Raspberry and Cherry 1 Gallon Test batches 2018
Getting fresh apple juice is right around the corner. I like to make some test batches b/4 I make 5 or 10 gallons of hard cider just to see what I want to make for the year. I picked up some apple juice from the store an 1 can of old orchard Raspberry concentrate and 1 can of old orchard cherry concentrate. The concentrate is to help add more sugar and flavor. With the concentrates you have a wide range to pick from so you could make a lot of test batches.
You want to let the concentrate sit out until it room temp. So you might want to sit this out in the morning and then start making the hard cider later in the day. Once you are ready put your concentrate in 1st. Doing this will make sure we can get all the concentrate in. When we add the apple juice this will help mix the concentrate in.
Once you have everything mixed take a gravity reading so you know your starting point. If you want a higher ABV hard cider you could add sugar. For both test batches I use US-05 for the yeast. Remember to label each test batch so you know when you started it and what your gravity is.