can I use fresh fruit to make cider

paultait1985

Hi guys

im new to all this home brew stuff and was looking for a little advice

Im currently brewing my first lot of Youngs brew buddy cider and its seems to be going well and is due for bottling this weekend.

My next venture is to try making a fruit cider I was wondering if it was possible to use fresh stawberries, raspberries, blueberries to make a mixed berry cider, Is it possible to puree the fruit and add it to your brew in place a can of syrup.

Im guessing then it would need to be strained through a cheese cloth after first stage of fermenting is done? and be allowed to settle in a second vesal before bottling?

looking forward to you thoughts on this

HBO_Staff

There are different ways of doing this, it is often best to look around for a recipe which is tried and tested and works so you don't waste your time or fruit, but you can of course experiment and try it your own way of you prefer. If you wanted to use fruit instead of a tin of concentrate/extract, one issue is that you don't know what the sugar content will be which can affect the fermentation and final alcohol content. The yeast ferments on the sugars and produces the alcohol, so with a 1 tin cider kit they specify the additional amount of sugar to add (for example an On The Rocks Mixed Berry needs 1.3kgs of sugar adding). If you use just fruit and no cider base, you will end up with something more like a fruit wine.

One option is to start with a tin of apple or perhaps apple and pear blend (such as Finlandia Cider) and add the sugar it recommends (or a little less), then pulp your fruit nice and finely and add this pulp into the fermenting vessel. The sugars from the fruit and the fruit itself will ferment and add flavour to the cider base, and you can be confident it should ferment OK.

You could then strain it using something like our chef's muslin and transfer it to a second vessel, the leave it to settle again, and then fill your bottles from there.
http://home-brew-online.myshopify.com/collections/all/products/muslin-chefs
If bottling we recommend the use of a 'little bottler' as they are so easy to use and take the hard work out of filling bottles, these vessels with the little bottler are ideal;
http://home-brew-online.myshopify.com/collections/all/products/beer-wine-fermenting-vessel-25-ltr-little-bottler

By using a hydrometer to take readings at the start and once fermentation is complete, you can work out the alcohol content.

paultait1985

That sounds like a better idea. I had a pear cider kit in the cupboard so i'll make that up with a load of mxed berries added in to the first stage of fermentation.

Thanks for the help and i'll keep you up dated on the progress

(back in the next few days to order my muslin cloth)

HBO_Staff

If let us know how you get on that would be great, the pear cider kit should be a good base, if it says to add sugar then you will be best to add some, it may be OK with less than it recommnds to use though as your fruit will have some sugars in it. If you have a hydrometer take a start and final reading so you can work out the alcohol content, if it was too high it could be diluted, although we don't think you will need to

paultait1985

Hi guys a quick update. I used a wilko's pear cider tin and added 1.3kg of sugar before adding 2kg of asda frozen mixed berries (blended). To begin with it stuck of banana...... Lol. The SG was 1.042 and 2 weeks later it's smelling great and I've got a steady hydrometer reading of 0.996. Friday I'll be going out to get a second brew bin so I can strain the fruit out for the second fermentation. I tried a sample yesterday and beginning taste a little like koperburg.... Recommend trying this!

HBO_Staff

Great news the cider is coming along nicely, let us know how the finished result tastes. On The Rocks do flavoured ciders which may also be a good starting point for experimenting with, which could result in a fuller flavour;

http://home-brew-online.myshopify.com/collections/all/products/on-the-rocks-cider-kit-mixed-berry-limited-edition