First time brewer.

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

LiamRick

New Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2010
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Location
Hertfordshire
Hi this is my first attempt at making cider and just thought id show you some pictures and get some tips on flavour! :mug:

I am simply making apple cider from a mixture of different apples from trees all over my allotment (not only my tree, but other people have donated). Mine is a dwarf pixie tree (which for some reason gives off ridiculous amounts of apples), but the other trees i didnt take the names of, which i wish i did because now i cant remember whos trees i got them off, but im sure half the batch is queen cox the majority of the rest pixie, and a few of who the hell knows. But anyway im making 5 gal of it.It had a primary fermentation of about two weeks until it stopped. I then racked it, left a little yeast in it, and now it has been on its secondary fermentation for about a month. Ive already added about 20oz of sugar to it but before i store it in a cool place to mature/ferment i want to know when + what to add to it to give it a nice flavour. I like dry cider (ironic i know seeing as it has 20oz of sugar) but %99 of the stories i have read of people trying to make natural dry cider with a nice apple tang to it has failed.

My favourite types of cider are thatchers, savanna, loads of different dry ciders...westons. Nice dry ciders with a crisp easy taste are my preferred, which i want to someday be able to immitate. So my question to you is, is there any chacne of converting my batch into that, or even close to any of those flavours would be an achievement for me.
 
Most commercial ciders go through a malolactic fermentation, which smooths the flavour but leaves the appleness.You can do one with culture or leave it in secondary till warmer weather and it will probably go through a wild mlf. A lot of the apple flavour comes from letting the apples ripen really well on the tree,so if your apples were very ripe you should be ok. Other wise, you're making a natural product, what you get is what you get, any additives are unlikely to improve it.
 
To clarify manticle's statement, adding sugar only increases the amount of alcohol you will have with the cider. Since you were using actual fresh apples, that was kind of blasphemy. More alcohol makes it harder to taste.

People want apple flavors in their cider, yet don't expect grape flavors in their wine. Just not going to happen. If you want a bit of apple flavor, ferment dry and add a little bit of juice back. However, it will not be dry then.

If I were you, I wouldn't add anything. Just ferment dry, possibly carb it (or not), and put it away for awhile.
 
Back
Top