First Cider... "Katie's Strawberry Apple Goodness"

**wolfstar** · 04-23-2009, 07:28 AM

Went over to Whole Foods and picked up 5 gallons of "Mrs Gooch's" apple juice, complete with 1 gal. glass carboys. These were the last 5 gallons they had at $5.99. Here is the recipe I am using....

48 oz. R.O. filtered well water
3 lbs. dextrose
2 pkgs Red Star Montrechet
3 gallons--minus 48 oz-- "Mrs. Gooch's" apple juice

Dissolve 3 lbs. dextrose in 48 oz. water heated to 170 degrees. Add apple juice, cool to 76 degrees. I pre-hydrated the yeast in 1/2 cup of (R.O. filtered well) water with 1 tblsp of dextrose when the applejuice was added to dextrose/water. Piched yeast at 76 degrees. We re-used the glass carboys that the apple juice came in for fermenting. Had a little bit left so I put it in a sanitized mason jar. I figure I can use this for hydrometer readings....Durring this process Katie (my wife) and I imbibed the 48 oz. of removed "Mrs Gooch's" with liberal amounts of E&J Brandy. Lubricates the process....

OG at pitch was 1.099
Potential ABV at pitch about %13

I hope I read the hydrometer right, first time reading one as I just bought it today.

Once it hits the target ABV I plan on racking it over 4 lbs. freshly stewed strawberrys, mixed with 1lb Mesquite Blossom Honey and 6 Tablespoons of Vanilla extract.
SWMBO likes a sweet drink.....

Meanwhile I also bottled my first hombrew tonight from a kit, so far nothing to be paranoid about ( no bad flavors/smells/growths/unidentified floating masses) so I think my first brew will be a success

I will keep y'all posted on the outcome.

**Cheeto** · 04-23-2009, 08:25 AM

Post pictures.......

That sounds really tasty, maybe a summer drink

thanks for sharing
and please keep us updated

**Brandon O** · 04-23-2009, 06:34 PM

That's a crap load of sugar, might be good in a year or two. Definately should wait a year after bottling to drink.

Also, there are some really good clean fermenting wine yeasts out there and montrachet isn't one of them. premier cuvee comes to mind.

Montrachet lends flavors of cheap wine in my opinion.

Another point of note:

Don't use vanilla extract in this. Real vanilla bean works so much better in any type of brewing.

Cut a big vanilla bean, say 7-8" long in half long ways and put it in the secondary. Let that sit for a couple months and you will have a really good vanilla flavor. If you really want to beef up the vanilla flavor you can use two but I would assume in a strawberry apple combination you want it to be a background flavor and not a main flavor.

**wolfstar** · 04-24-2009, 05:54 AM

I get what you are saying about the vanilla...I actually cook for a living, we perfer to use actual vannilla beans in recipes, slicing lengthwise, scraping and steaping. When you say it might be ready in in a year or two, are you refering to the alchoholic bite? Or are there other flavors that you think might need to mellow out. this is only my second attempt at brewing something, so I am still trying to get a handle on the chemestry of the process....thanks for the input!

**IXVolt** · 04-24-2009, 11:46 PM

From what I've read the more sugar, the longer it takes to mellow out the 'harshness' in the cider. My first cider is still in the secondary, so I can't speak first hand, just what I've read about it my trolling the net.

scinerd3000 · 04-24-2009, 11:51 PM

Congrads on your first cider. In the future you probably didn't need the second packet of yeast. Aging will tone down the alcohol bite and let the undercurrent of apple and strawberry come through. Do yourself a favor and wait at least 4-6 months before cracking any of the bottles, but i would put a few to the side for years down the road. My first cider was edworts apfelwein and i found a bottle from a few years back and my god is is better. I used Montrachet and it befitted MASSIVELY from aging. Honestly i wouldn't be surprised if you taste some funk from the yeast at first.... +1 for the vanilla bean or you can go get the paste. either works better than extract

**wolfstar** · 04-25-2009, 04:45 AM

Thank you for the input....we plan on bottling in 1.75 ltr E&J Brandy bottles (screw top) we seem to have alot of those around

MikeBlick · 04-25-2009, 01:28 PM

Id bottle in wine or beer bottles. Screw tops don't have a great seal for aging.

Freezeblade · 04-25-2009, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeBlick

Id bottle in wine or beer bottles. Screw tops don't have a great seal for aging.

if you dip 'em in wax they should be fine

**wolfstar** · 05-01-2009, 05:40 AM

SG tonight was 1.018...tomorrow we will rack over strawberries and honey, Katie enjoyed her namesake from the hydrometer....she likes the alchoholic burn