truekey

Recipes 

Doing a test gallon of cider after reading this forum. Gravity of apple juice was 1.050, added a can of concentrate which only boosted the SG to 1.060. Still, I didn't want to run out to the store to get another can so I added half a tsp of yeast nutrient, shook, and added half a package of Nottingham ale yeast.

I will post pictures as this experiment goes further...

Thanks to everyone for posting their recipes and ideas.

Pickled_Pepper

Recipes 

Sounds good, truekey. Let us know how it turns out.

BadgerBrigade

Recipes 

First batches........ It's like popping the cherry...

__________________
Bottled: Pippin Cider & Hopped Cider
Bottled : Apple/Mapple
Bottled: Pear & Sweet Pear
Bottled: Apple Cedar Cherry
On Deck: Graff and a Dry Hopped Cider

truekey

Recipes 

Been 24 hours or so and it's bubbling every couple seconds from my blowoff tube. No crazy fermentation. I added another 1/2 tsp of yeast nutrient which brings it to the recommended 1 tsp per gallon. It fizzled like crazy when I dropped it into my primary.

I definitely love beer but the idea of pitching yeast into some juice and getting a gallon of home made alcohol is awesome compared to my 4-5 hr brew day.

BadgerBrigade

Recipes 

That is why I am in love with cider! You can use almost any fruit at it doesn't have to be sweet...

__________________
Bottled: Pippin Cider & Hopped Cider
Bottled : Apple/Mapple
Bottled: Pear & Sweet Pear
Bottled: Apple Cedar Cherry
On Deck: Graff and a Dry Hopped Cider

truekey

Recipes 

Crazy fermentation now, cider looks like when you open a fresh bottle of seltzer.

I was considering adding some mulling spices from my secondary, or just using some ginger. Question:

Can I drop spices/ginger into the secondary, or should I make an extract by boiling out ingredients or having it sit in hard liquor?

xjbobbin82

Recipes 

I started my first 1 gallon batch of cider last night. Woke up this morning and the airlock was bubbling every 10-15 seconds about 12 hrs after pitching. Can't wait to get home from work and see how it's going now!

Can anyone recommend when to rack to secondary? OG 1.065 champagne yeast and 1 tsp. nutrient. I want to bottle carb and I'm not all that worried about clearing or sweetness

__________________
Bloop...Bloop...Bloop...Zzzz :)

BadgerBrigade

Recipes 

Rack to secondary three weeks or months after....
Most of the time.
But some guys rack as soon as fermentation is finished and sometimes that can be as quick as two weeks.....
If I were you I'd let it sit in there for about three weeks and take a reading with your hydrometer and see where it is, if it's done rack it

__________________
Bottled: Pippin Cider & Hopped Cider
Bottled : Apple/Mapple
Bottled: Pear & Sweet Pear
Bottled: Apple Cedar Cherry
On Deck: Graff and a Dry Hopped Cider

alexroussos

Recipes 

I've done this both ways -- dropping into secondary and making tea/extract -- with ginger, cardamom, pink peppercorns, cinnamon sticks and orange peel (separate batches).

Generally, I've preferred the tea/extract method to just dropping into the secondary as I found it to give a much cleaner, fresher flavor. Dropping them into the carboy seemed to extract less aroma and make the spices taste a bit stale or musty.

Soaking spices in vodka for a week seems to do the trick and I think it captures and preserves more aroma than steeping in boiling water. Boiling water also tends to extract some harsher flavors in my opinion.

alexroussos

Recipes 

A word of caution, since you mention this is your first batch and may be relatively new to brewing as well: remember that with cider, your FG may be lower than 1.000 due to the all sugars in apple juice being fermentable and alcohol being less dense than water. I rushed to bottle my first batch and had a lot of explosions. It's not uncommon to hit an FG of 0.996, so just make sure your fermentation is really complete.