Yet another noobs first batch of cider

5 1/2 gallons apple juice (Sams Club)
2 cans frozen apple juice
2 lbs brown sugar
EC-1118 yeast

Normal beer brews for me result in 2-3 really good days of bubbling in the air lock, then a tapering off. This batch stayed in @ 68 degrees and resulted in some pretty amazing CO2 formation. This stuff bubbled really well up to day 6, and was still bubbling at day 9 close to once a second. Here it is day 10 and it had quit bubbling finally, so I stole a sample out of the air lock hole in the lid with my siphon hose. It tested out at .996 1/2 with a bit of carbonation in the fluid, so may be an even 996. I didn't test it for innitial gravity.

Tasting this sample, it is pretty dry. Not much sweetness, but the sour is still there. It also has a bit of a beer/yeast smell, but is probably the yeast all still suspended. I had maybe 5 or 6 ounces and added a 1/4 teaspoon of Stevia, and it tastes pretty dang good already.. only the Stevia, and every other non-sugar sweetener, leaves a bit of an aftertaste. Not much alcohol taste to this cider but after you swallow, you can feel the warmth in your mouth and throat. Going to leave it in my primary, set it out in the garage where temps have been in the high 30s and low 40's and leave it there for several more days to clear a bit before bottling.

I'm thinking of making a batch of simple syrup with just sugar and a bit of water. I'll let the bottles of cider proof as-is in a dry state (I will be adding proofing sugar for carbonation) since some like it that way anyway, figure out what added amount of the syrup per bottle tastes good, then add the syrup to my glass before pouring. No aftertaste this way. Thoughts?

Very well and logically thought out! Cheers!

Beer doesn't have all of the simple sugars that cider with added sugar does. Plus you typically start with a lower OG in beer than what you have described above. (and beer never finishes below 1.000) There's a lot more for the yeast to consume so it typically takes a little longer than beer.

I wish we had consistent 30-40ºF temps here I'd love to be able to clear by ciders outside. Congrats!

Hey, all,

Another noob here, and I just put my first batch together last night. I basically used the Ed Wort recipe scaled to 1 gallon, with Nottingham yeast.

The local grocer has pasteurized unfiltered organic juice in 1 gallon jars, so I gave it a go, both to try the recipe and to get the jar! Since this juice is unfiltered, there was a lot of sediment, and it's a bit cloudy. I decided to siphon it into my bottling bucket to leave behind some of the sediment and to make it easier to dissolve the sugar.

Not much bubbling as yet.

Fun easy recipe. We have a crab apple tree on the property that makes great juice, it would be fun to try fermenting that this fall.

Scottie

Since you're going to get sediment from the yeast anyway, I'd have left the pulp to give the yeast something else to nibble on.. but that's just me?

I forgot to add... when I started mine, I boiled up @ 28 ounces of water with a 1/2 cup of brown sugar and @ 1/4 cup of some light DME since I had it laying around. I boiled @ 20 minutes until the mix was down to @ 18-20 ounces, (I start yeast in one of my 22 oz beer bottles since I have an air lock for that) let it cool down, added my EC-1118 yeast and wire whisked the heck out of it. I let that work @ 12 hrs, then whisked that into to my cider batch really well. Within an hour it had started to work. Within a couple more, it really took off and stayed crazy for DAYS.

I thought that yeast mainly ate the sugar in the solution? But, like I say, I'm still learnin'.

At the time I put this together, I kinda thought I would have rather boiled it, but didn't have time, so I put it together pretty much like Ed Wort's recipe, and just made sure I sanitized everything. I whisked mine, too, and only used a mix of sugar and brown sugar. I used rehydrated Nottingham, and since I wrote the above it is now bubbling in the airlock pretty well.

Good luck, and thanks for the input!

Scott

I have a nOoB question as well. I brewed my first batch of cider on Friday and my first batch of beer on Sunday. My cider question is this: I have three gallons fermenting right now. I like dry cider, so, I know once its done fermentiing and I let it sit for a while, I am going to be happy. However, my wife likes a sweet cider. So, if I let her gallon ferment for a week or so, cold crash it, then bottle it, I am assuming that it will be sweeter and also have a smaller abv. Is this correct?

@ hehaw,

Cold crashing doesn't kill the yeast, so bottling it before the yeast has fermented the sugar all out is a good way to make bottle bombs. I've thought of back-sweetening, but as you, I know there will be some fans of the dry VS the sweet. My suggestion is to do what I've decided. Let it work itself out to a dry state and finish fermenting and bottle that. I like carbonated cider, so I'll be proofing mine, though many like it still. BUT.. for those that like it sweet, you can always either make up a simple syrup, or even add corn sugar which would desolve readily, and add that to the glass first before pouring the cider on top of that. Or... as others have suggested, many just put a shot of Sprite/7-up in 1st, then top off with the cider? Don't know how the lemon/lime taste works out with it though? I want to taste those apples I worked so hard to pick and press into juice.






OK, I just used apple juice from Sams Club, but it sounded good for a second? lol.

LOL- yeah, I do not want bottle bombs!

Has anyone ever tried carbonating a cider with one of those home soda makers that you get from Wally World?

hehawbrew said:

LOL- yeah, I do not want bottle bombs!

Has anyone ever tried carbonating a cider with one of those home soda makers that you get from Wally World?

Click to expand...

No, but I've been wondering about them...

hehawbrew said:

LOL- yeah, I do not want bottle bombs!

Has anyone ever tried carbonating a cider with one of those home soda makers that you get from Wally World?

Click to expand...

you could get a tap a draft system and use that to force carb i have one for beer and love it its basically a mini keg that fits in your fridge

also the is a sticky about stove top pasteurization you use that after carbing the bottles naturally to kill off the yeast and get them to stop you have to check the bottles everyday to get the proper carb level but works

I was reading the soda forum about the soda stream machine. They all said that you have to carbonate plain water. If you carbonate anything else it will gush and make a mess. I've never tried one but I think stove top pasteurization sounds like a low budget solution.

I started reading around and found the same information. Messy messy.


My cider is on its eighth day of fermentation. Bubbles are slowing down, maybe two or three a minute, four or five at tops. Should I rack it to another carboy and let it sit another' week or so?

Also - does light affect bubble activity? I feel that when my dog and I sit and watch em, I feel like bubble will get faster after a minute or so.......

I would leave the cider longer until the bubbling slows down more. The bubbling when you watch it could be due to disturbing the co2 in the trub layer.

Thanks

I tasted my cider today. Ten or eleven days in now. It was pretty amazing! It tasted a lot like a sparkling cider!

Anyway- ive read that letting cider rest on the sediment is not recommended. If its still fermenting by this weekend, is it okay for me to rack it to another carboy?

If you look at EdWorts thread, there are folks that leave it for months (6+) in the primary.

Thanks!

As mentioned, I racked my cider to a secondary, then brought it in from the cold to room temperature for the last several days. The rhino farts seem to have dissipated. Apparently this is caused by stress to the yeast when I threw them out in the cold? If I set the cider back out in the garage to cold crash and clear it, will this stress the yeast (again) and have them fart on me? (again)

trbig said:

As mentioned, I racked my cider to a secondary, then brought it in from the cold to room temperature for the last several days. The rhino farts seem to have dissipated. Apparently this is caused by stress to the yeast when I threw them out in the cold? If I set the cider back out in the garage to cold crash and clear it, will this stress the yeast (again) and have them fart on me? (again)

Click to expand...

Only if fermentation is still going on.

This thread answered alot of my questions about the long fermentation. I am at 14 days and I am still geting bubbles in my airlock at one every five seconds.

I added five gallons of apple juice with no additives
1.5 pounds of sugar
5 teaspoons of yeast nutrient

Yeast was S05 which I made a starter out of apple juice.

Temperature is 50 degrees.

I am planning on leaving it in the primary until the airlock slows down alot more.

Glad to see that I am not the only one with these questions.

Well, let my first batch of cider ferment 21 days. Bottled. Let em sit a day two.....now: they are gone! 20, 12oz bottles, down the hatch!

Very tasty and packed a good punch!

Did you drink it still, or add sugar and carbonate it?

I drank it still. Since it was my first batch, I was nervous. Next batch I'm going to try and carb. This time, i actually took a starting gravity and wrote it down!

LOL.. Just finally bottled mine up tonight. The rhino farts were all gone. Final gravity is .995, so it's pretty dry, but it smells MUCH better than it did a couple weeks ago. Taste is pretty good as well. It has an apple aroma along with a bit of beer as well. Taste has just a bit of tart to it, so i think a little back sweetening when I go to drink it will help, but I think I'll enjoy it as is as well. I ended up with 34 22oz bottles of it all proofed up with corn sugar. I think next batch will be with some Lalvin D47 yeast which won't let it dry out as much as that 1118 I just used.

Nice!