5 Day Sweet Country Cider

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I went a full 36 hours waiting for them to carb. I definitely could have gone more. When I drink them cold, they lose a lot of the carbonation.
 
Quick question. I'm going to bring a couple gallons of this with me out of town this weekend. I brewed it saturday. Could I bottle the 2 gallons I am going to take back into the plastic jugs that the juice came in? Seems easy and logical to do so if I could
 
I'm no cider expert but I don't see why not, so long as you're going to be keeping them cold. The yeast is still very much alive at bottling time for this recipe so it will keep fermenting away inside those plastic jugs unless you keep it cold. If you're going to be drinking it within a few days I don't think it would be a problem.
 
How do you take an accurate gravity reading of this stuff! So many bubbles rising up through the thief that it raises my hydrometer. I actually had a bunch form one big bubble under it!

Crazy to watch it ferment, not a lick of krausen but tons of tiny little bubbles.
 
Give the hydometer a good spin, like you would snap your fingers. That should do it.

I'm going to start a new batch of this tonight. My first turned out great, but this time I'll be using Safale US-05 instead of Nottingham and apple juice instead of fresh cider. Should be interesting to see the difference.
 
So I just decided to keg this stuff this am. Started at 1.066 and I kegged at 1.03.

How long will this keep in my fridge? Most of the research i've done seems to see this is still going to ferment out just much slower. Will it go vinegary or just slowly get more dry as time goes on?
 
Tried another batch with apple juice instead of cider. Sulfer smell. Bigtime. Any idea how to get rid of it? It's been 6 days in the fermenter..
 
Giving this one a try. Started it up yesterday and SG was 1.061. Used Fresh and Easy Fresh Pressed Apple Juice. Hopefully it turns out yummy.
 
So, I brewed some of this up per the instructions in the first post except that I only brewed 2 gallons. I scaled everything down to half though.

Specific gravity started out around 1.06. It was in the primary fermenter for 48 hrs. Then I bottled it and it's been sitting for 12hrs. I just opened one to check it before I pasteurized (or waited the other 12hrs) and half of the bottled fizzed out when I opened it.

I'm not really sure what to do at this point since I'm pretty new to all of this. Is it safe to pasteurize now? Is there anything I can do about it being over carbonated? So lost. Help!

Thank you in advance, all.
 
Yeah, kind of figured. What I ended up doing was taking the caps off of all of the bottles and letting some of the carbonation out. Once they seemed calmer, I capped them again and pasteurized them immediately after. Nothing busted, so hopefully it's alright. Fingers crossed! As soon as they cool back to room temperature, I'll put them in the fridge.
 
Great recipe! First batch was awesome. I've been researching yeast harvesting and have some jars in the fridge that I pulled from an amber ale I did. Would I be able to pitch this on this recipe? And do I need to make a starter?
 
The first batch turned out pretty good. I didn't cold crash it before bottling and wish I would have. Mine ended up bottle conditioning for 3 days before I pasteurized it. I did have one blow up while pasteurizing it, thank god I did it in my boil pot with the lid on outside. No one got hurt. Next time I'm probably going to keg it and force carb then bottle it.

Thanks for the awesome recipe! Going to have to do it again soon.
 
Tried out this recipe, started fermenting on Saturday and taste tested today. Great apple cider flavor up front, a little bit of a wine aftertaste. Will be racking, bottling, carbonating, and pasteurizing tomorrow.

Any ideas where the aftertaste is coming from? My first thought is yeast still floating in the cider as fermentation is still quite active.
 
Not sure, I get a real funk aroma to mine... which I kind of liked. But it threw some friends off. I kegged my batch at 1.03, I think the funk came from active fermentation as it smelled like a carboy. The remnants of the keg afterwards looked like krausen too.
 
Pretty pleased with the results, a clean, apple-y sparkling cider with some alcohol kick. Still a little wine flavor, but racking improved the flavors significantly. Will be doing this frequently.


IMG_5807.jpg
 
I started mine last Friday with an OG of 1.080. 5 Gallons, added 5lbs of white sugar. It's been bubbling away, it's in a room that has been a steady 68-70 degrees. I have it in a plastic fermentation bucket.
I wanted it to be ready for St Patty's day, but I don't have any glass bottles to pasteurize it in. I don't mind about it being carbed or not. Can I nuke this with a bottle or two of 190 proof Everclear to stop fermentation, and then filter it through a coffee filter into a bottling bucket to take to the "party house"? I don't mind it having a high alcohol content-actually that's a goal of mine. I haven't checked the SG since fermentation begun.
 
I wouldn't try the Everclear, just throw what you can into any containers you can get (jugs, mason jars, PET soda bottles, etc.) leave 5-6 hrs to carb a bit and crash in the fridge. As long as you drink it all in one sitting you'll have no trouble.
 
I started mine last Friday with an OG of 1.080. 5 Gallons, added 5lbs of white sugar. It's been bubbling away, it's in a room that has been a steady 68-70 degrees. I have it in a plastic fermentation bucket.
I wanted it to be ready for St Patty's day, but I don't have any glass bottles to pasteurize it in. I don't mind about it being carbed or not. Can I nuke this with a bottle or two of 190 proof Everclear to stop fermentation, and then filter it through a coffee filter into a bottling bucket to take to the "party house"? I don't mind it having a high alcohol content-actually that's a goal of mine. I haven't checked the SG since fermentation begun.

Two .75L bottles of 190 proof booze added to 5 gallons of 5% cider would make for 11.6% "cider" and would likely be so completely unbalanced it would be a waste of both. If your goal is to get drunk, do shots and chase with cider so you can at least enjoy one of them in the process! :mug:
 
I haven't brewed in a very long time...

Started two batches today.

1st batch
4 gal fresh pressed Pear Juice (pasteurized)
1/2 lb local wildflower honey - has a slight orange flavor to it
1lb brown sugar
Red Star yeast (its all I could get my hands on)

2nd batch
4 gal fresh pressed Apple Juice (pasteurized)
3/4 local wildflower honey
1lb brown sugar
Red Star yeast

Looking forward to this...I love unfiltered ciders. This is in the newly converted brew room of the house just bubbling away.
 
Reading here about filling a plastic "test bottle" for a carb check prior to pasteurizing. How exactly does that work?

Obviously if I like the carbonation then I head straight for pasteurization. What if I think it needs a little more since my test bottle is done? Guess?


Bel isi,
-kyle
 
Reading here about filling a plastic "test bottle" for a carb check prior to pasteurizing. How exactly does that work?

Obviously if I like the carbonation then I head straight for pasteurization. What if I think it needs a little more since my test bottle is done? Guess?


Bel isi,
-kyle
My best guess is you fill a PET bottle of the same volume as your glass or other bottles that you can easily open and close to check your carb. Pour out a small amount, test, assuming your normal bottles and your test bottle are in the same place and at the same temperature, they should carb relatively similarly.

If it needs more carbonation, reseal the test bottle and test later. Your bottles should continue carbing as normal without any risk of oxidation.
 
After you fill the plastic bottle you squeeze out all the air of the bottle and then cap it. The bottle will expand as the cider carbs.
 
Reading here about filling a plastic "test bottle" for a carb check prior to pasteurizing. How exactly does that work?

Obviously if I like the carbonation then I head straight for pasteurization. What if I think it needs a little more since my test bottle is done? Guess?


Bel isi,
-kyle

Yeah, I think you are mistaken. The point of using a plastic bottle is to be able to squeeze it to see where your carbonation level is, not to open it and drink it. Obviously, the stiffer the bottle, the higher the carbonation level. When the bottle is relatively stiff, its time to pasteurize the rest.
 
I haven't brewed in a very long time...

Started two batches today.

1st batch
4 gal fresh pressed Pear Juice (pasteurized)
1/2 lb local wildflower honey - has a slight orange flavor to it
1lb brown sugar
Red Star yeast (its all I could get my hands on)

2nd batch
4 gal fresh pressed Apple Juice (pasteurized)
3/4 local wildflower honey
1lb brown sugar
Red Star yeast

Looking forward to this...I love unfiltered ciders. This is in the newly converted brew room of the house just bubbling away.


That perry sounds intriguing. Would love to know how that turns out.
 
After you fill the plastic bottle you squeeze out all the air of the bottle and then cap it. The bottle will expand as the cider carbs.

Yeah, I think you are mistaken. The point of using a plastic bottle is to be able to squeeze it to see where your carbonation level is, not to open it and drink it. Obviously, the stiffer the bottle, the higher the carbonation level. When the bottle is relatively stiff, its time to pasteurize the rest.

Excellent, thanks!


Bel isi,
-kyle
 
This is my first time brewing so you could imagine my surprise when I found out that my batch actually turned out perfect. I just pulled a bottle from one of my batches and it tasted great it's still a bit sweet and after it's carbonated and cold tastes amazing thanks for sharing this awesome recipe :mug:
 
First time cider brewer here, though I have brewed a few batches of all grain beer. I am hoping to make only one gallon of this just to see what it is like and get a little experience. However, I have a yeast question. Nottingham is almost $5, while champagne yeast is 75 cents. Can I use the champagne yeast without ill effect, assuming I pasteurized to stop the fermentation in the bottle?
 
Well, my cider is complete. It tasted quite foul right out of the fermenter - very yeasty. I bottled it and waited about 3 days, then pasteurized. It should have waited a few more days, as it happens, but it is very lightly carbonated (like, if you pay attention, you will see some bubbles). After about a week or so, it finally tastes OK out of the refrigerator. Not sweet exactly, but not terribly dry. I think I caught it at 1.004, but I had a hard time getting a solid read. It is tart and pretty refreshing. All in all, forgiving my n00b brewz0r skillz, it seems like a decent deal. This was my first stab at cider and I learned a lot.
 
Bottled this thursday after 4 days fermenting. Started on top of a US-05 yeast cake. Was going like crazy after 3-4 hours. I probably let it go too far, as the FG was 1.010 (OG 1.058 ). Carbed up in about 5-6 hours and had to pasteurize quickly to avoid bombs. After sitting in the fridge for a few days, a lot has settled out. taste so far is a tad tart. Hope it mellows out a bit. Don't know if I could drink as is.
 
Fermentation was finished by day 3. FG got all the way down to 1.006. In all honesty tasted like ass. Little sweetness, very hollow tasting if that makes sense. Maybe a backsweetening is in order. I love this idea and am going to try it again but try to catch the SG way earlier to keep more flavor in. Probably give fermentation a day and a half or so. Awesome idea, I just need to work on gettin my process right.
 
sounds good- but do you really get 5% after just a couple of days of fermentation? seems like I have run mine completely dry and only get to 5 or 6%...? not that it matters- if it tastes good then who gives a damn... just curious-
 
I transferred my imperial blonde to the secondary today and figured since I got a little lag I'd try this. I'm thinkin bout a full 5 gallons. Maybe add a little more brown sugar and an extra cinnamon stick. I like cider to have a little higher abv so I'm thinkin bout a back sweeten with frozen concentrate. Any thoughts.
 
Started this Sunday morning at 11 am had about 1.067. Checked it last night at 11 pm and I was around 1.052 and get a bubble out of the airlock about every 4 seconds. She's percolating nicely.
 
I'm down to 1.042 sg. I'm shootin for 1.03-1.02. Won't be long now.
 
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