5 Day Sweet Country Cider - Page 3

Apple_Jacker · 10-13-2011, 10:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pattycakes888

Ugh! i wish i saw this a few weeks ago, i was trying to find an quick and easy hard cider recipe....left it in the primary too long, ended up with super strong, smelly, cider....which if you can get over the smell taste like a very dry wine but gets you drunk within two glasses

This is exactly what happened to me last year! It smelled awful, like a weird yeast/cider vinegar smell, but the taste was tolerable and after drinking 1 bottle, you are feeling it

I wish I learned of this fast recipe 2 days ago! I just started 6 gallons of cider Tuesday night. I did the right thing this year and bought myself a hydrometer. My initial reading was 1.080. I have to wait until it gets all the way down close to 1.000???

Sharkeydude · 10-13-2011, 11:19 PM

You can wait till 1.000 or 1.004or5. Judging by your OG it should be a whopper by the time it gets to that point. Don't get too married to the hydrometer, just use it as a gauge and your taste buds as reconfirmation. That's what I do and it serves me well.
I used to brew a lot of beer but, the ingredients, for me, got too costly so, I'm a cider guy. Besides, this is done in a week and I'm buzzin' in the cave long before the beer is ready.

Apple_Jacker · 10-14-2011, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sharkeydude

You can wait till 1.000 or 1.004or5. Judging by your OG it should be a whopper by the time it gets to that point. Don't get too married to the hydrometer, just use it as a gauge and your taste buds as reconfirmation. That's what I do and it serves me well.
I used to brew a lot of beer but, the ingredients, for me, got too costly so, I'm a cider guy. Besides, this is done in a week and I'm buzzin' in the cave long before the beer is ready.

Well, if it is high in alcohol content, that definitely won't bother me as long as it tastes good. I'll rack it next Tuesday and see where I'm at with the taste.

TheCIASentMe · 10-15-2011, 12:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vnyand

I've read elsewhere that if you start out with pasteurized cider it actually gets vinegar-like after a couple months. Starting from unpasteurized supposedly produces cider that will store for a year.

Pretty sure I read it on a Northern Brewer forum. I can dig up the link if anyone is interested.

Vinegar flavors generally come from either too much oxygen during the brewing process or a bacterial infection not from your cider being pasteurized. Check the seals on your primary and sanitize more/better if this happens.

dclaflin · 10-19-2011, 08:16 PM

I am stuck! I had this in the primary for two days with no fermentation. I pitched the yeast again and after approximately 24 hrs still nothing. Any thoughts?

**SenorPepe** · 10-19-2011, 08:35 PM

Check your apple juice label for preservatives--sorbate I believe is used in juices. It should be 100% apple juice, or include ascorbic acid.

Sharkeydude · 10-19-2011, 09:05 PM

Check the chemicals in your juice first. Two yeast killers in juice are potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate. Yeast will not do their thing if these are present. I bought a jug the other day without noticing and nearly pitched my yeast. I stuck it in the fridge to use as a back sweetener later.
If the chemicals aren't there, then you may want to consider some yeast nutrient.

dclaflin · 10-19-2011, 11:43 PM

I am now getting some fermentation it is just really slow. Don't think it will be done in 3 days at this rate. Also I halved the recipe, not sure if that would effect it. Also I did use "100%" cider, not juice. Maybe they snuck some preservatives in there.

matthewjconnor · 10-20-2011, 04:55 AM

Just started my batch! I ended up using lalvin ec-1118 yeast, which I haven't used before. It sure did smell good when I was heating it up on the stove!

LTownLiquorPig · 10-29-2011, 02:45 PM

Going to throw this together in the morning.

1)Limited LHBS near buy, so I bought all 4 (yes, only 4) dry yeasts they had, Munton's active brewing yeast, Lalvin K1-V1116, Lalvin EC-1118 and Lalvin 71B-1122. Which would be most likely to get me a sweeter finished product?

2)I'm going to be using pasteurized canned apple juice in a 23 L carboy. Will that leave too much headroom or air in the vessel? Should I adjust up the recipe to 23L?

3)Any way to carb and pasteurize plastic pop/soda bottles? Or am I barking up the wrong tree?

Thanks for the input! OP, thanks for the recipe!

**UPDATE**

Threw it all together in a carboy this morning.

Problems:
Couldn't get OG to 1.076. Close to 1.061 at about 62* on the sticky thermometer on the carboy. I put in the prescribed 1.25 pounds brown sugar, added another 2 pounds, then a pound of white sugar, as I was out of brown at that point. Would the canned juice have less sugar than the cider? I used a pure apple juice with no additives a not from concentrate.

Pitched the Munton's yeast.

It's in the basement with a blow off valve set up right now, air temp down there about 64-65*.

Looked and smelled as I'd expected.