No added carbohydrates

My buddy and I have been homebrewing beer for half a year or so, and he moved to a new place with fruit trees so we decided to make a cider when the fruit started dropping as it was going to waste.

Long story short I think we did a damn good job getting it to the fermenter where it is now. We juiced buckets of apples and pears to get about 5.5 gallons juice, then we pasturized, added champagne yeast and a bit of tannin, and some pectic enzyme. We had fermentation about 16 hrs after pitching so we were pretty satisfied with the result.

But then I came on this forum for the first time and it seems every recipe has added some carbs (dextrose, cane sugar, brown sugar, honey, apple juice concentrate). Ours is just the apples and pears, are we in trouble taste wise or does this just mean lower ABV?

-kap

My short answer....

Wine is just grapes!

Having experimented with several types of sugar in my ciders, my favorite is using apple cider and yeast only. Adding sugar is not required or in my case not desired.

Your alcohol may be a little lower but that's not a terrible thing and you should have some great flavor.

Welcome to HBT!

Nothing wrong with your procedure; what Nurmey said.

Thanks for your responses, you put my mind at ease. Now to play the racking, bottling, waiting game

-kap

I make my cider straight. The ABV ends up 3-6% and that's just fine. Also, the lower ABV means less aging.

Got another question for you all. We are planning on adding fermaid to get a complete fermentation (we are using champagne yeast). The instructions say to add when 1/3 of the sugar is depleted, how will we know?

-kap

kaplanfx said:

Got another question for you all. We are planning on adding fermaid to get a complete fermentation (we are using champagne yeast). The instructions say to add when 1/3 of the sugar is depleted, how will we know?

-kap

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You'll need a hydrometer

enderwig said:

You'll need a hydrometer

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Cool, I have one actually, the trouble is getting a sample out without completely disturbing and oxygenating the cider. It's currently in a 6 gallon carboy with a carboy cap and a 3 piece valve. We decided just to go for it and add the fermaid.

The cider has been fermenting since Monday and there is still activity, it smell nice and sweet now

-kap

The added sugars are just a way to crank up the Alcohol content. I don't really homebrew with getting drunk faster as my goal, so I don't do that - If I felt the urge I'd use apple juice concentrate rather than corn sugar, etc. Or use honey and be making a cyser - with the point being to make cyser, not to make more-alcoholic cider.

I dislike champagne, so I don't use champagne yeast. I get a dry, finely carbonated, champagne-looking cider just fine using dry ale yeast. I've done wild yeast, and have come to prefer the predicability of ale yeast over the wackiness of wild yeast, especially since I no longer have "free for the labor" cider available.

Ecnerwal said:

I dislike champagne, so I don't use champagne yeast. I get a dry, finely carbonated, champagne-looking cider just fine using dry ale yeast. I've done wild yeast, and have come to prefer the predicability of ale yeast over the wackiness of wild yeast, especially since I no longer have "free for the labor" cider available.

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I'm relatively new to brewing, what is the main difference between the champagne yeast and say an ale yeast?

-kap

Champagne yeast is a wine yeast that is far more attenuative than ale yeasts. Champagne yeast will ferment up to 18% ABV or so, and make any cider or wine (under 18% ABV) dry. It's neutral and doesn't leave much in the way of fruity flavors behind. Ale yeast will ferment up to 9% or so (depending on strain) and may leave behind some fruity flavors.

It's pretty hearty yeast, active fermentation seems to have stopped several days ago (no bubbles) but the yeast is still in suspension. With most of the ales I have brewed, the yeast falls out pretty much as soon as fermentation is complete.

-kap