberries should be sourced from a store that sells fresh, dried fruit. Craisins have a bit of oil. Doesn't hurt anything, but they leave a little bit of an oil slick from what I've experienced.

 

[Droc]

I have a couple days to find the fresher cranberries. I just found out I have to wait until Wednesday for my cider when they press another batch so I can get it unpasteurized. No big deal. Maybe I can find some fresh ones and run them through my dehydrator.

I do have another question you guys might be able to help me out with. Is there any positives to throwing apple skins into the ferment. My mom bought a bushel of apples and gave me a bunch that I'm going to dehydrate for snacks. I was thinking about keeping the skins to throw in the cider, but I wasn't sure what the effects would be. I was kind if thinking it might act like grape skins and add some goodness to the must. Any opinions?

 

[jensmith]

If you get fresh cranberries don't bother dehydrating them. Cut them in half and add them to the primary. In a bag for easy removal. Fresh cranberries have tough skins. Those skins must be peirced before they will ferment or dry. Do not add any acid blend. The cranberries have plenty!
I would add the apple skins. I greatly prefure wine fermented with whole fruit over plain juice. Add them to a bag in the primay. Remember to use peptic enzyme!!

 

[Droc]

So for the fresh cranberries, should I crush them to get the juice out of them or just cut them in half and throw them in?

 

[Runningwolf]

I have no experience with Cranberries. Using Jensmith as my reference, I wonder if putting them in the freezer wouldn't be the best idea to help break down the cell walls. Adding them to a bag sure makes sense and you could go to Home Depot in the paint dept. and get 1 or 5 gallon paint strainer bags to use. I guess I have no idea what a cranberry is like, just a question, can you steam them if you had a steamer?

 

[RegionRat]

Cranberry Apfelwein

Here is what I started 11-18-2012. It is still in carboy and will be bottled soon. It turned out very good:

I froze berries and put them in the food processor to rough cop then put them in paint strainer bag.

3 1/2 lbs. fresh cranberries - chopped
1 lb. raisins - chopped
1/2 tsp Pectic Enzyme
2 tsp yeast nutrient
3 Campden
3 gal apple juice
brown sugar to Specific Gravity - 1.090
1 Gallon Warm Water(to melt the sugar)

RR

 

[Droc]

I'm thinking that I'm going to freeze them, throw them in the food processor and then into a bag and then the primary. I already have the apple skins, so I'm just waiting on my cider.

 

[jensmith]

Freezing cranberries does help, but they still need to be cut. Chopping works, just be aware they have lots of little seeds. I have been told that seeds that get bruised or chopped leave a bitter taste in the wine. I do not know if that is true. I thought I would pass that on, in case you take the chopping route.
Making cranberrry juice is easy. Just put them in a pot with some water (or apple juice if that is your wine bace) and bring to a simmer. The berries bust open and make juice. Strain out the solids and sweeten to taste. You can add a little suger to start with to help with the juice extraction. I have not used a steam juicer or reg juicer.
As with the apples, plain juice verses whole fruit will have a flavor difference in the finished wine. Even if you juice the bulk of your cranberries, add a few berries back in for maximum cranberry effect.
Bag all fruit! In either paint stainer bags or those mesh laundry/lingera bags. The mesh bags can be found in most department stores, sometimes even grocery stores. Pain strainer bags can be harder to fine. Not all places that carry paint have the strainer bags.
Unbagged fruit is a pain in the a.. to get out of the wine, it clogges up the racking cane for one thing!

 

[Droc]

Thought I'd post an update for this cider...
I ended up with 6 gallons of cider, 5 1/2 lbs of pretty ripe pears and 9 ounces of cranberries. I put 5 gallons of the cider into my primary, then cored and peeled my pears which I crushed with a potato masher in my 1 gallon fermentor. I took the skin from the pears and added them to 1 1/2 pounds of gala apple skins. I chopped up 9 ounces of cranberries and bagged them. I added 5 lbs 4 oz of honey to get my SG up to around 1.087 at 55 degrees. Threw all the skins and cranberries into the primary with 1 tsp kmeta and 2 1/2 tsp pectic enzyme. Threw that into a closet with my brew belt and some blankets to get warmed up and let sit overnight.
Yesterday with the temp up to around 72 i added two ounces of medium toast french oak (it was the only thing I had in the house) and pitched my yeast (Lalvin QA23) along with 1 1/2 tsp of nutrient and 1 tsp energizer.
When I checked today the temp was getting a little higher than I like so I removed the brew belt and added another 1 1/2 tsp of nutrient and squeezed the bags good and gave a good stir to get all the gunk on top mixed back in. Smells amazing tigh now and sounds like its going pretty good. Tomorrow I'm adding bentonite and some more nutrient and maybe put the airlock on it depending on the SG when I test it.
Anyone see anything I may have missed? Decided against the tannin for now as I think I can get that out of the oak. May add some tannin after it gets racked later down the road.

 

[RegionRat]

Thought I'd post an update for this cider...
I ended up with 6 gallons of cider, 5 1/2 lbs of pretty ripe pears and 9 ounces of cranberries. I put 5 gallons of the cider into my primary, then cored and peeled my pears which I crushed with a potato masher in my 1 gallon fermentor. I took the skin from the pears and added them to 1 1/2 pounds of gala apple skins. I chopped up 9 ounces of cranberries and bagged them. I added 5 lbs 4 oz of honey to get my SG up to around 1.087 at 55 degrees. Threw all the skins and cranberries into the primary with 1 tsp kmeta and 2 1/2 tsp pectic enzyme. Threw that into a closet with my brew belt and some blankets to get warmed up and let sit overnight.
Yesterday with the temp up to around 72 i added two ounces of medium toast french oak (it was the only thing I had in the house) and pitched my yeast (Lalvin QA23) along with 1 1/2 tsp of nutrient and 1 tsp energizer.
When I checked today the temp was getting a little higher than I like so I removed the brew belt and added another 1 1/2 tsp of nutrient and squeezed the bags good and gave a good stir to get all the gunk on top mixed back in. Smells amazing tigh now and sounds like its going pretty good. Tomorrow I'm adding bentonite and some more nutrient and maybe put the airlock on it depending on the SG when I test it.
Anyone see anything I may have missed? Decided against the tannin for now as I think I can get that out of the oak. May add some tannin after it gets racked later down the road.

Sounds like you are right on course. I have been adding 2 whole cloves to some of my ciders (6gal). It adds that "little-sumpin-sumpin."

RR

 

[Droc]

I thought about adding cloves or cinnamon but i wasn't sure how those flavors would jive with the pear and cranberry. When I rack I may do a one gallon test batch and try it out to see if I like it. Then I just have to figure out how to get my 6 gallon carboy topped up

 

[Zog]

Thought I'd post an update for this cider...
I ended up with 6 gallons of cider, 5 1/2 lbs of pretty ripe pears and 9 ounces of cranberries. I put 5 gallons of the cider into my primary, then cored and peeled my pears which I crushed with a potato masher in my 1 gallon fermentor. I took the skin from the pears and added them to 1 1/2 pounds of gala apple skins. I chopped up 9 ounces of cranberries and bagged them. I added 5 lbs 4 oz of honey to get my SG up to around 1.087 at 55 degrees. Threw all the skins and cranberries into the primary with 1 tsp kmeta and 2 1/2 tsp pectic enzyme. Threw that into a closet with my brew belt and some blankets to get warmed up and let sit overnight.
Yesterday with the temp up to around 72 i added two ounces of medium toast french oak (it was the only thing I had in the house) and pitched my yeast (Lalvin QA23) along with 1 1/2 tsp of nutrient and 1 tsp energizer.
When I checked today the temp was getting a little higher than I like so I removed the brew belt and added another 1 1/2 tsp of nutrient and squeezed the bags good and gave a good stir to get all the gunk on top mixed back in. Smells amazing tigh now and sounds like its going pretty good. Tomorrow I'm adding bentonite and some more nutrient and maybe put the airlock on it depending on the SG when I test it.
Anyone see anything I may have missed? Decided against the tannin for now as I think I can get that out of the oak. May add some tannin after it gets racked later down the road.

Sounds great. I haven't tried cranberries, but I believe they are pretty high in tannins, which in straight commercial cider are pretty lacking. Some old-timey traditional hard cider makers use crab apples to add tannin.

I might try your idea to use maple chips. Home toasted sugar maple chips seem like a natural match to a cider wine.

In my opinion, stay away from the apple pie spices. If you want a spiced wine you can do that just before you drink it. Just make a nice wine you can drink with or without spices.

 

[BernardSmith]

Your cranberries may help add more acidity and tannins to the cider. I tend to find that the apple juice I get is heavy on the eating apples and light on cider varieties. One thing you might want to try with a small batch of your cider is to add dry hops. You might add this to the secondary and remove after three or four days.

 

[Droc]

I currently have it in secondary, planning on racking into a 5 gallon carboy tomorrow. This batch dropped a ton of lees, so I'm going to get it off them for awhile. I may do hops next year. I'm just working toward a good wine since this is my first year making my own stuff. I have a feeling next year I will get a little more adventurous.