apple cider

[steve45ca]

Hi all, new to the forum but I thought I'd share my cider recipe with everyone. I use graves apple juice when it's on sale. I use 21-22L of juice, 1kg of brown sugar and coopers ale yeast.... everyone thats tasted it, loved it. I also have a youtube channel and all the comments I've received on this recipe has been positive.

One of these days I will use real cider and see how it turns out. I also have a holiday cider recipe that turned out fantastic:

3.5L of apple juice
1 cup of brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
1 packet of coopers ale yeas

Warm (not boil) the apple juice and ingredients for 10 mins stirring well, then Strain the undissolved nutmeg and cinnamon into a growler before adding the yeast. A friend of mine made a 5 gallon batch (he multiplied the ingredients by 5) and it turned out just as good

[homebrewcrew]

I was reading about that and decided not to use the yeast nutrient but so far I have had to change the airlock water twice, from so much activity. So it looks like everything is going very well so far.

[papercrane]

I was looking for some information on cider & yeast nutrients when I found this gem: http://www.cider.org.uk/part3.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Traditional cider-makers used to hang a leg of mutton or a side of beef in the fermenting vat to boost the nutrient levels. The meat broke down slowly in the acid juice, releasing soluble amino nitrogen which the yeast could use for growth. The supposed requirement of a few dead rats in every vat is a more colourful manifestation of the same idea!

I'm sure that added an interesting flavour...

[XmonikerX]

I've made a couple batches recently using President's Choice Apple Cider and dry champagne yeast. It comes in 3L jugs for a little under $5. The OG of that cider is 1.050 and it's finished at 1.002 both times, so 7% ABV.

Steps:
- Empty the jugs into a large pot, simmer (not boil!) on the stove for 45mins.
- Cool to 23C by immersing pot in ice water bath.
- Transfer to carboy/fermentor and aerate.
- Rehydrate yeast and pitch.
- After 2 weeks, rack to bottling bucket, add priming sugar (4.5g/L dissolved in 1cup boiling water) and bottle.
- 7-14days later, she's ready to drink!

Is that really all there is involved in making it?

[akr71]

I was looking for some information on cider & yeast nutrients when I found this gem: http://www.cider.org.uk/part3.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Traditional cider-makers used to hang a leg of mutton or a side of beef in the fermenting vat to boost the nutrient levels. The meat broke down slowly in the acid juice, releasing soluble amino nitrogen which the yeast could use for growth. The supposed requirement of a few dead rats in every vat is a more colourful manifestation of the same idea!

I'm sure that added an interesting flavour...

dead rat cider

I've made a couple batches recently using President's Choice Apple Cider and dry champagne yeast. It comes in 3L jugs for a little under $5. The OG of that cider is 1.050 and it's finished at 1.002 both times, so 7% ABV.

Steps:
- Empty the jugs into a large pot, simmer (not boil!) on the stove for 45mins.
- Cool to 23C by immersing pot in ice water bath.
- Transfer to carboy/fermentor and aerate.
- Rehydrate yeast and pitch.
- After 2 weeks, rack to bottling bucket, add priming sugar (4.5g/L dissolved in 1cup boiling water) and bottle.
- 7-14days later, she's ready to drink!

Is that really all there is involved in making it?

I fail to see why you even need to heat it. I dumped all mine in a bucket (aerating at the same time) and pitched the yeast and walked away. Its still quite tasty 3 years later.

[jeffsmith]

I fail to see why you even need to heat it. I dumped all mine in a bucket (aerating at the same time) and pitched the yeast and walked away. Its still quite tasty 3 years later.

When I made mine, I heated about 3 quarts of the cider/juice to make it easier to dissolve the sugar I added, but definitely no simmering. If you're not adding anything else to the cider, I'd agree with Andy, I don't see any need to heat it.

[jtmwhyte]

If you're interested in something different Google Edwort's Apfelvein. It's a German hard cider which is much drier than commercial North American ciders and carries an 8.5-9% abv and is simple to make. I made a few batches and have one on the go now. The only downside is the 2-3 months on the yeast cake.

[elreplica]

I picked up a 23 litre jug of pear/apple sweet cider (80/20) from Brian down on the Boates farm on the Thanksgiving Friday. The OG was lowish - around 1043 and so I bumped it to just over 1050 with 500 g of dextrose. I pitched a sachet of Nottingham and within 12 hours it was working fervently at 66F. It's 10 days later and just slowing down at a room temperature of 61F. There's still some krausen but not nearly as much as 3-4 days back. I'm wondering about the clearing...has anyone had any issues with clearing in bottles? I want to Grolsch bottle it rather than keg it. I've used kiesosol and gelatin in beer and cold crashed many ales and lagers. I could plate filter but don't wNt to remove residual yeast required fir bottle priming. Any thoughts out here in Brewnoser land?

[RossBee]

Get yourself some Bentonite at your local wine kit store, pre-packaged to carboy size. Rack, add the bentonite, store cool and dark and leave as long as you think you need to.

[James]

Is that really all there is involved in making it?

Dave, mine was that simple, I tarted mine up a bit with a bit of molasses and some chai tea then I put it in the jug to work; 3 weeks ago though...I can't wait for the damned thing to stop working so I can bottle it! There was no lag time, within 20-30 mins those yeast bugs were working like mad. The only yeast I had at the time was Belle Saison; this thing is still vigorously bubbling away. I forget what the OG was...but it was a bit high.

[saosborne]

Is that really all there is involved in making it?

Dave, mine was that simple, I tarted mine up a bit with a bit of molasses and some chai tea then I put it in the jug to work; 3 weeks ago though...I can't wait for the damned thing to stop working so I can bottle it! There was no lag time, within 20-30 mins those yeast bugs were working like mad. The only yeast I had at the time was Belle Saison; this thing is still vigorously bubbling away. I forget what the OG was...but it was a bit high.

Let us know how it turned out. the last batch that I made I used belle saison with my usual recipe ( pc combination of pc apple juice and rosemount macintosh, dextrose to achieve 1.060 grated ginger and yeast nutrient). It took 3 cans of frozen apple juice for back sweetening and 7 months before it started tasting decent. if im in a hurry i can usually be drinkinging it after a month

[James]

Let us know how it turned out. the last batch that I made I used belle saison with my usual recipe ( pc combination of pc apple juice and rosemount macintosh, dextrose to achieve 1.060 grated ginger and yeast nutrient). It took 3 cans of frozen apple juice for back sweetening and 7 months before it started tasting decent. if im in a hurry i can usually be drinkinging it after a month

...ok, I'm a bit worried now...

[jacinthebox]

I've done a 1.055 cider...used ale yeast, and back sweetened with 2 cans of frozen apple juice conc.
I let it clear a bit in the carboy then bottled in 4L spring water jugs (or wine bottles if I really want to hate my life)...
I've never really worries about clearing it...it tastes good the is way it...I've carb'd it and left it flat. both great.

The best cider I've made was one when I added a few pounds of frozen peaches to the secondary and left til packaging....awesome stuff, apples and peach work really well together. We named it Dicken's. Dicken's Cider

[Keith]

I'm stealing the name if I ever make a cider, or Jeff's Slider in Cider lol

[jtmwhyte]

I just picked up a bunch of mulled cider at the local Superstore. It was 1.75 for 3 litres so I figure I've got nothing to lose

[James]

I just picked up a bunch of mulled cider at the local Superstore. It was 1.75 for 3 litres so I figure I've got nothing to lose

Sounds awesome, I've seen that stuff. let us know how it turns out! For a buck 75 I'd give that a try!
It's been a little over a month, my chai apple cider has finally stopped working. I've got the odd bubble every 30 seconds or so, wow this was active as hell! Time to get it in the bottles! I hope the Belle Saison yeast works out, next time I'm going to try another strain to see what flavour profiles I perfer; I might lager the next one. I typically buy my cider from Elderkin's...unfortunately when they make sweet cider (I think) they throw in what ever apples have fallen to the ground or what ever is about to go bad so the flavour is always different.

[Halifax_Jeff]

My wife picked me up a bunch of 3L jugs of PC apple cider for 50 cents a piece. I have some us-04 sitting around and I'm wondering if it's worth a go or should I just forget it and get the champagne yeast most sources suggest?

[LiverDance]

I use s04 on the cider that NG brings in from the valley. I've used other yeasts but I like this one the best


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[Halifax_Jeff]

I use s04 on the cider that NG brings in from the valley. I've used other yeasts but I like this one the best


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That's what I was hoping to hear from someone. I'm going to try it. I have another smaller batch of spiced cider with a champagne yeast so I'll get a general idea of the difference. Thanks

[sleepyjamie]

I'm hang US05 but also trying out belle saison and yeast 3787 along with some dry hopping using galaxy


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[James]

I tried the first bottle of Chai Apple Cider last night since I bottled it...I was surprised! It was drinkable (at least). I was worried about the Belle Saison; I won't use it again, there is a bitterness and a bit of funk but it's not horrible. I was thinkig the Chai might give it a nice "mulled" quality but the tea gave it an astringent aftertaste that I don't like. I used the recipie from this thread (subing in chai for regular tea) "http://1.hidemyass.com/ip-1/encoded/Oi8 ... I4YjRhYmM2" my OG ended up being 1.066, after more than a month my FG was a dead flat 1.000 (I took it 3 seperate times to make sure), beersmith calculates that at being about 8.6% and after one bottle last night it sure is pretty boozey! It's been in the bottles a week, I should let it sit a bit longer in hopes the flavours will mellow a bit and the heat of the alcohol will dissapate.

I keep thing I need to name this, as I name most of my brews...something like "Chai Pig, an Imperialistic Bastard of a Cider" or something along that line...I can't wait for BBrianBoogie and Dave XmonikerX to give it a try.