Drop Them Panties Again - Sweet Sparkling Cider

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BrewFrick

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Ok, so I didn't think my cider recipe was anything special in the first place and I posted it without much testing and so far I have actually only brewed the one batch and kept on experimenting. I never intended for comparisons to Ed Wort's recipes or inspire any sort of following, just sharing ideas. I am VERY glad everyone has enjoyed it and even more glad if it inspired even one person to experiment and test more cider recipes.

I have brewed much more cider, beer, and mead since the original post and I have an updated recipe for anyone that is interested, so lets drop them panties again!

8 cans of Apple Juice Concentrate (whatever kind you prefer)
2 Gallons Apple Juice/Cider (either one will do, experiment to taste)
2 lbs Demerera Sugar or Raw Sugar granules or Honey
Nottingham Dry Ale Yeast
Yeast Nutrient
Topped up to 5.5 gallons with more apple juice/cider


Heat one gallon of juice up to 150, remove from heat and add the sugar first. Stir to dissolve completely and then add in the cans of concentrate. I recommend leaving the concentrate cans out to get a little soft but you will want some ice left to bring down the temperature on the juice/sugar mix. You can also substitute cranberry or lemonade/limeade concentrate for about half of the cans of apple concentrate for different flavor profiles. Just make sure your concentrate has no additives other than vitamin C.

Yes there are differences and options as compared to the original recipe, all are flavor based decisions. You do really want to stick with the ratios, stick with the amounts and vary up the varieties. One thing I have learned about cider is that all the small tweaks make a difference in the final product and everyone has different tastes. The white sugar will work in a pinch, demerera is a much better option as is raw granulated sugar. Honey will add a very nice flavor and ferment like a mad dog on a bone. Feel free to mix and match on the sugar adjuncts, experimentation just helps you find out what you like. And why water it down? Top the sucker off with more apple flavor!

I think the sweet mead yeast in the original recipe was not the best choice. I really like the Notty for a clean fermenting and neutral flavor ale yeast that will rip up some sugar in a recipe like this. The Notty will not tolerate as high an ABV as the mead yeast and will leave the end product sweeter. I would put the pack of Notty with about a half pint of apple juice to rehydrate and start the yeast on some sugar as soon as you decide you will be making this.

I really like to bottle this after it tastes good from the samples and keep an eye on it in the bottles so that it will stay sweet and carb up like champagne.
Bottle bombs are a concern but I open one every so often after the first week of conditioning to check the carbonation. I then throw it all on the fridge after it reaches the volume of carb I am looking for. More trouble to check and keep the whole batch in the fridge after it gets where you want, but your extra work will be rewarded with the panty dropping power of a cubic ton of mardi gras beads in a bottle!
 
Very timely post BrewFrick.

I was looking for a sweet sparkling cider recipe in a thread few threads below yours. What's the ABV on this?

I'll be kegging so I won't have to worry about a bottle bomb.

In what store would I buy this Demerara sugar? First I heard of it, Guyanese sugar, hmmm...

I might give this a go.
 
I really don't get into calculations in brewing so I couldn't tell you the ABV, I just know it is rather high. I look at it more as art than science I guess.

Wal-Mart, at least here in OK, has demerera sugar in 2 lb. plastic jugs, that is where I get mine.
 
Thanks, I'll check it out at the local Walmart. I may reduce the amount a bit (1.5 or 1 lb) so the ABV isn't too high.
 
Pictures of the panties droping is a must for this thread to have any merrit

44582-Clipart-Illustration-Of-A-Red-Heels-Her-Red-Thong-Panties-Hanging-On-Her-Ankles.jpg
 
May I just ask a naive question? Why bother heating some juice to dissolve the sugar.
It has been my experience that the yeast find it and do what they do so well if it is dissolved or not.
Now it may allow you to get a better OG reading, but I use and trust Hightest spreadsheet a lot more than I do my hydrometer and sobriety most of the time.
Now if only I could find AJ concentrate at a decent price. Right now I just use them to back sweeten. The recipe does sound great once again.
 
Just tried this reciepe!! Got it in the priimary last night and it was bubbling away this morning, the only problems I had were after I added the 8 cans concentrate and 2 gallons apple juice with 2 lbs honey I was only sitting about 3.5 gallons, so as per directions I added 2 additional gallons of apple juice not sure if this is right or not, My OG reading was 1.085 which I thought was rather high but i figure I would check on it in two weeks and see how its doing, also I didnt have any notty but I did have a pack of Windsor to use, also no mention on how much yeast nutrient so I used 3 tsps, Can anyone tell me if this all sounds right? Sorry this is my second brew Thanks for all your help!!!!!!
 
Just add the nutrient per directions on container. The OG is high because you have added a lot of sugar to the mix with all the concentrate, cider, and honey. If you ferment this dry it will finish at about 11% abv. Or you could cold crash that early and stabilize. That's what I did with a similar recipe.
 
Thanks a ton for your input very helpful! I wanted this to finish Semi-Sweet
so i suppose I will be looking for a gravity between 1.010-1.015 and just to be sure when I get that reading is that when I want to rack into the secondary for clearing????? How long do you think it is going to be in the
primary for?? I'm trying no to mess this up so I appreciate all your help!
And when you say cold crash early how early and what point of the brew are you talking about? My whole plan was primary for around two weeks or however long it will take to reach 1.010-1.015 then rack to secondary till mostly clear not sure how long this will take, then bottle and condition for a week and open one to check carbonation once i reach desired carb the cold crash condition all bottles in fridge, does this idea sound good?
 
Howdy,

I started a 5 gal batch and was wondering if you added anything to carb with or just bottled when you liked the taste? I'm looking forward to bottling it and what to be ready when the cider is.

Thanks

Jug
 
I just kegged my first batch of this stuff. Fermentation stopped at 1.010, which was the what wanted. I had a bit more than would fit in the keg so I poured it into a pint glass over some ice. It's not bad and I expect will get better with age (if it lasts long enough).
 
Very glad everyone enjoys my recipe so much. I just put another one together using my original as a base, not too much different but I added in some limeade concentrate for some acid and a little citrus flavor.

8 cans of Apple Juice Concentrate (Great Value Brand)
2 cans of Limeade Concentrate (Great Value Brand)
2 Gallons Apple Juice (Great Value Brand)
2 lbs Demerera Sugar (easy to find in sugar and baking goods section)
Nottingham Dry Ale Yeast
Yeast Nutrient
Topped up to 5.5 gallons with more apple juice


I spent $15 total on the ingredients at Wal-Mart, except the Notty which I have a stash of.

I am hoping that the limeade will amp up the apple flavor and add a little citrus bite to it also.
 
I let mine go a little dry, then back sweeted with a cup of honey. It carbed up nice and so far no bottle bombs. It is clearing but does have some haze in it. Next time I'm not going to boil the apple juice. Anyway I like it!

May try one with molasses instead of honey

Jug
 
Boiling the juice will set the pectin and cause a haze for sure, don't ever boil juice or honey if you are planning to brew with it(except burnt mead). As long as you don't go over 150 you will be ok but you can even leave it lower than that if you like, I have had luck dissolving the sugar into solution at 130 or 140. You want the heat to break down the sugar a bit and make it easier for the yeast to eat on also.

Jug - Molasses will overpower at even low amounts, be careful with it.
 
Very glad everyone enjoys my recipe so much. I just put another one together using my original as a base, not too much different but I added in some limeade concentrate for some acid and a little citrus flavor.

8 cans of Apple Juice Concentrate (Great Value Brand)
2 cans of Limeade Concentrate (Great Value Brand)
2 Gallons Apple Juice (Great Value Brand)
2 lbs Demerera Sugar (easy to find in sugar and baking goods section)
Nottingham Dry Ale Yeast
Yeast Nutrient
Topped up to 5.5 gallons with more apple juice


I spent $15 total on the ingredients at Wal-Mart, except the Notty which I have a stash of.

I am hoping that the limeade will amp up the apple flavor and add a little citrus bite to it also.

This has turned into the most flavorful of my batches yet, I bottled it today after three weeks in secondary and added in a cup of corn sugar to carb it up nice and sparkly. Great apple flavor, almost perfect sour apple taste with a little left over sweetness to balance. I plan on getting it carbed to the desired volume and then putting it all in the fridge to pullin the bubbles and stop any further ferment.

Keep tuned in as I have another variant of this recipe in the works with cranberry/dark cherry juice and brown sugar.
 
I started a variation of this last Friday. I used a six-gallon Better Bottle and filled it with about 5.5 gallons of apple juice, 4 cans of frozen apple juice concentrate, 4 cans of apple-cranberry concentrate, 2lbs of sugar in the raw, 1lb of clover honey, forgot to put in yeast nutrient, and pitched in a yeast starter that I made with the only yeast I had on hand: 1 packet of Muntons and 1 packet of Red Star Montrachet. I figured an ale yeast like Muntons might balance out that "rocket fuel" taste that the Montrachet can sometimes impart, but didn't want to go straight with the muntons because I wasn't sure how it would taste.

I have to say that fermenting cider is one of my favorite smells in the world.
 
Very glad everyone enjoys my recipe so much. I just put another one together using my original as a base, not too much different but I added in some limeade concentrate for some acid and a little citrus flavor.

8 cans of Apple Juice Concentrate (Great Value Brand)
2 cans of Limeade Concentrate (Great Value Brand)
2 Gallons Apple Juice (Great Value Brand)
2 lbs Demerera Sugar (easy to find in sugar and baking goods section)
Nottingham Dry Ale Yeast
Yeast Nutrient
Topped up to 5.5 gallons with more apple juice


I spent $15 total on the ingredients at Wal-Mart, except the Notty which I have a stash of.

I am hoping that the limeade will amp up the apple flavor and add a little citrus bite to it also.

I made this and it turned out awesome. For how high it is in alcohol it's shockingly smooth. A couple pints of this and BAM your hammered.

I am going to brew it again right away.
 
BrewFrick This sounds like a great recipe. I would love to brew a batch of it and do the science-y part to figure out all the gravity measurements.

BTW. I see you mentioned WalMart in OK. Where in OK are you? Im in OK as well. PM me if you dont want to post it on here.
 
Looks like a good recipe BrewFrick. Quick questions for you. If the yeast crap out and leave a sweet cider, how are they kicking back up to eat the additional corn sugar for carbonation? Also, did you age this at all prior to drinking, or is it smooth and apple-y after carbonating?

:mug:
 
This has turned into the most flavorful of my batches yet, I bottled it today after three weeks in secondary and added in a cup of corn sugar to carb it up nice and sparkly. Great apple flavor, almost perfect sour apple taste with a little left over sweetness to balance. I plan on getting it carbed to the desired volume and then putting it all in the fridge to pullin the bubbles and stop any further ferment.

Keep tuned in as I have another variant of this recipe in the works with cranberry/dark cherry juice and brown sugar.

how long did you let it go in the primary? Do you know what the final gravity was?
 
I can't answer for BrewFrick but I left it in the primary for 1 month like I do with all my brews. Then racked to keg and force carbed. It racked clean and clear. We were drinking it on ice before it even cooled down to serving temp

I don't think you could carb this in a bottle by adding sugar since it has a residual sweetness and the yeast is at it's max consumption.

cheers
 
Does anyone out there think you could carb this in a bottle? I am hoping so but ShakerD might just be right.
 
You could use the hot water sterilization method if you want to bottle carb.
Why the heck not??
 
Just wanted to drop a quick note - this sparkling hard cider is very good. 4 weeks in the primary, no secondary and it was clear. Forced carbed it after it cooled in the fridge for a day and it was delicious. thx brewfick and shakerd:mug::tank:
 
I have a batch of this in the fermenter right now. still green tasting, but not done fermenting yet. it's gonna be high octane for sure!:tank:
 
Hey guys,

Newbe here. I made this receipe except I went with a packet of Champagne Yeast. ABV came out to 14%. I'm on second batch now and added one tablespoon of Apple Pie spice, plus 1 ounce of imitation Maple flavor just to see what it does to the flavor. My first batch came out awesome and I even bottled it by backsweeting. After 10 days it is carbing up nice, opened one this evening and it is really nice and refreshing.:tank:
 
and in case anyone doesn't know what demerera sugar is, we call it Turbinado in the US. Or Sugar in the Raw. It's just regular cane sugar that hasn't had all of the molasses refined out.
 
Very glad everyone enjoys my recipe so much. I just put another one together using my original as a base, not too much different but I added in some limeade concentrate for some acid and a little citrus flavor.

8 cans of Apple Juice Concentrate (Great Value Brand)
2 cans of Limeade Concentrate (Great Value Brand)
2 Gallons Apple Juice (Great Value Brand)
2 lbs Demerera Sugar (easy to find in sugar and baking goods section)
Nottingham Dry Ale Yeast
Yeast Nutrient
Topped up to 5.5 gallons with more apple juice


I spent $15 total on the ingredients at Wal-Mart, except the Notty which I have a stash of.

I am hoping that the limeade will amp up the apple flavor and add a little citrus bite to it also.

I just bottled a variation of your recipe and it was very good. Lots of apple flavor, with a touch of sweetness, and the limeade definitely brings out more of a cider element. The alcohol was probably about 6%. I couldn't taste it, but I definitely felt it. In my opinion it was almost indistinguishable from a cider you would get from a farm stand.
-----------------------------------------
~ 3 gallon
4 can Apple Juice (12oz)
1 can Limeade (12oz)
2 Gallon Shoprite Apple Cider
1/2 Gallon Unfiltered Apple Juice
US-05 Yeast
------------------------------------------
 
I haven't tried this as of yet, but hope to this weekend. Some quick questions for those who have:

1.)Is a secondary necessary for this... some have, some haven't?
2.)For those who have bottle carbonated, have you used any carb tablets or additional sugar?

Thanks!
 
Started a batch of this today...using honey instead of sugar... WITH the Limeade concentrate. Looks pretty badass... can't wait for it to get done!

By the way... and just for the record... I LOVE that I have to search for "panties" when I want to look at this recipe... LOL! :rockin:
 
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