help cider query

[L PLATE]

i found the scrumpy recipe with ginger on this site very intresting because i didn't have to add raw meat but i had 1 problem,when it say's add sugar,i was happy to that but i couldn't find anywhere in the recipe telling me how much how much sugar do i add? please help me as i'm a true learner when it comes to brewing

[the.fee.fairy]

Raw meat?!

In wines, its usually 2 1/2 lb per gallon. Don't know what it is for scrumpy.

Maybe try fermenting it first, then taste it to see if it needs sugar adding/

[red]

I was under the impression that the difference between cider and wine is that you should not need to add sugar to cider... but what do I know - yet to make cider

stonehead? you should know...

[Cheezy]

I'm sure I answered this one, must be losing the plot

Scrumpy is only ever pressed apples, real scrumpy doesn't even use extra yeast, it uses the yeast on the out side of the apples.

Cider is also as above if real, except you try to make sure it's not cloudy!.

However those of us who are not expert cider makers also resort to chemicals. So I might kill off the natural yeast and add my own to ensure it doesn't go off. I might also adjust the pH level of the juice, and add extra tannin to give bite. I might also use pectinase to avoid hazes and clouds.I would not add any extra sugar, unless the specific gravity is so low (ie a poor year so not enough natural sugar) and then I'd only add enough to ensure an alcohol content not below 6%, so that it keeps.

Apple wine usually is chopped apples in water (not pressed), plus raisins (for pectinase), other flavourings like ginger, yeast and 2lb sugar per gallon.


Of course it's all personnel, one mans apple wine is anothers cider.

I made this mistake last year with the perry I was making. Did everything as perry,(it's harder to make good perry than cider due to the tannin levels ,natural yeasts etc) except when I went to get my yeast I forgot you're meant to use a beer yeast not a wine. I wondered why I was pissed on half a pint!. (guesstimate it was around 15% alcohol )

[Lord Azrael]

I made this mistake last year with the perry I was making. Did everything as perry,(it's harder to make good perry than cider due to the tannin levels ,natural yeasts etc) except when I went to get my yeast I forgot you're meant to use a beer yeast not a wine. I wondered why I was pissed on half a pint!. (guesstimate it was around 15% alcohol )

Surely that's not a bad thing, sounds like a quality product to me!!

[the.fee.fairy]

Me too!

Was it tasty though?

[Stonehead]

Raw meat in scrumpy? Never heard of that before!

In general, you shouldn't need to add sugar to scrumpy unless you want a sparkling cider (whether bottle conditioned or kegged), and then you add a small amount at the bottling stage.

However, if you don't have the right proportion of sweet apples (for their sugar content) in your blend it may be worth adding sugar to the fermenting vat. Personally, I wouldn't.

Yeast? I've tried making scrumpy without using commercial yeasts, but the wild yeasts seem to struggle up here so I use either cider or sparkling wine/champagne yeast.

Many beer yeasts are killed by the higher alcohol strengths of dry scrumpy, so I don't use them although they can be fine for making sweeter ciders.

I slightly prefer champagne yeast but you have to get the apples right - too sweet a blend plus champagne yeast equals apple wine. But get the blend right and you get a deliciously dry (and strong) scrumpy of between 9 and 11 per cent. The alcohol content won't go any higher as the sugars gave all been converted.

[Stonehead]

I just googled scrumpy and meat, and found a couple of references to old-time cider makers hanging a leg of mutton in the fermenting vat to keep the yeast viable in cold weather. I'd suggest heating the vat would be rather more effective these days - and probably safer!

I also found a so-called scrumpy recipe that used raisins, meat and apples...

And scrumpy doesn't have to be cloudy. Mine always comes out clear without the use of finings or being filtered.

[red]

I have not heard of the raw meat thing (apart from the rat in the press stories....)

in this part of the uk, scrumpy is real cider - like real ale compared to beer... in fact where ale has CAMRA looking after it.. the cider and perry has an organisation called APPLE (apple and pear produce something something)

[the.fee.fairy]

And there was me thinking that all good scrumpy was made with spiders legs...

[Silver Ether]

all join in ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Giod0jrbmIk

[Cheezy]

Me too!

Was it tasty though?

Well kinda, I used conference pears which are far too sweet really, so I put in a load of mallic acid to get bite and adjust the pH.

The flavour was good, very clear uncoloured, but it still lacked that natural bite from a high tannin pear.

And I'm a bit of a quaffer. I like to be able to quaff in quantity. And after the first pint my ears went bright red (seriously!) , and I began to loose the power of speach. I managed another half pint then chucked the rest of the bottle. Just too much on one night.

[Lord Azrael]

Wow! Can we place orders?
I'm about to investigate this year's Elderberry wine, that's usually quite potent too....