My First Hard Cider

So i have the yeast and everything else i need, but i am having trouble picking the apple juice i want to use. Recommendations?

Are you doing a sweet draft-style cider or something dry?

I've had really good luck with the Earth's Pride 85% Macintosh Juice from BJs...its 100% juice (not from concentrate) and it's less than $5 a gallon.

Honestly, I have had great luck with Wal-Mart juice. That tap was the most popular one in the kegerator over the holidays!

9Frogs said:

Honestly, I have had great luck with Wal-Mart juice. That tap was the most popular one in the kegerator over the holidays!

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It has worked fine for me too. I made a nice little three gallon batch and then, once finished, made Apple Jack. I put it into quart jugs to age.

so i have heard these two rules. Not from concentrate and non pasteurized. the concentrate i can understand but why does it have to be non pasteurized?

I use pasteurized cider. The one time I used non-pasteurized cider from a local mill it ended up terrible.

And I've used "From Concentrate" to make some very good ciders. Just make sure there are no preservative or additives.

The Wal Mart juice is 100% juice, with only ascorbic acid (vitamin C) as a preservative. For a 5 gallon batch, I added one pound of corn sugar and one pound of brown sugar dissolved in a quart of water to up the ABV some. That, some Montrachet yeast, force carb it, and it is a continual hit. Good luck and enjoy!

I used 4 gallons of plum cherries that was steamer juiced, but because the fruit had been steamed after fermentation was complete of the juice it smelled like burnt hair. It tasted fine, but yeah smelt horrible and got dumped

You can use pasteurized juice, as long as it doesn't have potassium sorbate or potassium metabisulfite in it. I think not from concentrate juice makes slightly better hard cider then something reconstituted from frozen juice concentrate. Better then that is any actual apple cider. You can probably pick some up still, but the season is done so I doubt anybody will be getting more shipped in. The same rules apply for the preservatives though.

Real cider is about 6$ a gallon most places. Cheap apple juice is about 4$ a gallon. Cheapo apple juice makes very good cider. Not awesome, but very good. If you want a higher abv then you would get from the gravity of the juice/cider then many people add table sugar to increase the gravity. Typically, juice/cider has a gravity of 1.04 - 1.055. Once in a while you'll get a batch of cider that has a gravity of 1.07, but that's really rare.

If you are going to raise the abv with sugar, plan on letting it age for a while before you drink it. Unless your abv is extremely high, it's drinkable right after fermentation is complete. However, give it 2 months in the bottle and it's much better. 6 months and you'll wonder why you ever bought hard apple cider.

Happy brewing.

By going through all the selections, I found a juice from concentrate at Walmart that had nothing listed on the ingredients but apple juice and water--no vitamin C or anything else. I used this by adding about a pound of honey to 4 gallons of juice. I poured it onto an American Ale yeast cake from a finished stout. It sat in primary for two weeks and in secondary for 60 days. After the primary it was very harsh. After secondary it was much smoother. I used this to make a couple gallons of Apple Jack. It turned out quite nice and is now aging in half-gallon bottles.

cluckk said:

By going through all the selections, I found a juice from concentrate at Walmart that had nothing listed on the ingredients but apple juice and water--no vitamin C or anything else. I used this by adding about a pound of honey to 4 gallons of juice. I poured it onto an American Ale yeast cake from a finished stout. It sat in primary for two weeks and in secondary for 60 days. After the primary it was very harsh. After secondary it was much smoother. I used this to make a couple gallons of Apple Jack. It turned out quite nice and is now aging in half-gallon bottles.

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I'm glad it turned out well. Something about fermenting apple juice really needs conditioning, IMO.

Technically, what you made was a cyser. Yum yum.

I wouldn't call it a cyser since the honey was such a small amount of it--just like I wouldn't call a beer simply boosted with honey a braggot.

This wasn't the first time I've made it, but last time it was finished as a sparkling cider.

Thanks everyone for their input! Bout my juice tonight and will be doing it tomorrow. I have been going back and forth on if i should add more brown sugar or not. I will post pics tomorrow guys!

I just started my first 5 test batches of cider yesterday. I picked up some organic cider from a whole food store in the gallon glass jugs for about $7 each. Perfect for me because if supplies the fermentation vessel and juice. It is pasteurized but I don't think it has hurt it any it is still has a very nice sweet apple flavor.
I can't wait for the "you'll wonder why you ever bought hard apple cider" moment and am very excited about it.