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  • Unicorn blood

    So I guess I've been kind of obsessed with brewing a little bit lately. Used to be I'd spend pretty much all my free time browsing here, or facebook or Tas' FoTW forum, but lately I've been adding Home Brew Talk in the mix and planning brews more than smoking. Hopefully once the weather turns better again that'll even out some.

    But anyway, I found this recipe for Unicorn Blood. It's an apple/cherry cider, and seemed pretty simple. I had never tried making a cider before so I thought let's give it a shot.

    the original recipe was for 5 gallons and was 7 parts TreeTop 3 apple blend and 1 part R.W. Knutsen's Just Black Cherry juice, pitched with ale yeast.

    So, my only equipment right now is for 1 gallon batches, so I picked up 2 half gallons of tree top and 1 quart of the cherry juice. My brother happened to be going to the brew supply store (he's making a pea pod beer from a 1880s recipe book, but that's a whole different thread) so I tagged along and picked up a vial of yeast.

    On Friday (3/17) I mixed up 3 quarts of the apple juice with 1 quart of cherry, so a little heavier on the cherry than the original. In the recipe thread there was lots of talk of adding sugar to get the gravity up and make it a little higher in alcohol, but I measured the gravity of this mix and it was 1.060 already so I didn't feel like I needed to add more. With where I'm planning on taking this it should finish about 6.5% ABV which is plenty for me!

    I went ahead an pitched the yeast and put it in the closet to get going. It took about 24 hours to see any activity but then it took off rather actively. Plenty of gunk coming out the blow off tube.

    On Monday I switched out the blow off tube for a proper air lock and it's still bubbling away about 3 or 4 bubbles a minute.

    I'm planning on a slightly sweet, lightly carbed, bottled cider, so I'm planning on letting this go until the bubble slow to about 1 a minute and then start checking the gravity, with an eye to finish at around 1.010 gravity. At that point I'll add some priming sugar (maybe honey) and bottle, and give it a few days to carb up. Once the carbonization is where I want it, I'll stove top pasteurize the bottles to kill the yeast to keep them from further fermenting the sugars and making bottle bombs.

    Like I said this is my first try at cider so we'll see how it turns out. Wish me luck.

    No pictures yet, I'll get some when I get ready to bottle. So far the cider has a nice deep red color, and the name Unicorn Blood is pretty fitting based on color.
    Mike
    Life In Pit Row

  • #2
    Be lookin for the finish!
    Mark
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    "Likes smokey old pool rooms, clear mountain mornins. Little warm puppies, children and girls of the night"?
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    • #3
      It was suggested to me that instead of trying to stop at a certain gravity, I should let it ferment all the way out, since with the ale yeast it probably won't go all the way dry, then sweeten it to taste and bottle. I might go that route rather than trying to nail 1.010 sg. It has the additional benefit of letting more trub settle out for a clearer cider too. Still mulling that over but it sounds pretty good to me.
      Mike
      Life In Pit Row

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      • #4
        “Stove top pasteurize”? Hmm not familiar with that one. I just used to use HD bottles

        Hmm- another application for a SV machine I bet. :{)
        In God I trust- All others pay cash...
        Check out the Mad Hunky and products at https://madhunkymeats.com or https://www.facebook.com/MadHunkyMeats
        Lang 60D, The Beast, 18 and 22 WSM, Brinkmann Backroads trailer, Weber 22 Kettle, gutted MB burning watts

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        • #5
          Originally posted by Richtee View Post
          “Stove top pasteurize”? Hmm not familiar with that one. I just used to use HD bottles

          Hmm- another application for a SV machine I bet. :{)
          yeah, I definitely need to start saving up for a SV, make several brewing tasks much easier. Not to mention the tasty food!

          Basically the stove top pasteurizing is getting a pot full of water up to about 190 degrees, putting the bottles in it and letting them soak long enough for the cider to get up to pasteurization temps. I think they figured it takes about 10 minutes or so. Actually it was less time, but they give it more to be sure. I don't know, there was a whole 135-page thread on the process on home brew talk. I don't have the actual numbers, but I think the theory is that at 170 (?) degrees the yeast dies in like 5 seconds, and the guy that came up with the process did some tests that it took like 7 minutes for the middle of a 12 oz bottle to get up to temp in a 190 bath, so go for 10 minutes to be sure. Just have to be careful that your bottles are not over- carbed or you get bombs.
          Last edited by PitRow; 03-23-2017, 12:57 PM.
          Mike
          Life In Pit Row

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          • #6
            there’s the beauty of SV. I’d wager 135 for an hour..or in that neck of the woods... prolly easier on the brew too.
            In God I trust- All others pay cash...
            Check out the Mad Hunky and products at https://madhunkymeats.com or https://www.facebook.com/MadHunkyMeats
            Lang 60D, The Beast, 18 and 22 WSM, Brinkmann Backroads trailer, Weber 22 Kettle, gutted MB burning watts

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Richtee View Post
              there’s the beauty of SV. I’d wager 135 for an hour..or in that neck of the woods... prolly easier on the brew too.
              Definitely a subject of much debate.

              This guy says he uses his sous vide to pasteurize the bottles at 141 for 15 minutes.
              http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=543708

              I'm just getting started in that thread so I don't know the whole story yet, but on the face of it, it seems like a rather short time. i know it's kind of apples to oranges but the FDA recommended time for pasteurizing milk at 145 is 30 minutes. Seems like something's off there.

              I think your idea of 135 (or even 140) for an hour sounds much better. But without a sous vide or something else to keep the temperature controlled I'm kind of stuck with something that will kill things quickly. At 161 the milk pasteurization time is only 15 seconds. Much more manageable for me to keep it at that temp for only 15 seconds than an hour.
              Mike
              Life In Pit Row

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              • #8
                Then again, I was just reading in that thread that long low heating causes the yeast to go into overdrive and produce more CO2 and increase the risk of bottle bombs, so killing them off quicker with higher temps is preferred. Ugh. So complicated.
                Mike
                Life In Pit Row

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                • #9
                  Ugh. Indeed. Well...the devil’s in the details and the gold’s within grasp.

                  Go git ‘em! :{)
                  In God I trust- All others pay cash...
                  Check out the Mad Hunky and products at https://madhunkymeats.com or https://www.facebook.com/MadHunkyMeats
                  Lang 60D, The Beast, 18 and 22 WSM, Brinkmann Backroads trailer, Weber 22 Kettle, gutted MB burning watts

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                  • #10
                    Well yesterday I had a little free time on my hands (for once) so I pulled a sample of the cider. The specific gravity was right at 1.010, which is where I was wanting to stop it, so that was great timing. Tasting the sample was a little under-whelming. Not a whole lot of flavor to it, which I suppose is to be expected. From what I understand the sugars in the juice are very fermentable by the yeast (unlike beer) and they will gobble up all they can and turn it into alcohol and CO2. Though at 1.010 gravity I did expect a little bit of sweetness. This was pretty dry and leaning towards wine, which again was not completely unexpected. There was just a hint of cherry to it.

                    Anyway, as planned, the next step is to sweeten it with some more cherry juice and some honey, then bottle it. Once it's been in bottles for a few days to carbonate, I'll attempt the stove-top pasteurization to kill the yeast and keep it from continuing to eat all the sugars again and make bottle bombs. However, I forgot to pick up more cherry juice at the store, so the carboy is currently in the garage trying to slow fermentation down as much as possible until I can get to the store and am able to bottle the cider. Hopefully that will be tomorrow or maybe Saturday.

                    More updates as they happen, and hopefully some pictures too.
                    Mike
                    Life In Pit Row

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                    • #11
                      confused - is this cider sweetened with cherry juice or cherry wine ?
                      Made In England - Fine Tuned By The USA
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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by curious aardvark View Post
                        confused - is this cider sweetened with cherry juice or cherry wine ?


                        Yes
                        Mike
                        Life In Pit Row

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                        • #13
                          I was finally able to bottle this tonight. Can't wait for it to carbonate a little bit it's pretty fantastic as is. I sweetened it with about a pint and a half of black cherry juice before bottling. This picture really doesn't do the color justice. It's a really nice deep red, much like a black cherry.


                          I was able to get 11 bottles, plus the half pint above that I couldn't suck up into the bottles. Current plan is to let them carb for 3 or 4 days then pasteurize to kill the yeast.
                          Mike
                          Life In Pit Row

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                          • #14
                            i'd try a gig of that...
                            Sunset Eagle Aviation
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                            • #15
                              I tried a bottle last night. Still pretty under-carbed. Had a few bubbles but they dissipated almost before I'd finished pouring. Will give it a couple more days then try again.
                              Mike
                              Life In Pit Row

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