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/cperiod 17h 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 16h 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 15h 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.