Guava Cider
I’m going to give a Guava Cider a shot this weekend because my wife loves Guava juice and I’ve got an extra fermenter lying around that I can clean and sanitize on my brew day this weekend. Here’s what I’m planning on doing:
4 Gallons of Pasturized Apple Cider
4 Containers of Guava Nectar (2 for fermentation and 2 for backsweetening)
Depending on how sweet it is after I add 2 containers of the Guava Nectar, I may throw in a container of apple juice concentrate or a little more Guava
Nottingham Ale YeastThis will be the first cider I’ve kegged, so I should be able to kill off the yeast with Potassium Metabisulfite and Potassium Sorbate and then backsweeten and carb.
If anyone has any experience with slightly sweet ciders, let me know if anything here looks crazy. Thanks!
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This turned out AMAZING! Way better than expected.
Fermentation took off immediately (it was going crazy in just a few hours), and fermented completely dry in about a week. I let it sit for about 3 weeks before moving it to a keg and beginning the stabilization process so that I could backsweeten it. After that was done, I added 2 cans of concentrated apple juice and 2 more containers of Guava Nectar. I shook up the keg and let it sit for a week to let the flavors blend and carbonate.
It wasn’t terrible, though. Unfortunately, it wasn’t great either. It came out of the tap like a milkshake. It was a thick, opaque goo with an off-putting murky pink color. It smelled kind of odd. I was nervous to take a taste, but went for it. It was WAY too sweet. Like drinking a vaguely apple, vaguely guava sugar syrup that definitely had alcohol in it.
Two weeks later we had friends over and offered to let them try it. I pulled the first pint, which was exactly like the one I had before. When I got to the second one, though, it suddenly came out an attractive clear-pink color, with a nice body and carbonation. We took a taste – it was fantastic. I guess I did over sweeten it some, but luckily most of it settled at the bottom of the keg. So, if you make this stuff, I highly recommend letting it sit in the keg for at least 3-4 weeks to let it mellow before tasting it, and make sure you mix in what you use to backsweeten it very well. Next time I make it I’m going to use a little less apple juice concentrate. Overall, super happy with it!
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