Graham's English Cider

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This has become my base recipe for cider. I use bottled lemon juice and a little extra tea, and I've also been oaking it a bit as of late. This blows Apfelwein out of the water, though.
 
I'm gonna start a batch of this tonight. Just one question though. I'm gonna make five gallons in my 6.5 gallon Carboy. When I rack it to secondary should I use a 5 gallon carboy or a 6.5? since all I have is two 6.5. Also how much do I need to top off when I put it into secondary. Thanks
 
@Freezeblade

How did your cider turn so clear? Did you use Pectinase, Pectolase?

Ty
 
Primary for one month, then rack to secondary, topping off with juice. Leave in secondary until crystal clear (usually 2-3 months or so from pitching) then bottle with 4oz priming sugar.

Takes about a month to carbonate, tastes good after 3 months, but just gets better with age. I usually start opening bottles about 5 months after pitching.

Cheers!

What type of sugar did you use for priming? Fermentable I suppose, otherwise your bottles would not have been carbonated. Didn't you have any bottle bombs after that?

Did you pasteurize any batch?

What was your O.G. and the F.G. before 1st racking?

Greets.

p.s. This will be is my next recipe. Is Earl Grey tea suitable for this?
 
I've never used the Earl.

I have found that rather than pasteurizing, to get more residual sweetness, I can use certain juice blends. Cran-apple and Apple-Blueberry-Pomogranate additions have resulted in higher FGs for me, but obviously add some color and flavor. If you're looking for just a little more sweetness, try 1/8 or 1/4 blend with the rest just plain apple juice. 50/50 will get some real sweetness, but not woodchuck sweetness.
 
I always have this on tap. I back sweeten with about 3 cans of apple juice concentrate when I keg it. I do a very low carbonation (just enough to push it thru the faucet). If you are on the fence about brewing this recipe...don't be. I have tried to find a better recipe or commercial ciders and I always compare them to Graham's. Guess what, all the others come in second place to this.

Cheers to Graham!!
 
Is the only reason why you would want to rack it to a secondary for 2 or 3 months is to clear it up. Does it do anything else? I used a Pectic Enzyme to help clear it out. Would I need to rack it to a secondary since I used the enzyme?
 
Started a four gallon batch today, one gallon is freshly juiced staymen winesaps, pasteurized and enzymed. Target abv is 6.4 pct. Bubbling along nicely!
 
I'm on my 3rd and 4th batches if this. The first time I followed the recipe exactly (using organic cider from whole foods), the second time I subbed a half gallon of blueberry pomegranate juice and used food lion brand aj for the rest. It was perfect as originally spelled out, I think I'll end up finishing the whole batch before it's aged to the point others are calling it drinkable. The blueberry pomegranate modification finished slightly sweeter and heavier, I don't enjoy it as much. The original is dry, thin, and a bit tart, which suits my tastes. To be clear, I don't usually like ciders, I was just experimenting with some empty fermenters between brewing beers. Some friends that tried it have said it's great, but others complained that it was too thin and too fizzy. Maybe those characteristics change given time, but I like it as is, aged in the bottle about a month. Just know what you're getting into. I think that this is a good fit if you like lighter, hop forward beers. I intend to always keep some on hand for when I don't feel like wrecking my palate with a tongue-bruising IPA. Thanks for the recipe.

Ps, my 4th batch is fermenting with a German Kolsch yeast (wlp029) - no other changes. I expect it to finish even more crisp, and without the fruity notes from the S04. In several months, I'll report back.
 
I always have this on tap. I back sweeten with about 3 cans of apple juice concentrate when I keg it. I do a very low carbonation (just enough to push it thru the faucet). If you are on the fence about brewing this recipe...don't be. I have tried to find a better recipe or commercial ciders and I always compare them to Graham's. Guess what, all the others come in second place to this.

Cheers to Graham!!

I've done the same backsweetening, but then also added 1/2 tsp malic acid. Kegged a batch just after Thanksgiving and the improvement from then until now is significant. Wow this is good (now). I'm going to bottle condition my next batch (without adding the AJ) to see what its like in a drier form.
 
A couple quick questions as I'm new to brewing and making cider

1) is the yeast nutrient necessary ? Just add it directly to carboy ?
2) what type of priming sugar do you typically use ? Corn sugar ?
3) pasteurize after bottling ? This topic is a bit confusing , is it necessary when using treetops juice ?
 
Has anyone tried this skipping secondary, and bottle aging for the additional time that it should have been in secondary?
 
A couple quick questions as I'm new to brewing and making cider



1) is the yeast nutrient necessary ? Just add it directly to carboy ?

2) what type of priming sugar do you typically use ? Corn sugar ?

3) pasteurize after bottling ? This topic is a bit confusing , is it necessary when using treetops juice ?


1). Yeast nutrient isn't required but is recommended. You'll have a better fermentation and more importantly, less bad smells.

2). Corn sugar works. You can also use frozen apple juice concentrate, or honey, or anything. Look up priming tables for your sweetener of choice.

3). Most importantly, if you bottle carb you need to pasteurize. Cider has a tendency to either just keep carbonating until the bottle either gushes when open or explodes. Bottle pasteurizing kills the yeast after you reach your desired carbonation level. You can cold crash, rack off the yeast, carbonate, and then keep the bottles cold. That would probably be safe, as long as you never let the bottles warm up again. I'd still rather bottle pasteurize though.
 
1). Yeast nutrient isn't required but is recommended. You'll have a better fermentation and more importantly, less bad smells.

I've made 5 batches of hard cider over the past few months, increasing my super ferment addition from batches 1 to 3. There's been a direct relationship between more sf (now using 1 tsp per gallon) and less/no off odor. I am fully convinced that it's cause and effect. I may start to look around at other nutrient sources but I am convinced that I need it in my cider.
 
Still got my 5.5 gals in the secondary, very clear now @ 3 months, I tasted it last night, OH MY GOODNESS, absolutly fantastic, it reminds me of the old days Swan Upping on the River Thames.
Only one problem, I dont have any bottles to put it in yet.
 
I just kicked off two one gallon batches. one on the yeast cake of another cider i just bottled.
 
I'm a new brewer. Started this on Saturday, 2/8, following the recipe exactly. There was a brief krausen after 24 hours, but now it's disappeared. I can see a lot of bubbling happening at the top (like a fizzy soda), and the airlock is going nuts. Is it normal to have no krausen on a cider like this? Used Safale US-04.
 
Just finally took this out of secondary and bottled it on 2-10-14 after 11-months from starting it on 3-11-13. I used a healthy dose of yeast nutrient and did not have any off-smells at all. I also used Fermcap.

Crystal clear and nice and fresh. I decided not to carbonate it for something different. It's deceptive because it's pretty similar to a dry apple juice; you can't really taste any alcohol.

I'm going to be starting another batch today or tomorrow. I used the English Ale yeast last time, and will be using US-05 this time as I have a packet that needs to be used. I'll be curious to see how the US-05 compares to the S-04.

I may end up adding in some pear juice in-place of part of the apple juice, especially with the US-05 likely drying this out a little more than the S-04.
 
Just made my first batch of this last night. First picture is right after I pitched the yeast and the second is seventeen hours in. Here's to hoping this is ready in time for my wedding.
ImageUploadedByHome Brew1394733604.291079.jpgImageUploadedByHome Brew1394733612.903019.jpg
O.G of 1.052
 
1 gallon batch ready to be bottled this weekend, finished at 1.001, the Gravity sample was lime forward, and a bit tart, but not undrinkable. into bottles to age.
 
Do you need to pasteurize this after it's carb up? I figure I don't have to if I'm not backsweeten it


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Nope pasteurization is to stop additional fermentation when you add sugar or juice to back sweeten.

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I like dry wine but do not have much experience with cider. Wondering if I would need to back sweeten? How much fruit flavor comes through without? Gathering info for this spring when the apples are fresh.


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If you let it ferment out, to say 1.000 or below, its going to be tart. I do carb it to "soften" the tartness, and it helps. You can kill with cold crash, sorbate, and backsweeten. Leave it flat or "bottle pasteurize" to carb with sweetness.


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So if I do decide to backsweeten I would definitely want to bottle pasteurize?


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You would bottle pasteurize if you want both carbonation and sweetness. Pasteurizing would stop the yeast so you wont have bombs. I have never bottle pasteurized, but others have.

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So I decided to give this a try, as SWMBO has been begging me to make a cider for her. I am going to make 2 seperate batches. One with Nottingham, the other with White Labs English Cider Yeast. I borrowed the method I will be using from another cider thread here on HBT and thought I'd share it here. I followed the recipe to the T (Pun Intended).

I will be fermenting in 2 corny kegs with airlocks fitted onto the Gas Out ports. I filled the kegs with 4.5 gallons of juice + tea/lime/nutirent mixture and pitched the yeast. I plan on letting the primary go for 1 month at about 65 deg F, as advised in this thread. After that I will cold crash and rack into 2 clean corny's and top off with more juice. Then I will let them sit for another 2-3 months at cellar temps. Then I wll toss them in my keezer and slowly carb to 2.5 volumes over 6 - 8 weeks.

I have added a pick to illustrate my corny keg airlocks....

Cider.jpg
 
Well my wife hates cider but oh well. Just went to Walmart and picked up ingredients. Total was less than $25. I have about a week left on my 5 gallon dark cherry cider before it goes to secondary and was going to dump this batch right onto ale yeast cake. Will this be ok or should it be harvested first which I'm not sure how to do, but simple research shall help me.


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I have a batch of Bitter fermenting on Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire right now. Could I pour the apple juice directly onto the yeast cake?
 
I just poured my unicorn blood recipe into secondary and poured just over 5 gallons of Walmarts Great Value ( which does taste "great" by the way), lime/tea mixture, 2.5lbs of warmed honey and 5tsp yeast nutrient onto an ale yeast cake. I'll let you know how it takes off...


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...10hrs in and steady airlock activity every 9-10 seconds... nice!!

Edit: fermentation took off on existing yeast cake after 24hrs bubbling every second or less. Now 5 days in, still every 3 seconds. Must be the honey and nutrients! Yeasties lovin' it.

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Gathered all the ingredients and plan to make it this weekend. It will be my second home brew batch!

Spent a semester in London during undergrad. Very much looking forward to having a high quality dry cider that I don't have spend a small fortune on.

EDIT: It is bubbling away. Next few months are going to be torture waiting for this!
 
Just racked over to secondary and almost had a heart attack. I Had to buy a new carboy and went with the better bottle for price and ease. Stupid me forgot to get a bung thinking it was the same size as the glass, it is not. So after cleaning and sanitizing everything I began siphoning into the better bottle. Go to put the bung and airlock and and crap doesn't fit. So had to clean out the glass carboy and sanitize it and then siphon back into that one.

Long story short. I'm an idiot but got it done.

Gravity is down to 1.000


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Can't wait to rack into secondary... been fermenting since 3/23, bubbles have slowed to 18 seconds and projected secondary 4/18. Got to be patient... patient... patient...........


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Has anyone tried basing a batch of perry off of this recipe? Curious how it would turn out using pear juice in lieu of the apple juice but keeping everything else the same...
 
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