Drunken Emu Hard Cider

If it dries out there is no need to pasteurize. You only should need to pasteurize if you are back sweetening.

Guess42 said:

If it dries out there is no need to pasteurize. You only should need to pasteurize if you are back sweetening.

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Well if he lets it go completely dry than your correct. My recipe doesn't take it completely dry, so I had to work on the assumption that he would still need to pasteurize.

nukinfuts29 said:

It adds a very subtle chocolate "hint". It's tricky to explain beyond that.

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i am not getting that chocolate hint really, a taste that i can't describe, that is why i am hoping it will fade away with time. I think if I were to repeat this recipe i would leave the hot chocolate mix out.
This stuff definately has a strong alcohol taste!

Goblism said:

i am not getting that chocolate hint really, a taste that i can't describe, that is why i am hoping it will fade away with time. I think if I were to repeat this recipe i would leave the hot chocolate mix out.
This stuff definately has a strong alcohol taste!

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Hmm, I wonder if it has anything to do with the batch size because I have never gone that small. There should be a note of chocolate, and the alcohol taste should not be hot or overpowering. The initial taste should be of apple, then cinnamon and nutmeg with a note of chocolate, than alcohol.

Perhaps on the small batches the nutmeg should be omitted. That stuff can come on strong and really affect taste. I wonder if that is not the off taste that you got.

Have you ever tried making this with Mexican chocolate? Should still give your notes of Chocolate but with a little something extra.

Can't say that I have. It's an interesting idea, I wonder if I can get that in the mexican food section at Walmart?

If so I may have to try that next week when I make a fresh batch.

I don't know if you could find it at Walmart. Being in CA I always just go into a local Mexican supermarket when I need to buy chili's or specific Mexican products.

I've attached a pic of the Mexican chocolate I bought when I last made chili to give you an idea.. most of the authentic ones come in tablets not powder.

Thanks, I'll look into it

musicawal said:

What would you recommend for carbing in a keg for this? I've never made a cider yet but would like to try this.

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I'm new to brewing & ciders but If I understand properly the pasteurization is to kill off the remaining yeast.

If you wanted to keg and didn't want to take it all the way dry couldn't you bottle, pasteurize and then transfer from bottle to keg and force carb?

Moving it from vessel to vessel to keg to do that make sure to be careful about oxygen

Good point on the oxygen concern. If the point of pasteurization is to kill the yeast couldn't you rack to secondary, then cold crash for a couple days and then rack to keg. True the yeast wouldn't be exhausted or killed by pasteurization however if you kept the keg at serving temps wouldn't that keep the yeast from continuing the fermentation process? Nottingham lists ferm temps of 57-70* I'd think 38-40 would be cold enough to force the yeast to remain dormant?

Otherwise you could cold crash the secondary, rack to 1 gallon jugs, pasteurize, then pre fill your keg with some co2 as it's heavier than oxygen and rack from the 1 gallon jugs to the keg. Seems like a lot more work than I'd want to do, even assuming it would work.

I would imagine the cold crashing would work, as long as the keg was consumed inside of say....7-9 months? That is a complete guess, of course.

Bottling this tomorrow! Been sitting in a longish primary since Dec. 17th. So that is...a little less than a month. Never took any gravity readings, but I am not concerned. Think it'll be ready to drink if'n I bottle now?

Yea just get it nice and cold, it's best cold! I have drank it right out of the bucket while bottling lol.

I can't wait till you let me know how the first one is.

Finally tried this! Very good. I used blackberry cider in addition to the apple, and that seems to be the dominant flavor. No cocoa to speak of yet, but I am hopeful for that to come through as it ages. Next time I may add another packet (total of two) for the one gallon batch. I'll be trying this without the blackberry, as well.

Taste is very tart without being vinegar-y. I am very pleased. Great recipe. I look forward to more of your recipes.

And a pic of the first bottle.

SWEET!

If you are into summery type drinks check out the other one in my sig, it's for a hard tea with lemon and orange notes

I'm going to have to try it with the blackberry

Tried another one tonight. Would definitely lessen the blackberry in the next batch. I'll have to report back again in a month or two to let you know if any other flavors peek their heads in, but for now at least, it is a big ole' blackberry fest.

I used a pint and a half of blackberry cider in a one gallon batch, I believe. Maybe cutting that down to a cup or a cup and a half. I'm not disappointed with this batch by any stretch, and I will be brewing versions again. Next up (after I get a stinky, stinky garlic wine going next week) is your original recipe. Might as well give the original a try

I appreciate that

ok so i bottled yeterday and i have room to make this now! as i was reading back through the posts i got to thinking. Do you normally carb this when you bottle it? Or are you just bottling it straight from secondary? i remember asking about the bottling procedures after someone had asked about carbing it. since you never had said anything about the timeline of bottling before that it got me wondering if you carbed or not...

I go both ways. Sometimes I still bottle it if I don't have time to monitor the bottles for 3 days or so. If I have time to keep an eye on them, I carb.

ok so can you give me your opinion on if it is worth carbing or not? taste difference...is it better or worse or same? im trying to decide which way to go with this when i do this since this is next thing im making...

Better is relative, I like it both ways. Still has the benefit of no bottle bomb risk, carb has a nice extra bit of crispness and refreshness to it.

ok the difference between the two that you described is what i was wondering about...now i just have to make my decision...well i guess i have a couple weeks to decide...

You can carb it pretty safely, it's just key to have a stable temp and to try to end the process on day 3 before you get bombs.

nukinfuts29 said:

You are going to need to take precautions for bottle bombs, so while they carb be sure to store them in totes wrapped in towels.

You will use priming sugar and bottle like you would to carb anything else, BUT you have to pasteurize much faster than normal. I never let them go longer than 3-5 days before putting a stop to it. You can go longer or shorter based on experience.

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can you go into more detail about this..

Is there a specific question you have?

The bottles are stored in totes and wrapped so that if they do explode, the glass does not fly all over and the brew will remain in the tote.

You are going to prime with sugar, the amount will vary depending on the scale of the recipe you make but 1oz of sugar per gallon of cider is the general rule. You can also bottle the cider a little before the end of fermentation. which way you go is really up to you. Once the cider goes into the bottle you will want to pasteurize on day three, possibly sooner or later depending on how your cider responds.

A common trick is to bottle a 20oz soda bottle also, and monitor the pressure in that bottle. If it seems like it is pushing the tolerance of the plastic bottle, you know what kind of pressure is going on in the glass bottles.

You can pasteurize on the stove or in the dishwasher.

thanks that helps out alot, but it doesn't madder if a person cut the amount of sugar back to let's say .75oz per gallon, and how is the best way to pasteurize the final product, just heat it or???

You can play with sugar levels to find your preference.

As for pasteurizing you need to go to the cider forum and read the stickies, it's too much to cover here

cool thanks

So i finally made this today. had to tweak the recipe a bit as the store only had three gallons of cider. so i used three ciders and one of fresh apple juice. We will see how it turns out, but from the smell of it and the taste i got when i took my OG reading i think this is gonna be pretty good stuff! :rockin:

Rock on!! I'm actually fresh out, going to make another 5 gallons then focus on the spring and summer stuff

So i went to check on the fermenter today and its is bubbling nicely, but it smells really odd in the room i have it in. I investigated and found the smell coming from my carboy. it almost has a sulfer smell to it...i know that lager yeast smells like that, isnt nottingham an ale yeast though? is this a normal smell or do i maybe have something going on thats not right?

It's normal.

ok cool...just wanting to see. this is the first cider i have made so im a bit worried, even though i know damn well i should just let it do its thing...

What's the estimated ABV in this magical brew?

~6.5%abv

And, to clarify, since I'm a newb... I can increase that by using more sugar and fermenting a little longer, right?

If you want to up the abv add dexatrose (corn sugar). It will boost the alcohol content and add nothing else like taste

Finally got a chance to try this out tonight, ended up using 4gals of 'Apple Wedge Cider' from Hendersonville, NC; 3ibs of Wholesome Sweeteners' Organic Dark Brown Sugar; 4.25 oz of 'Silly Cow' Hot chocolate mix, and 1 ground nutmeg with the prescribed 4 cinnamon sticks. Tastes very pleasant from my OG reading, which came out to an astounding 1.085...

Very excited, and a little bit timid to see how this will turn out. See y'all in a couple of months with an update!