Cider review:Wyder's Raspberry Cider

I've wanted to try this cider for a while and finally found it on sale. I'm glad I did, it's good! The label says dry, but it's still has a good level of residual sugar in it. The raspberry flavor is nice, not overpowering or barely a wisp of flavor. This is a keeper! Too bad it disappears so fast...

Cider review: Intro

Well, since I cannot drink beer these days without getting a migraine headache (I am now sensitive to gluten - thanks for the allergy Mom), I've been sampling hard ciders that I find. I prefer sweeter ciders so that will affect my reviews. And I am going to be adding additional sweeteners to my home-brews since they have been dryer than I prefer.

On to the reviews!

Homebrew taste test report

I tasted tested 2 bottles of my homebrew apple cyder I started 2012-07-07. Same apple juice/yeast, but one was made with berry juice and the other with berry extract.

The bottle with the berry extract tastes like a normal apple cider, rather tart, very little berry flavor.

The bottle with the apple/berry mixture has a really good mix of flavors, I like the flavor. Now I need to work on how sweet/dry the cider is..

And I used bentonite to try to clear the cider, it did not clear at all.

More Cyder!

I found a small, local apple producer who was pressing apples and selling the raw juice so I picked up 5 gallons for $50. I set aside 2 gallons for Q and started 3 batches of hard cyder using 3 different yeasts.
The yeasts I selected are:

• Safale US-105 dry ale yeast
• Vinters harvest MA33 premium wine yeast - acid reducing strain
• Lalvin EC1118

So far the MA33 has mostly stopped bubbling, but the other two are still bubbling. The cooler weather means the yeast ferment slower.

I also deviated from my standard brew process to use potasium metabisulfate and pectic enzyme. I wanted to make sure all wild yeasts are killed off (the potasium) and wanted to try to make the cyder a little clearer (pectin enzyme). 

I am really curious how these turn out... I want to use sucrose to sweeten them before I bottle them. And I am going to not try to re-carbonate them.

I had a bottle of my cyder I started 2011-08. It was better than the McMenimans hard cyder I had yesterday, the McMenimans was more harsh and bitter. 

Busy weekend

I was stuck at home for the weekend due to work so I spent my time making lots of things.

• I bottled 20 bottles of cyder (2 different apple/berry blends) (Making cyder). The Cyder with only the berry extract is good, the berry flavor is not overpowering. The one made with berry juice is a bit tart and needs to age for at least 6 months to mellow it out.
• Made 2x32 oz containers of yogurt from a gallon of milk
• And made/canned jam from blueberries, raspberries, and marionberries using Pomona Pectin. I used only 3/4 cup of sugar (evil sugar) and 4 cups of mashed and tasty berries. These berries came from local growers up here in the PNW. This made 6 pints, one has already been devoured... Yummy!

2 new cyders started....

I started 2 new cyders this weekend. The first uses a berry juice blend, the 2nd uses a natural raspberry fruit flavoring. It will be interesting to see how they turn out.

Brew update

I bottled the cyser I started on 6/5/2010. Was really sweet with a nice kick. I added 2 sugar drops to each bottle this time, want to see if that carbonates them better.

The current batch is still bubbling.

Racked cyder

Back on June 5th I started a batch of cyder using my own raw honey. Tonight I racked it off to a new carboy. Taste was nice and sweet, lots of apple flavor and has a small kick to it. Looks promising.

Taste test

Taste/carbonation tested the latest batch. Carbonation was very light, hopefully more time will build that up (was only 2 weeks). Taste was still very acidic. Will try it in a few more weeks.

Bottling time!

I bottled the apple cyser I have brewing. I purchased some 'carbonation drops' which are a small, lemon drop sized drop of sugar. Once per bottle, drop them in then fill the bottle. Gives the yeast enough of a boost to carbonate the bottle w/o lots of messy measuring. Shall have to see how they work out.

Cyser Racked

I racked the apple cyser I started on March 31st. I also tasted it, it tasted acidic. Hopefully it mellows. If it mellows, I want to try to carbonate it in the bottle.

Cyser brewing

Last week I started a new batch of Cyder. I figured I'd try the recipe from my 'Wild Wines' book.

My notes:
2010-03-31
Ingredients:
-2 lbs 9 oz raw honey from Fuzzy, crystallized and had to be filtered thru a 200m filter to get crushed up left over wax out
-1 gallon whole foods organic apple juice, unfiltered pasteurized 100% juice

Making: 20081108
-used Star San (1 cap full to 1 gallon water) to sanitize mixing container, carboy, and mixing tools
-Warmed up the honey with most of apple juice in large pot.
-Added 1tsp acid blend and 1tsp pectic enzyme
-Warmed then filtered thru a 200m filter into carboy
-Topped off carboy with extra apple juice
-Capped and set carboy aside for 24 hrs

2010-04-03
-Mixed up the yeast (Red Star Premier Cuvee), 1/4 tsp of DAP, and half cup of orange juice.
-Fell asleep waiting for it to start and pitched it in Sat morning. So it was bubbling for 6 hrs. Quite a nice head of bubbles.


Link to book: