jbolte1976

Recipes 

Hey everyone,

I'm making my first batch of hard cider. Nothing to exciting, just 4 gallons of "Old Orchard" 100% apple juice from Walmart. (I think it was $3.34 / gallon)

I'm going to use a Wyeast Cider yeast.

The specific gravity of the juice is about 1.045 which, according to the table I found will give me just under 6% abv.

My question is do you guys think I'd improve the final taste by adding some brown sugar, raisons, etc to the primary? Or just keep it simple?

BTW, My plan is to keep it in the primary for about 2 months then bottle and then "try" to wait 5 - 6 months before I taste.

Thanks,

Jason

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Home Brewery Kits

Freezeblade

Recipes 

Do you want your cider dry, or slightly sweeter? Both the WhiteLabs and WYeast products will leave a very dry cider, not as dry as a wine yeast will, but pretty close. Nottingham and s-04 are favorites of mine for ciders due to ease of use, and they always end up tasty. If you're set on liquid yeasts, try WLP023, burton ale, or any other english strain, I love the fruitiness they leave in cider.

Also, skip the brown sugar, raisons, or any other adjuncts at this point, unless you're talking about adding tannins/acid (see recipe in my pulldown), keep the recipe simple and low-grav.

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Primary:Russian River Redemption clone, Kelly's Melomel, Graham's English Cider 22-23
Clearing:Apple Wine
Aging:Public House Dry Stout, Procrastination Porter, Mr. Brown Ale, Westvleteren 12 Clone, Mead, Duvel Clone, Graham's English Cider 6-21, Belgian Draak Strong Ale, Fig Melomel, Acerglyn, Restorative Tonic Metheglyn

SisterThelonious

Recipes 

It just depends on the final flavor you are going for. If you want it sweeter than add the brown sugar, otherwise you'll get a dryer finish. You can always back sweeten if it's to dry, so this might be a safe option. I made my first batch of cider a few months ago and am enjoying it from the keg on these hot summer days...but I am definately looking for ways to improve my recipe.

wreckinball9

Recipes 

wyeast sweet mead yeast 4184 usually finishes around 1.010 for me. (5 gallons cider plus 2 lbs light brown sugar.) fement in the low 60s or as cool as possible and you will love the resulting sweet finish.

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You must love this country more than I love a cold beer on a hot Christmas morning. - Homer S.


And how is education supposed to make me feel smarter? Besides, every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain. Remember when I took that home winemaking course, and I forgot how to drive?- Homer S.

Nurmey

Recipes 

Sugar, any kind, will make it dryer. My personal favorite is just juice and yeast.

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