Cider recipe help..

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nvs-brew

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Hey guys,
Wondering if you could help with a recipe?

So I went out today and got 7kg of granny smith apples 1kg red gala apes (sweet red apples) 2 kg of pears, also have 7g coopers pale ale yeast and loads of sugar, what else will I need? I'm guess more apple juice ? How much to make a 20/23 ltr batch around the 5% mark?

I don't my ciders dry but sounds like it could be reasonably sweet anyhow.

Do I need champagne yeast?

So far a run down,

7kg granny smith apples
1kg sweet gala apples
2kg of pears
1 pkt coopers pale ale yeast (7g)
???? Castor/brown(raw) sugar. ????

What else do you think I need?
Cheers
 
If you're only shooting for 5% ABV there's no need for the sugar. Any fresh pressed cider will reach that easily.
 
But what volume of apples/apple juice is needed for 5% in a 20 or 23 ltr batch?
 
nvs-brew said:
But what volume of apples/apple juice is needed for 5% in a 20 or 23 ltr batch?

20 or 23 liters. As much juice as you have, that's how much you'll ferment. It will probably have a starting gravity of 1.045-1.060, and will ferment to around 5.5-7% ABV. It won't be sweet though, it will be quite dry. The only way for it to be sweet is to stabilize and back sweeten(for a still cider), back sweeten and pasteurize, or else back sweeten and keg/refrigerate.
 
So I don't add any water? Just 100% juice?
Is there not a juice/water/sugar combination/ratio that works?
 
Why add water to your juice? All it'll do is water down the cider, giving less flavour & less alcohol. And I wouldn't use champagne yeast, it tends to strip out a lot of flavour. I'd use an ale yeast (Nottingham is my fav.) It'll give you much more flavour. If you want it to be a little sweeter you could steep about 1/2lb of crystal malt in water, but you might want to add some FAJC (thawed) to make up for the added water.
Regards, GF.
 
Yeah just want to bulk it out abit if possible, that's why I wanted to add some water...
I was thinking the water and sugar added would keep the % about the same..
Anyone tried it?
 
nvs-brew said:
Yeah just want to bulk it out abit if possible, that's why I wanted to add some water...
I was thinking the water and sugar added would keep the % about the same..
Anyone tried it?

So basically you want to water down your cider, and then make up for the gravity with sugar? You could probably so this, but it goes against everything I stand for so I'm afraid I can't offer advice ;)
 
Yeah I was guessing from previous beer making that that was a possibility, wouldn't water it down a great deal but I'm just looking to bulk it slightly and save abit of $$'s..
There is always next time to try,.just got half the ingredient sitting here and keen to give it a try! :)
 
Ok, tomorrow is the day...picking up my juicer...

Ingredients:
10kg of apples
12l apple juice
7g coopers pale ale yeast

Will I get a result from this? Your opinion?
 
My opinion is that you will get a result from it... After about 2 weeks, this will be very dry, almost like a white wine. Then you will want to have 2-3 cans of Frozen Apple Juice Concentrate from your local grocery store. Let them thaw out and add to the bottling bucket once fermentation is done.

That will sweeten it back up to a cider. Be sure you Pasturize the batch of bottles once the right carb level has been reached. No one likes bottle bombs :)
 
Awesome, awesome! :)

Will adding some juiced pears and a little brown sugar help sweet it up abit?
 

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