UpstateMike
Well-Known Member
KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid!) Sweet/Tart Cider
I'm not looking for anything fancy schmancy, no exotic ingredients like the left testical from a two horned unicorn, I just want to get back to basics. A nice, sweet/tart cider, lightly carbed. Here's the gameplan.
Ingredients:
8 x 96 ounce bottles (6 gallons) Wegmans 100% Apple Juice, pasteurized, only vitamin C added
Enough dextrose to get a SG of 1.080
Nottingham Yeast
6 tsp Malic Acid, maybe more (to taste)
Make the yeast starter. In an Erlenmeyer flask, add 400 ML of juice, and 100 grams of dextrose. Mix well on stirplate for 15 minutes. Add Nottingham yeast, mix for an additional 30 minutes. Cover flask with paper towl and rubberband, and set aside for a few hours to get the yeast growing.
In a 6 gallon carboy, combine juice and enough dextrose to get a SG of 1.080. Mix well. Add yeast starter. Mix well. Cap with airlock and ferment in a cool (below 70 degrees) location.
When gravity reading is 1.040 (I'm estimating 7 - 10 days), it is time to bottle. Rack into bottling bucket. At this time, add 6 teaspoons of malic acid (add more or less to taste, I'm estimating 1 tsp / gallon). Bottle the cider.
Check the bottles every day. When they get to 1.030, they should be carbed and are ready to stovetop pasteurize.
The drop from 1.080 to 1.030 should give an ABV of 6.6%. It will be on the sweet side. For reference, a bottle of Angry Orchard Crisp has a gravity of 1.032, and is 5% ABV.
I'm not looking for anything fancy schmancy, no exotic ingredients like the left testical from a two horned unicorn, I just want to get back to basics. A nice, sweet/tart cider, lightly carbed. Here's the gameplan.
Ingredients:
8 x 96 ounce bottles (6 gallons) Wegmans 100% Apple Juice, pasteurized, only vitamin C added
Enough dextrose to get a SG of 1.080
Nottingham Yeast
6 tsp Malic Acid, maybe more (to taste)
Make the yeast starter. In an Erlenmeyer flask, add 400 ML of juice, and 100 grams of dextrose. Mix well on stirplate for 15 minutes. Add Nottingham yeast, mix for an additional 30 minutes. Cover flask with paper towl and rubberband, and set aside for a few hours to get the yeast growing.
In a 6 gallon carboy, combine juice and enough dextrose to get a SG of 1.080. Mix well. Add yeast starter. Mix well. Cap with airlock and ferment in a cool (below 70 degrees) location.
When gravity reading is 1.040 (I'm estimating 7 - 10 days), it is time to bottle. Rack into bottling bucket. At this time, add 6 teaspoons of malic acid (add more or less to taste, I'm estimating 1 tsp / gallon). Bottle the cider.
Check the bottles every day. When they get to 1.030, they should be carbed and are ready to stovetop pasteurize.
The drop from 1.080 to 1.030 should give an ABV of 6.6%. It will be on the sweet side. For reference, a bottle of Angry Orchard Crisp has a gravity of 1.032, and is 5% ABV.