agrtek

Recipes 

First Post, first try.

Ingredients:

• Tree Top Apple Juice - 4 Gallons
• Brown Sugar - 2lbs
• Yeast - Lalvin EC-1118

Apple Juice starting gravity: 1.052
Gravity after Brown Sugar: 1.068 (Correction: @ 106.5 degree that's 1.075)

I rehydrated the yeast as directed by the package (Between 104 and 109 degrees) and pitched it back into the apple juice.

It looks like I have a fine fermentation going on (4 hours later).

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Wish me luck!

Jesse17

Recipes 

Good Luck!

agrtek

Recipes 

Thank you!

At first my house smelled like beer, now it has a very distinct apple odor

24 hours Later

This is fun.

Jesse17

Recipes 

I started my first batch 9 days ago. Your recipe is verry simular to mine:

4 Gal. Tree Top Apple Cider
1 Gal. Florida's Natural Apple Juice (my little down didn't have any more cider)
2 LBS. Brown Sugar
1 packet Red Star Pasteur Champagne (came with my starter kit)

It's going will so far. I think I will check the S.G. for the first time tonight.

Question: Did you add the brown sugar directly to the room temp. juice? Did it desolve well? I heated some cider to 120F. to help it desolve, I didn't know if room temp. would work or not.

agrtek

Recipes 

I heated 1 1/2 galloons to about 120 or so, mixed the brown sugar there and then blended it with the rest of the juice. It disolved great in the hot juice, didn't try at room temp though.

Jesse17

Recipes 

Ok, it's the end of day 9 since I pitched. I just checked my S.G. it has dropped from 1.062 to 1.001.

Now for the good part, using a sanatized tumbler glass, dipped out a glass. It's very cloudy, and smells like wine, but with a off smell in it. Tastes like dry yet some how rounded at the same time. I was disappointed to find no apple taste at all. It was also quite carbonated. Then I put the glass in the fridgeto chill. After 20 min., the off oder was gone, and it smelled like wine. Still carbonated, but now tasted like a white wine, but more rounded than the stuff my aunt drinks out of a box.

So, now I'm wondering is this the taste that I can expect after aging? I knew with the brown sugar and champaine yeast to expect it to be dryer than I would like, but I was hoping for some apple flavor to it. I don't think I would guess it was made from apples if I hadn't made it.

agrtek

Recipes 

Hmmmm, you could try adding an apple flavoring to it, sounds usefull.

To be fair though you are using a Champagne yeast known for it's dryness.

Maybe boil down some cider and mix it after fermentation has been stopped?

Jesse17

Recipes 

Would I still be able to age it, or would the cider just get used as carbonation? I don't think fermentation ever really stops as long as the abv hasn't gotten high enough to kill the yeast, and there is any source of sugar left.

agrtek

Recipes 

Stop the fermentation?

http://www.eckraus.com/wine-making-stop-fermentation.html

__________________
Primary: Apple Cider
Secondary: Empty
Bottled: Nothing
Drinking: I tend to prefer mixed drinks, and I'm not much of a beer fan, I figure this will change once I am in control of beverage being made

Jesse17

Recipes 

I thank you for the link, but that link says there is no good way of 'stopping' fermentation. I don't think you can do anything at this point other than back flavor just before drinking with concentrate, sweeten with a non-fermentable sugar (ie. Splenda), for flavore with an 'extract' flavoring.

Any other suggestions?