Getting ready to attempt my first batch, does this seem right?

Backstory: I've done 6 or 7 batches of homebrew beer, with relative success.

I'm getting married in just under 6 months. I plan on having homebrew at my rehearsal, as well as in the welcome bags at the hotel (probably wax dipped, to appease the pinterest-heavy SWMBO).

I thought it might be good to have cider available for those who aren't beer drinkers.

I've spent most of the morning reading up, and settled on the KISS recipe, but wanted to make sure I understand the process correct, as a whole, before I go willy nilly.

1. Stir plate 400ml of juice, 100 grams of sugar for 15 minutes, add nottingham, another 30, then let sit for a few hours.

2. Buy a bunch of juice, without preservatives. Overall, it doesn't appear to matter what brand, as long as it doesn't have preservatives (Sorbates). Mott's is likely the most widely available.

3. Dump juice and some sugar into carboy to get to ~1.080. Dextrose vs table sugar? Does it matter? Table sugar's obviously cheaper....

4. Add the starter, airlock, put someplace ~65-68 for about a week.

5. When the gravity hit 1.040, add some malic acid, probably less than the recipe calls for, at least for my first time. Bottle it, with one coke bottle to help check carb level without having to waste bottles of hooch until i'm close.

6. After about a week, it should be carbed, stove pasteurize based on the thread here, which will kill the yeast to prevent bottle bombs.

7. Let sit for ????????? before enjoying?



Am i missing anything here? It seems really, really simple, and really really hard to fudge up...

The other thing, I have a 5 gallon better bottle available right now, but I'm used to beer where you need ~1 gallon headspace for krazy krausen activity. How much volume should I put into a 5 gallon BB to avoid overflow?

Thanks

Congratulations! I just got married a couple years ago, and I'm glad I'm not in your shoes. I had to do most of the planning, etc. as SWMBO doesn't like planning anything past tomorrow.

That all sounds about right. I'd just like to point out I've only made cider once though. We did nickname it the panty dropper, because it was so tasty and had a high abv (8.4%).

3. I would just use corn sugar. At my LHBS it is only $1 a lb, so it's not that much more expensive than table sugar. I hear guys on here always seem to recommend it over table sugar too.

6. I would make a test batch before, (you have plenty of time as cider is pretty easy) and test whether you like it better carbed/still. My first and only cider actually tasted MUCH better still, and it's a whole lot easier to just throw some campden tablets in it to kill the yeast at bottling, than it is to stovetop pasteurize.

7. I don't think cider has to age, like beer does. IME it actually seemed best right after pasteurization. If it goes too long, I have heard it can get vinegary, although after 1 1/2 months, my cider still tastes great, but I think it tasted slightly better right after pasteurization.

I think a 5 gallon BB is actually 5.5 gallons, but I have not verified this. At any rate, cider doesn't really have the crazy krausen of some beers, i.e., mine had 0. I would just start with a blow off tube to be safe, and I think you'll be okay.

First off, the type of sugar does matter. Dextrose will taste much better than table sugar. Regular table sugar us known to produce off flavors. You can still use it, but be warned. Brown sugar is also popular, but for the best flavor dextrose is your best bet.


as for leaving head space. You can leave a few inches for the first few days to avoid it foaming over. But if you do, make sure you top it up as soon as it calms down. If you leave a large head space, you are inviting an infection in. You will be safest if you top it right up so that it is up to the neck, reducing the surface area exposed to the air.

You will not get a krausen if you are using store bought juice, are adding sugar, or fermenting at a decent temperature. There is quite a process to getting a krausen. Unless you are actually trying to get one by following the necessary steps, you are very unlikely to get one. You might get an active fermentation with a foamy head, but that is all.

One other thing. If you are testing carbonation with a plastic bottle, it probably won't be as carbed as you think. My bottle was pretty hard (about like a pop bottle) when I did mine, but it still seemed a little undercarbed. Check it every day, and once it gets good and hard, maybe let it go an extra day or so. Maybe there's better info on here on when to pasteurize, I only did this once.

Top it up, with more juice?

I'm also reading that cider made from juice that was pasteurized can't be stored as long? Is that still the case, or am I reading old info from an older thread?

bfinleyui said:

Top it up, with more juice?

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yes, more juice = more cider!

You can start it off in a primary bucket and reduce the chances of a blow over. You can use a blowover tube, or you can start with a large head space, and then top it up with more juice later.

reverendj1 said:

6. I would make a test batch before, (you have plenty of time as cider is pretty easy) and test whether you like it better carbed/still. My first and only cider actually tasted MUCH better still, and it's a whole lot easier to just throw some campden tablets in it to kill the yeast at bottling, than it is to stovetop pasteurize.

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Campden tablet do not kill off yeast. This myth has been floating around for years, constantly agrued, and keeps coming back. I thought this was true when I first started brewing. I was following some online instructions that told me this would work. I tried it, and it didn't stop anything (1 tablet in aprox. 3/4 gallon). I panicked and added a double dose (another 2 tablets in 3/4 gallon) and it seemed to have stopped. I then bottled it into a flip cap bottles (thankfully).

One year later my wife put one of my flip top bottle (unopened) sideways in a wine rack. The next week there was a pool of mead under my wine rack and the bottle was 1/2 empty. I checked the mead that was left, and it was heavily carbonated.

DO NOT use campden tablets to stop fermentation, it does not work! It can create bottle bombs which are dangerous!

bfinleyui said:

I'm also reading that cider made from juice that was pasteurized can't be stored as long? Is that still the case, or am I reading old info from an older thread?

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I've never heard of this... Maybe someone else will know. My cider doesn't usually last more then 3 months, so I can't say...

Devo9 said:

DO NOT use campden tablets to stop fermentation, it does not work! It can create bottle bombs which are dangerous!

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Thank you for providing this information and correcting me! I have not used campden tablets myself, but I had heard this misinformation repeated often. I will definitely remember this next time I do a cider (as I was going to use them). Is there anything else that you can use, aside from stovetop pasteurization?

bfinleyui said:

I'm also reading that cider made from juice that was pasteurized can't be stored as long? Is that still the case, or am I reading old info from an older thread?

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This is old/bad information, pasteurizing juice has no effect on aging.


Just a heads up, bottling at 1.040 will result in a crazy sweet cider, like dessert wine sweet. The sweetest commercial ciders rarely top 1.030, and carbonation will consume 0.003-0.004 SG, leaving around 1.036 or around 9% residual sugar in your finished cider. You may want to let it ride a little longer depending on your guest's preferences, or not!

Excellent. Compared to brewing beer, this is easy peasy. Looks like I might have to add "Gallons of apple juice" to the list of things I'm willing to buy at costco...

In terms of yeast, right now at home I have Safale US-04, and Danstar Nottingham. Also have easy access to US-05 Everyone seems to have their own preference, which is going to be the 'safest' choice, in terms of making a generic bubbly cider? I was leaning toward US-04, since that's the only one not already spoken for in another recipe...

After reading some more on these forums, this is what i ended up with:

Ingredients
5 Gallons Country Fare Apple Juice (unsweetened, pasteurized, from concentrate, no preservatives)
4 pounds Dextrose
8.9 oz brown sugar

Starter
.5L Apple Juice
25g Dextrose
1 package Safale US-04

Stir plate for 15 minutes with juice and dextrose, then add yeast, stir for ~20 minutes, settle to verify yeast replication, then turn on until ready for pitching, ~20 minutes later.

Details

Mixed it all in a bottling bucket, for an accurate measurement of volume, and ease of mixing/gravity readings.

Started with just 3 pounds of dextrose, but the OG was only 1.070. Put another pound in, only got to about 1.073, mixed harder, added 8.9 ounces brown sugar (was aiming for 8, but overshot). Took another reading, 1.080.

Put most of it into a 5G better bottle, the rest (almost a full gallon) into one of the apple juice jugs.

Poured most of the starter into the BB, saved a little for the gallon jug.

Put a stopper and a blowoff tube into the BB, sterilized tin foil with a few small holes poked in it on the gallon jug. Put into a Cool Brewing bag with a half gallon of ice at about 7:30PM.

Plan
Ferment until 1.020 (probably 6-7 days), then bottle, putting some in a plastic coke bottle. When the bottle gets hard, start checking daily for carbonation levels. When it’s the right level, stovetop pasteurize to kill the yeast.

Sounds like you know what you are doing.

Do you plan on clearing the cider at all? Cold crash, clearing agents, and /or gelatin? Aging is also good.. 1 month to 3 months you can definitely tell a difference.

I'm in an apartment, so I don't really have the space to do a cold crash or anything. This is more an experimental batch to see if I'm not awful at cider.

If this doesn't come out as clear as I'd like, I've got a couple options, i could try nottingham, which is a bit more flocculant, or do the whole process in my future father-in-law's garage, where I would have room for a cold crash in his garage fridge.

One thing I skimmed over, you may want to fashion an airlock for the juice bottle. You'll probably be fine with the tinfoil, but personally, I'd feel safer with an actual airlock. As for cold crashing, you could put it on a balcony, if you have one and it's cold out where you are from. I've been cold crashing on my porch (in Michigan). You only need to cold crash for a couple days, so you could just slap a solid bucket lid on there, throw it in your car, and leave it at your future FIL's for a couple days.

You can also use gelatin, although I have not done this myself.

Yeah, I tried to find anything that would fit, but nothing would create a seal. I suppose I could drill a hole through one of the existing lids, and cram an airlock in there, but that wouldn't necessarily be air tight without some type of grommet. It's inside a cool brewing bag, which should keep most of the nasties out. If i lose that last 3/4 of a gallon, not the biggest deal in the world. I just didn't wanna use my full-size better bottle, as I've got a few beers I want to make soon.

bfinleyui said:

I suppose I could drill a hole through one of the existing lids, and cram an airlock in there, but that wouldn't necessarily be air tight without some type of grommet.

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I have done this in the past and it has worked great. Even if it isn't 100% air tight, it will be pretty darn close (as long as you are careful cutting the hole).

If you drill a proper hole, the right size and perfectly round, then chances of any baddies getting in are rediculously small (there is a better chance of something getting in when you open it to stir/add nuetrient/test SG/rack/etc.).

I have used a drilled hole in on a 1 gallon bucket for years now with not problems. So I'd say that a drilled hole with an airlock is your best bet.

And no, I didn't need a grommet.

Devo9 said:

I have done this in the past and it has worked great. Even if it isn't 100% air tight, it will be pretty darn close (as long as you are careful cutting the hole).

If you drill a proper hole, the right size and perfectly round, then chances of any baddies getting in are rediculously small (there is a better chance of something getting in when you open it to stir/add nuetrient/test SG/rack/etc.).

I have used a drilled hole in on a 1 gallon bucket for years now with not problems. So I'd say that a drilled hole with an airlock is your best bet.

And no, I didn't need a grommet.

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Thanks, I'll give that a shot tonight.

Clearing is overrated anyway. If it tastes good...after a couple of bottles of 8% ABV cider...no one is going to care if it's clear or not. haha

Congrats on getting married.

I am new to brewing and am doing a test cider right now. Mine started at. 072 and is down to .048 after 9 days. Plan to bottle at .035. I am a little concerned about it not getting down that far because i used a cup of washed belgian yeast from my last batch. However, the airlock is still bubbling every 3-4 seconds.

I drilled a lid and it is working great thus far.

Also mine is a 1 gal jug from target.

BadDeacon said:

I am new to brewing and am doing a test cider right now. Mine started at. 072 and is down to .048 after 9 days. Plan to bottle at .035. I am a little concerned about it not getting down that far because i used a cup of washed belgian yeast from my last batch. However, the airlock is still bubbling every 3-4 seconds.

I drilled a lid and it is working great thus far.

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As far as everyone has ever told me, if there's yeast that is alive, which there is (because you've dropped gravity already), it will continue to be alive until it runs out of sugar. Unless you kill it some other way (heat, chemicals, etc). Just might take longer

Just bottled. FG got down to .030. I must say it is rather tasty! Gonna let bottles carb for a few days then to the fridge!

BadDeacon said:

Just bottled. FG got down to .030. I must say it is rather tasty! Gonna let bottles carb for a few days then to the fridge!

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Be sure to pasteurize once you hit the carb level you're looking for. Otherwise kaboom

10-4. However my wife might drink them all by then!