First time Apple Cider------ 9.825 ABV

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Milkdud76

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Made my first batch of apple cider and the abv is 9.825. Is that ok?
Heres the recipe;

4 gal + 4 cups Apple Cider
2 Cups Brown Sugar
24 ounces Apple Juice Concentrate
Nottingham Yeast

Heat 4 cups cider to 150F and dissolved brown sugar
Pour 4 Gallons of apple cider, apple concentrate and brown sugar mixture into carboy.
Add yeast

Apple Cider OG 1.054

Apple cider mixture OG 1.070 10/7/12

SG .995 12/3/12


Should I go ahead and bottle/keg?
 
I think 9.8 is a little high on alcohol for the style, if you are brewing to the style. Otherwise just think about it like this, 9.8 = less to get you drunk. :tank:

I would get it bottled or kegged if you are at an SG of .995, it may turn out really dry. But, I think that is a matter of personal taste. I personally do not care for a really dry cider. Plus, if you go too long it will turn to vinegar.
 
Plus, if you go too long it will turn to vinegar.

?????? Why on earth would it turn to vinegar? That doesn't make a bit of sense. Vinegar comes from a specific bacteria- called aceterobacter actually. If it's not contaminated with aceterobacter, it can stay in a fermenter for YEARS and never be vinegar.

Keep the cider/wine topped up in the carboy to avoid oxidation, and that will help inhibit microganisms (like mold) from gaining a foothold in the headspace.


Anyway, you're more like apple wine there than apple cider so it may take a while to smooth out and be really drinkable. I would bottle when it's completely clear, and not dropping any lees at all after at least 60 days. When I mean is that I would rack to a new carboy, and top up. Once it has nothing at all in the bottom of the carboy after at least 60 days, it's ready to bottle.
 
Well I guess it wouldn't really be vinegar, but I fermented one too long once, and it tasted really, really bad. Maybe not vinegar, but close enough for me to dump it out. Now granted, this was years ago before I ever had a clue, which I still consider myself a noob, but trust me that stuff was BAD. Sorry if I confused anyone or put out bum info. My main focus here I guess was to stop the fermentation before it gets too dry really.
 
Well I guess it wouldn't really be vinegar, but I fermented one too long once, and it tasted really, really bad. Maybe not vinegar, but close enough for me to dump it out. Now granted, this was years ago before I ever had a clue, which I still consider myself a noob, but trust me that stuff was BAD. Sorry if I confused anyone or put out bum info. My main focus here I guess was to stop the fermentation before it gets too dry really.

At .995, it's dry. But all cider normally would ferment dry, and then is backsweetened if desired. Stopping an active fermentation is like stopping a freight train, and is far more likely to cause off-flavors than allowing it to properly ferment out and then sweeten as desired and pasteurizing if carbonation is also desired.
 
Milkdud, sorry if I am high jacking your thread, but I like ciders and I am trying to learn a little.
Yooper, are you saying that stopping a ferment with something like camdem (spelling) tablets is a bad thing? I made a malted cider (some call Graff) and it fermented for about a month or 5 weeks in the primary. When I stopped it there was a bubble in the airlock about every 30-45 seconds, maybe a minute. I could understand how stopping a ferment from an active bubbling wild fermentation would be bad. But I had actually transferred mine to the secondary a couple weeks before i stopped it. Only reason i did stop it was because it just seemingly would not stop on it's own (2 weeks after transfer to secondary). Seemed to taste good when i put it in the keg, I just hope it doesn't develop any bad flavors as it ages and carbonates in the keg.
 
Thanks guys, I'll let it sit another week the transfer it to another carboy. You,re right, it does have a dry feel. I'll give you an update when I transfer.

No problem Temp81, I haven't seen any action (in the airlock geez) for about a week or so. Is that bad?
 
Stopping a fermentation with campden isn't "a bad thing"- it's an impossible thing! First, wine yeast is tolerant of sulfites (that's why winemakers use it) so to use enough to even slow down fermentation you'd have to use so much as to make the cider undrinkable.

Secondly, campden doesn't kill yeast at all- that's why winemakers use it.

Stopping a fermentation that is active takes extraordinary measures- bringing the cider to almost freezing and holding a long time, for example- and most of the time stressed yeast has a significant flavor impact. Plus, unless you pasteurize in the bottle, it's usually not successful.

Keeping a keg cold will slow/halt fermentation, but it has nothing to do with campden at all.
 
I have a 5 gallon batch of half pressed/raw juice and half store bought juice. Gonna let it go down to about 1.010 or so from 1.055, then freeze it solid in the chest freezer, allow to thaw, rack, and allow to clear in the fridge. Then keg pasteurize and bottle.
 
So where did I go wrong in making this batch? Did I use to much apple juice concentrate, the brown sugar?
 
Milkdud76 said:
So where did I go wrong in making this batch? Did I use to much apple juice concentrate, the brown sugar?

You're recipe is actually a apple wine recipe. The brown sugar and apple juice concentrate are there to raise the ABV to about 10% as per design. So you didn't go wrong. If you want a lower ABV, then try using just apple juice with no sugar or juice concentrate.

If you want it sweet, stabilize it and then as the sugar or juice concentrate.

If you want it carbonated and sweet, then read Papper's sticky on stove top pasteurizing.
 
I guess I should have posted my recipe. I didn't use wine yeast for mine, I used California Ale yeast. I know, its not really normal to do that with cider, but I did it because of the way I made this. Like I said before, I do not care for really dry ciders, and I have never been good at the back sweetening thing. I always do too much or not enough. So basically I got to reading some of these posts about "Graff" or malted cider and got curious. So I took an idea from a couple different recipes and did some modification. The reasons I chose the California Ale yeast were because a) i had plenty around from harvesting and washing and b) because I figured it would not ferment down too low in gravity making things on the dry side. So back to the point about the campdem tablets. I do agree, they don't really kill the yeast, although it did appear to stop the fermentation. It didn't take much to start it again though. When I moved the secondary to rack to the keg I ended up shaking up some yeast off of the bottom. I then noticed some airlock activity again as I let it settle. So I cold crashed it for 24 hrs to settle everything again. But anyway, it is what it is, I have tried a couple of samples from the keg and it came out pretty good. So regardless how I got there I am happy with it, and will make it again. Yooper, thanks for the knowledge, I really am still a noob, but learning more with every batch I make.

Milkdud, I honestly don't think you have screwed anything up. You are probably a lot like many others here including myself, impatient and praying that the product you put so much time into comes out as desired.

So now my recipe if anyone cares to try or critique:

3lbs 2 Row Malt
1lb American Crystal 60
1lb Honey Malt
8 oz American Crystal 120
.5 oz Cascade Hops 60 min boil

Mash the grains using enough water to get you 3.5-4.0 gallons of wort after single batch sparge. Then boil down to 2.5 gallons. Basically making a half batch of beer. Cool, then rack to primary. Top up primary with about 3.5 gallons of apple cider (not juice, cider). then pitch yeast.

I didn't get overly scientific with this one as I didn't know how it would come out, and it was kind of an experiment. I think its a pretty good first try, I may change up the amount of Honey Malt, and Crystal 60. Less Honey Malt, more 60.
 
Very impatient!!!! It's like I need to have 5 different batches going to keep me on my toes.
 
Just my 2 cents worth. I use UV treated pressed cider from a local mill in Maine that uses a specific mix of apples. I also use ale yeast which I prefer. Adding cane, dex and or brown sugar is common depending on desired results. I don't believe honey is a good additive in this application, the expense and end result just don't coincide for cider, wine or even jack. Tomorrow I'll bottle up my forth batch for the season. It will go into plastic 16's and glass 22's. I won't test the gravity even though I can. 45 years says just go ahead and do it. I expect it to be spectacular come planting season.
 
Ok, not to jack threads, but I saw the mention of the concoction turning to vinegar. Last year, this was me on a one gal batch made from apple juice and wine yeast. Was undrinkable. Fast forward this year and I really want some applewine to turn out good for me. So 5.5 gal Costco apple juice, wine yeast, and 20 oz of unsulfered molasses. Its been 3 weeks in primary, almost to final gravity. Last week tasting was pleasant, but smells vinegary... Too early to worry?
 
Ok, not to jack threads, but I saw the mention of the concoction turning to vinegar. Last year, this was me on a one gal batch made from apple juice and wine yeast. Was undrinkable. Fast forward this year and I really want some applewine to turn out good for me. So 5.5 gal Costco apple juice, wine yeast, and 20 oz of unsulfered molasses. Its been 3 weeks in primary, almost to final gravity. Last week tasting was pleasant, but smells vinegary... Too early to worry?

Fermented molasses is nasty, nasty stuff. It could be from that, if your sanitation was up to par.
 
Kind of sounds like some wild yeast got in there doesn't it? That is what puts the sour in sourdough. Great in bread, not so much in cider.
 
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