Wow! Cider is delicious!

storunner13 · 03-26-2010, 07:05 AM

So, back in mid-January, I decided to brew some hard cider. This is my second brewing experience (the first being Mead...which is still conditioning). I bought 5.5 gallons of fresh-pressed cider from a local orchard, bumped up the OG to 1.050 with just a little bit of local honey, threw in some crushed campden, rehydrated some Lalvin-1118, and made a small (too small, I now realize) starter. 36 hours later, I pitched the yeast. After 13 days, I racked to a carboy, and after 2 months of fermentation and dropping to a FG of 1.003 (6.1%?!), I bottled it.

Now, I was expecting the cider to be pretty good, if not good, but just after 1.5 weeks in the bottle, I popped one in the fridge to open it tonight. And much to my surprise, the cider is probably the most delicious cider I've ever had! The smell is a bit sour, but the taste certainly isn't. There's a bit of a warming alcohol taste at first, and then a good dry cider taste, finishing with the taste of fresh, sweet apples!

I'm super excited to let the cider condition a bit longer in the bottles (perhaps mellowing the slight alcohol taste?) and savor my success. The only bummer is that I only brewed 5 gallons!

wgentzel · 03-26-2010, 07:33 AM

Cheers on your first cider. I made my first one recently for a party. I almost panicked because I couldn't find useable apple juice until the last minute (I live in South Korea). Still, even with only a week to ferment and a night to force carb, the cider was delicious (though not as dry as I would like it). Came out around 5.2% and only a little cloudy. The party goers didn't drink it all and now, after only another week, it's crystal clear. Good stuff

**Yooper** · 03-26-2010, 12:37 PM

Did you bottle in beer bottles, to handle carbonation? I ask because the EC1118 should ferment the cider dry, to .990 or so. It's possible that if it was kept cold it would halt fermentation, but I'm not sure that your cider was done when you bottled. Just being overly cautious, but I wanted to mention that.

LadyJ171 · 03-31-2010, 11:44 PM

I am going to attempt my very first brewing experience on Friday and I liked the way this sounds so easy. I also dont drink beer so cider it is for me! Can you please pass along the recipe for this so that I can make it up this weekend? As well as any pointers you would give to a "baby" brewer! Thank you so much!

Julie

Teromous · 04-01-2010, 12:31 AM

Cider is great. I make still cider and prefer drinking it over wine because it has a much more floral aroma and the flavors can be very complex. It's also great when it's cold outside to heat it up with some spices and make a mulled cider.

storunner13 · 04-05-2010, 06:18 AM

The FG held at 1.003 for 2 weeks at 70˚, so I thought that it should be finished. Should I still be worried? It is in beer bottles.

As for the recipe, I bought freshly pressed cider in the winter, but you can make it from preservative free apple cider bought from the store. Here's a link to EdWort's Apfelwein which is quite popular. You can adjust the sugar to change the final alcohol content.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f25/man-i-love-apfelwein-14860/