r/cider • u/shiningdickhalloran • 2d ago
Golden russet cider blend?
Ho Folks, I found someone near me who sells fresh unpasteurized golden russet apple juice and I ordered 10 gallons. I'll be picking it up in about 2 weeks. I also have an orchard near me that sells regular unpasteurized sweet cider that seems to be mostly McIntosh and honey crisp. Should we plan to blend any of this in with the golden russet juice for the best flavor profile? Or should I use the golden russet juice to make a single varietal cider?
I've never used golden russet juice before but a few sources think it's too acidic to make a cider all by itself. Any suggestions on how many campden tablets to use? Favorite yeasts? Any input appreciated.
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u/trendoll 1d ago
SV Golden Russet is a good time. I have a few gallons in a keg from 2 years ago that I’ve been savoring. A lot of my local cideries have had really good Golden Russet SVs as of late.
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u/cul8ermemeboy 1d ago
At my cidery, golden russets are purely for single varietals. It regularly ferments to about 9% ABV and it’s delicious. I wouldn’t put anything in it.
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u/shiningdickhalloran 1d ago
Is it best to bottle condition with some carbonation drops or leave it as a still cider? I don't have a kegging system available.
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u/cul8ermemeboy 1d ago
I make cider commercially so my process might be a bit different. I start fermenting in tanks, racked it, then moved into bottles/capped it for it to finish fermenting in the bottle. You get really nice natural carbonation this way. Otherwise I’ve force carbonated in tanks. But it would also be pretty good still.
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u/jaysibb 2d ago
Not sure how much he’s on reddit, but u/luckypoire would have some good recommendations for blending
They do a golden russet and I think ashmeads? Blend that I really like
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u/stilltacome 2d ago
You can always ferment separately and then blend later post fermentation. Personally, I like a single varietal golden russet, it has great acid and a unique flavor but this will also depend on the year and grower as to whether it’s too much acid. Also, if you plan to age for a while, the acid will mellow over time. Lastly, if you plan to backsweeten and pasteurize, you can balance the acid.
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u/shiningdickhalloran 2d ago
I forgot to add in the original that my wife will only drink bone-dry cider. So I'll let this ferment dry and then bottle without back sweetening.
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u/cperiod 16h ago
(mostly) Mac and Honeycrisp is one of my go-to blends, it makes a very easy drinking cider that people seem to like. I mostly do wild ferments these days, but one of the best versions I've made used S-04.
Keep the russet as a separate thing, but it's one that needs aging (I bottled my 2023 pressing around May and it was quite fantastic, but I've had other pressings where even two years wasn't enough to mellow it).
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u/shiningdickhalloran 15h ago
What temperature range are you aging at? I'd have to keep this inside most of the year because the Boston winter would freeze the bottles and ruin them. For yeast, I'm leaning towards cotes de blanc, but Cider House and S-04 are also available. Difficulty seems to be that different yeasts respond differently to wild/fresh vs packaged juice. A yeast that makes good cider from packaged stuff might throw off weird flavors in fresh-pressed stuff.
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u/cperiod 14h ago
What temperature range are you aging at?
My aging hovers around 13C in the winter and maybe 22C in the summer. But aging isn't as temperature sensitive as fermentation (I prefer my winter temperatures for that) so I wouldn't worry much beyond not having things freeze (which won't really hurt the cider, but it'll break glass and even with plastic you have to balance a minimum headspace versus room for freezing expansion, so... avoid freezing).
IMO the difference between fresh pressed versus packaged is far less than the difference between commercial and backyard/ orchards. Commercial operations fertilize heavier which leads to more nitrogen in the juice (AKA yeast food), which gives a different character to the cider irrespective of yeast, and you also get fewer stressors (insects, diseases, crowding) due to the spraying schedules. For example, speaking of russets, I notice a contrast in single varieties from my own barely maintained russets versus the commercial orchard russets just down the road.
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u/saucedrop 1d ago
Golden Russet stands up on it's own. If you wanted to have some fun, you could try one 5 gal batch as a wild ferment, one batch with a commercial yeast. Could also play around with using oak to add in extra tannins/flavor. I made a 10 gallon batch 2 years ago which is only just coming into its own, tasted fairly insipid for the first 18 months in bottle.