Little Bit of Everything Cider

While I have retired from posting about my usual pipeline cider recipe, this one was a bit different and worth a post, if only because it is so, umm, adventurous.

I wanted to do an apple/grape mix, but the local Tesco doesn't have any 100% grape juice, not even from concentrate. Aldi always has it, but that's a little out of my way. Nah, I'll go with a replacement.

I grabbed the usual 1.5 liter carton of apple juice and a liter of 100% prune juice for some extra fruity fermentation potential. Prune juice is basically plum juice, right...?

Apple and Prune Juice

The rest of the usual suspects were assembled. I steeped and smashed up some sultanas (raisins) in hot water with a teabag. Demerara sugar and yeast nutrient were added and dissolved with some fresh hot water.

The Usual Suspects

Steeping and Mushing Sultanas

I remembered during the steeping that I had one more wild card ingredient ready. We had some more cheap crystallized honey, and as long as I was getting experimental, this honey was going in. I had to pour in some boiling water and microwave the jar to soften it up.

The Dark Horse

With the honey and sugar in place, I only had to mix it all together, pitch in the yeast, and shake to aerate.

Little Bit of Everything Cider

We'll give this one plenty of time to ferment out and clear up. The prune juice was more concentrated and cloudier than the apple juice, so this one might take some time. With an original gravity of 1.064, I would hope for a moderately strong cider/wine thing. The plan right now is to leave it still (not carbonated) for serving.

We'll see how it turns out...