Fresh Cider Anyone?

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BigJoe5313

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Well was staying with my friend in South Jersey for a few days and we're both into brewing. We decided to check out a few farms in the area and after looking around a bit we found this place that would fill our buckets for us at a discounted price. We paid 3.25 a gallon. Now I have a few idea I'm going to run with but I'm going to take at least 5 gallons and let it sit without adding anything to it, no yeast no sugar. How long will it take to start fermenting?

Now here are some pics I took with my cell phone for your viewing pleasure.

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EDIT: In case you didn't figure it out yet I forgot to mention this juice is unpasteurized.
 
Nice! Do you know what kind of apples?

Natural ferments will start in 1-3 days at 65F, but you want to get them a lot cooler than that as soon as they get going. They can run away and eat up all the sugar in no time. Search wild yeast or natural yeast for more info
 
Nice! Do you know what kind of apples?

They used a mix of all the apples they have on hand. Can't remember the names right now.

Natural ferments will start in 1-3 days at 65F, but you want to get them a lot cooler than that as soon as they get going. They can run away and eat up all the sugar in no time.

Well then should I just stop fermentation after a few days and then just let it age?
 
CvilleKevin, damn you know your stuff... 2 of my ciders are already at 1.012 after only 5 days! Temperature is around 72, I ordered some carboys for aging but they have not arrived yet! I think I'll have to put these outside to keep the temps down.. no space in my kegerator to cold crash

p.s. I am BigJoe's buddy, we got the same cider
 
If you like the way it tastes now, your best bet might be to cold crash it in a keg bucket with some ice - unless it is good and cold outside, in which case just make sure you dont freeze it.
 
Yeah, I may just go get some ice now and do that. For now I've moved them outside, It's mid 50's for the next few days.

If I cold crash now, I'll only be able to do one at a time in the keg bucket, I have 3 batches going. Will they start back up on their own once they leave the ice or am I safe til Tuesday you think?
 
If you like the taste, rack to another carboy, crash the cider in the new carboy and rack back to the old carboy a day later after you clean the old carboy. That will usually remove the yeast, although wild ferments can be tough to crash. Sometimes they take a couple tries. If its still a little on the sweet side, mid 50s will slow it down a little, but you will still be dropping a few points a day. If you dont rack and rerack, they will definately start back up when they leave the ice.
 
Thanks for the advice, my problem right now is I don't have any sort of vessel to re-rack into. Also, I work nights, and the next few in particular... it's hard for me to get to a homebrew store when they are open. I have some carboys on the way from Northern Brewer, but like I said they won't be here til Tuesday.

Maybe I will get up early tomorrow and go pick some up from the local store even though they are pretty expensive, I suppose it doesn't hurt to have extra carboys around, I'll find a use for them!

Thanks for all of the advice in this thread and the rest of your posts... very informative and nice of you to chime in
 
where in NJ did you find the cider press? Ive been looking for some new presses to find some new flavors / combinations for my next batches.

Im located in Monmouth County NJ , central NJ on the shore.
 
where in NJ did you find the cider press? Ive been looking for some new presses to find some new flavors / combinations for my next batches.

Im located in Monmouth County NJ , central NJ on the shore.


Mood's in Mullica Hill.. quite a ride for you.

edit: I forgot to mention, OG on the cider we bought was 1.050
 
If you like the taste, rack to another carboy, crash the cider in the new carboy and rack back to the old carboy a day later after you clean the old carboy. That will usually remove the yeast, although wild ferments can be tough to crash. Sometimes they take a couple tries. If its still a little on the sweet side, mid 50s will slow it down a little, but you will still be dropping a few points a day. If you dont rack and rerack, they will definately start back up when they leave the ice.

All right, I put the two buckets on ice last night, racked into carboys today. I actually didn't have that much food in the fridge and I needed to clean it out anyways :) Moved what little I did have into my kegerator top shelf and put the two 5 gallon carboys in my regular fridge. Going to re-rack the third into another bucket in the morning.
 
Hey Kevin just wanted to say thanks for the advice.

The one batch I cold crashed, reracked, back to the fridge, and reracked again, did not change SG. Now it's back out in room temp, we'll see if fermentation has truly stopped. I hope it has, it tastes freakin great at the moment.
 
Interestingly enough, Jersey used to be well known for their ciders.

I used to live in Monmouth Cty, Ocean, actually right on Rte 35. I used to work at Ft Monmouth.

Mullica Hill? Man, we used to go there a lot when I was growing up...Franklin, Clementine, Cedar Lake...brings back memories...I'm from Camden, BTW.

I know some of Maple Shade too. I lived in Mt Holly also. Some cousins in Cherry Hill, Haddonfield and Hammonton also.

I'll probably come to that area next spring/summer...want to share some brews together?
 
Sure man, that would be cool. These ciders are my first real brewing attempts, judging by your post count, you've been around the block and not sure if my stuff will hold up to yours :)
 
Definitely keep an eye on the natural ferment once it gets to room temp. You might see a bubble or two from malolactic fermentation, but if the sg drops, crash it again. Natural yeast batches can be temperamental. I've had a couple that crashed and were stable on the first shot, but more often than not it takes a couple times to keep them stable. If it drops much sediment, rack it - as that can become a nutrient bed for a new ferment to get started.

Right now I've got two natural yeast batches going. One seems to be well behaved after the crash, knock on wood. The other took two days to crash and started back up again a couple days afterwards, so its back in the fridge again for that one.

Monmouth is where Lairds used to make their applejack. Now they make it just a few miles south of where I live - but they still send it back up to Scobeyville for bottling. Its good stuff - a little strong and not very appley for my taste - more like a real smooth whiskey. It'll warm you right up.
 
Thanks, I'm not doing any natural, that's big joe :)

I am doing 3 -- the one I mentioned is Cider & WLP775 English Cider yeast-- OG was 1.050, now it's at 1.0096 (we'll call it 1.010). Hopefully it stays there and my cold crashing work is successful.
 
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