5 Day Sweet Country Cider

Hey Y'all,
just got really excited due to the arrival of my onederbrew and the supplies from Midwestsupplies.

Been looking for simple fast cider recipes for SWMBO and found this one(post #1) - awesomely simple!

Had to modify it a bit due to shortage of juice, but here's the modified recipe-I was winging it so we'll see how it turns out:
2 gallons Treetop brand Apple Cider
1/2 lb(eyeballed it byt cutting the bag in half) light brown sugar -Dixie brand
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon(no stix on hand)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract - just 'cause she digs vanilla
Wyeast 4766 Cider yeast smackpack
Pear "slop" made from 3 egyptian pears diced, and simmered with 2-3 cups of water, then mashed through a SS Mesh strainer into the fermenter - it left about 2 Cups of pulp behind.

I simmered the sugar in a couple cups of water with the cinnamon and vanilla, then dumped that over the Pear slop, and let it cool a but
added one gallon of the cider and whipped the hell out of it to get it aerated and foamy, then added and whipped the second gallon of cider
then pitched the smackpack which i had just brought to room temp and then smacked and let sit for about 20 minutes(I know I know - I ought to have waited, but whaddya want?-I'm impatient, excited, and it was already 2130 on a 'school night')

Whipped it all again for a good minute or so, and assembled the onederbrew.

Note to self- when using a hand pump on a valve-ensure valves are OPEN if you want any sort of suction to occur in the vessel...idjit!

so, we'll see how it turns out.

I couldn't check gravity-the shiney new hydrometer I ordered from Midwest came shattered and covered in Priming sugar and speciality grains that had both been destroyed in shipping...to say I was 'irritated' is like saying King Kong was just going for a stroll through New York, doing a little sightseeing...not the fault of Midwest...although I have requested a few minor changes to future shipment packing methods to prevent similar issues.

Keep yer fingies crossed for me!

update:
Sipping on some now...mildly fizzy, mildly tart, mediumly sweet, cloudy as hades...LOTS of yeasties still running amok even after trying to cold crash it in the freezer last night for over 6 hours...

I pulled 3, 1-liter bottles out and put them in the fridge(pop-tops) they are building sediment, currently about 1/4th inch on the bottoms.

tried to pull most of the yeast out of the bottom of the conical section - first half quart was mostly pear slop.
Second half quart I pulled out on top of boiled water into another quart jar...thinner not as cloudy, but looks just like the glas I'm drinking...

must help swmbo finish christmas tree decorating--I'd love to hear any comments y'all might have.
-Z

ok now I need advice.
I tried cold crashing the yeast in the frezer, but got worried it'd freeze and kill the yeast after about 12 hours so i pulled it out.
Still cooking along after a full week in the fermenter,,,now the flavoe has gone from sweet with a bit of tart to dry with a lot of tart and very little sweet.

Decided to let it ferment totally out then back sweeten and bottle.
just not suer how to keep it sweeter and NOT blow the bottles apart. it's got some pretty fair carbonation being in a sealed fermenter averaging 8 psi between bleedoffs, and I don't want champagne like foam, but am afraid I'll either blow a bottle up or lose the carbonation if I pasteurize them.

Could use some input from any cider/perry folks out there.

Did a gallon of this to try it out. Cold crashed, racked to bottles, straight to the fridge (I like it still). No bottle bombs. Just tasty semi sweet session cider. Will do again!

Mirabotz said:

ok now I need advice.
I tried cold crashing the yeast in the frezer, but got worried it'd freeze and kill the yeast after about 12 hours so i pulled it out.
Still cooking along after a full week in the fermenter,,,now the flavoe has gone from sweet with a bit of tart to dry with a lot of tart and very little sweet.

Decided to let it ferment totally out then back sweeten and bottle.
just not suer how to keep it sweeter and NOT blow the bottles apart. it's got some pretty fair carbonation being in a sealed fermenter averaging 8 psi between bleedoffs, and I don't want champagne like foam, but am afraid I'll either blow a bottle up or lose the carbonation if I pasteurize them.

Could use some input from any cider/perry folks out there.

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This is the whole point of bottle pasteurization. you use the heat to kill the remaining yeast. therefore, let it ferment out, backsweeten and bottle. Fill one plastic bottle when bottling, and over the course of a day or so (maybe more, maybe less), you can squeeze that plastic bottle to check the carbonation level. Once you get to that desired carbonation level, you bottle pasteurize, killing the yeast and stopping fermentation. (but don't pasteurize the plastic bottle, obviously!)

EDIT: ok i re-read and I guess I misunderstood you question. If you can open them without them exploding everywhere, do that then re cap them, then pasteurize.

Thanks Day! I never thought of a 'control' bottle! great idea!
It looks like the ferm has finally finished...pressure guage has been steady at 4 psi for 24 hours...will try to get it all done today.

Started a 4 gal batch on Wednesday. OG 1.069. Added half a cup of toasted wood chips that had soaked in vodka for a couple days. Bottled on Saturday with a gravity of 1.028. Opened one after 6 hours, some carbonation, but nothing excessive. Waited another 2 hours and then put in dish washer to sterilize. Three bottles exploded in the dish washer.

Put them in the beer fridge and tasted on Sunday. I would estimate they ended up about 5.5% ABV. They taste great, have good, but not excessive carbonation. Very cloudy. It is difficult to explain the exploded bottles based on the carb level of those that survived. Weak bottles? Will make this again. Thanks.

Did mine as the recipe states, ended up stove top pasturizing about 1.035 (started at 1.08). Its plenty sweet, very cloudy, and has a distinct yeasty taste...What can I do next time to absolutely get rid of the yeasty taste...

I made this, but I re used s-04 from a beer batch.

Everything went very well until the bottling, I was a bit scared of bottle bombs since it-s summer here, so I just wait 14 hours from bottling to pasteurisation.

The result: almost completely flat cider, it feels when you leave a soda bottle in the fridge for weeks with just a inch of liquid in it. That level of carbonation I acchieved.

But it tastes decent, I guess with carbonation it'd be amazing.

swmbo likes it, and so do a couple of co-workers after stove top pasteurization and chilling in the fridge a few days, still really cloudy, a bit tarter than I'd wanted, and very yeasty, yet not much residue in the bottles-I put it into 1.5 l pop-tops...no bottle bombs, mild to medium carbonation...overall I'm fairly pleased with it,,,so long as wifey is...I'm good

Now-ON to the IPA! brewed and pitched Ferocious IPA from Midwestsupplies.com yesterday-ferm launched with a vengeance after about 8 -10 hours-the OnderBrew was fit to bust at the seams I thought! I let the pressure off this morning, came home this aftenoon, and closed the valve-still pumping out massive co2, and a bit of krausen foam...can;t wait for it to finish!! will have to serve it from the Onederbrew though as I don't have any corneys handy..dammit.

I just put a 5 gallon batch of this in the fermenter. I used 4 gallons of store bought Musselman's cider (no preservatives, pasteurized) and one gallon of store brand apple juice (again, no preservatives, pasteurized). I wanted to use all five gallons of cider, but the store only had 4 gallons, so I added the extra gallon of juice.

I originally added 1lb 9oz of brown sugar (to keep with the proportions of the recipe), but the OG was only 1.060 at 68 degrees F. I added the rest of the bag to bring the total amount of sugar added up to 2 lb. The OG was 1.064 (so a corrected OG of 1.065 according to Dave's dreaded specific gravity calculator).

I also added 1/4 tsp pectic enzyme by the recommendation of my LHBS. Does pectic enzyme have any effect on the OG? I added it about half an hour before pitching the yeast.

I'm just wondering why I was so far off from the OP's OG.

max384 said:

I just put a 5 gallon batch of this in the fermenter. I used 4 gallons of store bought Musselman's cider (no preservatives, pasteurized) and one gallon of store brand apple juice (again, no preservatives, pasteurized). I wanted to use all five gallons of cider, but the store only had 4 gallons, so I added the extra gallon of juice.

I originally added 1lb 9oz of brown sugar (to keep with the proportions of the recipe), but the OG was only 1.060 at 68 degrees F. I added the rest of the bag to bring the total amount of sugar added up to 2 lb. The OG was 1.064 (so a corrected OG of 1.065 according to Dave's dreaded specific gravity calculator).

I also added 1/4 tsp pectic enzyme by the recommendation of my LHBS. Does pectic enzyme have any effect on the OG? I added it about half an hour before pitching the yeast

I'm just wondering why I was so far off from the OP's OG.

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Did you heat it? You need to heat everything up to melt the sugar and create a solution. If you don't do that, the sugar won't be picked up in the gravity reading.

dayflyer55 said:

Did you heat it? You need to heat everything up to melt the sugar and create a solution. If you don't do that, the sugar won't be picked up in the gravity reading.

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I heated one gallon mixed with the brown sugar up to about 120 degrees. The sugar was completely dissolved. When I added it to the rest of the cider in my primary fermenter I stirred it very well and could tell the sugar was in solution, as there wasn't that 'granular' feeling on the bottom when stirring. I feel pretty confident all the sugar was dissolved.

Bigcorona said:

Started a 4 gal batch on Wednesday. OG 1.069. Added half a cup of toasted wood chips that had soaked in vodka for a couple days. Bottled on Saturday with a gravity of 1.028. Opened one after 6 hours, some carbonation, but nothing excessive. Waited another 2 hours and then put in dish washer to sterilize. Three bottles exploded in the dish washer.

Put them in the beer fridge and tasted on Sunday. I would estimate they ended up about 5.5% ABV. They taste great, have good, but not excessive carbonation. Very cloudy. It is difficult to explain the exploded bottles based on the carb level of those that survived. Weak bottles? Will make this again. Thanks.

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Pretty close on the guess!

I have done a couple batches of this already with great results. However, on my latest batch I seem to have made a mistake. I left the cinnamon sticks (ceylon) in the primary thinking it would simply impart more cinnamon flavor over the short time frame... This smells like the feet of a five day old corpse. The taste is better, but not by much. Is there any way to fix this? I assume letting it dry out and age might do it but that's not what I had in mind for this batch.

Nivek said:

I have done a couple batches of this already with great results. However, on my latest batch I seem to have made a mistake. I left the cinnamon sticks (ceylon) in the primary thinking it would simply impart more cinnamon flavor over the short time frame... This smells like the feet of a five day old corpse. The taste is better, but not by much. Is there any way to fix this? I assume letting it dry out and age might do it but that's not what I had in mind for this batch.

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I just started fermenting this about an hour ago and it was at 1.067. I left the cinnamon sticks in there. You say that the taste is "better". Does this mean "better than my last batch" or "better than it smells"? Should I take the sticks out?

vesebr said:

I just started fermenting this about an hour ago and it was at 1.067. I left the cinnamon sticks in there. You say that the taste is "better". Does this mean "better than my last batch" or "better than it smells"? Should I take the sticks out?

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Hah, sorry for the confusion. I meant it tastes better than it smells. My previous 5-day style batches have tasted amazing. So much so that it has convinced me to alter the method in which I will make all my sweet/semi-sweet ciders from here out.

I don't see anyone else here having this issue with the smell, so I assume it is either some sort of contamination or the ceylon cinnamon being eaten by the yeasties. I have re read the recipe and am not sure if it calls for cinnamon and vanilla in the fermentor or if the flavors are obtained from the small amount of juice heated on the stove top with those ingredients. I think steeping the cinnamon is what I'm trying next time.

Hey all! Noob to homebrew and takin stab at cider. I made mine with a lil less than a gallon of motts with a hole cut in the cap for the grommet and airlock : ) I added a frozen can of apple, mango, passion, 1/2 cup of sugar melted down. Gave it a good shake added hydrated 1/4 pack of Windsor dry yeast, gave it a lil shake and put the airlock on. I was gonna bottle carb and test with a pet bottle in a few days. OG was 1.070 and shooting for 1.020. Any comments or concerns? It's the one on the left. On the right is a variant of Edworts Apfelwein that I'm gonna leave for a few more months. : ) I wanted something sooner (and something sweeter for the swmbo). Did I leave enough headspace in the 5 day one?

Edit: I should probably mention after bottle carbing I plan to pasteurize. Is there any reason to prime or will there be enough to carb? Any feedback on stove top vs dishwasher pasteurize? Thanks everyone...one batch of beer just finishing bottle conditioning and I'm workin on batch number 2 of hard cider....officially EXTREMELY addicted!! Thankfully i have ya'll to help me!

I made a 2 gallon batch based on this recipe but with juice, it turned out amazing. All the cider had sorbate this time of year so I used juice. I had to more than double the sugar (proportionally it needed 10oz, I used 22oz) to hit the close to gravity listed in this thread's recipe (mine was 1.071), Mott's all natural juice was at 1.044 by itself. I also juiced 6 granny smith apples with my juicer and added that to get a bit more flavor, added pectic enzyme, yeast nutrient and yeast energizer per directions on the bottle. I took it down to 1.027 as it seemed really sweet still at 1.04, I assume after carbing for a day and pasteurizing it's at 1.025 or so. It came out really clear despite being cloudy at bottling. It's semi-sweet but with the amount of alcohol in it, it doesn't seem super sweet, it's fully carbed. I cold crashed it on my 35 degree porch the night before bottling, it probably kept a lot of CO2 in solution and cleared out some of the yeast.

I have this coming up tomorrow and looking for suggestions on ferm temps. Not listed on page 1 & haven't really seen it discussed. Is it the typical "dont run Notty over 68 or bad things will happen". What's everyone using?

Thanks & look forward to this

I ran mine at 60 (ambient) in my basement, turned out great, took about 5 days.

fizgig said:

I ran mine at 60 (ambient) in my basement, turned out great, took about 5 days.

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Thanks!

Just finished bottling this today. Brewed Tues night, bottled Fri morning (3 full days). No gravity readings. Went thru a full krausen, then dropped. Eventually turned into a sticky looming krausen, which I just racked under.

My bottles carbed up immediately, like 1.5 hours. Used plastic bottle tester. Put into dishwasher at 1.5 hours since cycle lasts 1/2 hour & dont want bombs, therefore figured I get a full 2 hours carb.

Sample was great! Thanks for recipe

Brewed this up today, 2 gallons, tossed the cider on a yeast cake of Wyeast 1010. I read a little about other folks using wheat yeast for cider though and I had just racked a wheat ale out of my Mr. Beer fermenter (makes a great "test batch" vessel) so it only made sense to make use of the yeasties with the rest of the ingredients that I already had on hand. I accidentally went over on the brown sugar and put 3/4c in the 2 gallon batch, so I hit a higher OG at 1.085. As long as I don't lose track of it, I am going to set my target FG at 1.040-1.045. Thanks for the recipe!

Will cider foam as it ferments? I did one and its going like crazy but I thought it blow the airlock right off but it hasn't. Not that I want it to but you know it a good sign it getting wild.

I got very little foam on mine, certainly nothing that would necessitate the use of a blowoff tube. Using the Wyeast 1010 I did notice a little bit of a sulfur smell when I opened the first carbonated bottle, but that is just a trait of the yeast from what I have read. The still cider had no noticeable sulfur smell.

Yea I do not think I'll need a blow off. It's been going pretty good for the past 48 hours. It's going to have to sit in primary for about a month do to a work trip. I can't wait to get back and bottle it. Every time I walk into the room you can smell it. You can even hear it bubbling. It's kind of neat. Yon know what I'm talking about.

Just remember, If you let this ferment out you WILL have to backsweeten with more cider. It'll be extremely dry with the OG. If you do backsweeten, just bottle right after you do, and you are right back on track.

I can't find anything on stovetop pasturizing

brewsterbud said:

I can't find anything on stovetop pasturizing

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https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/easy-stove-top-pasteurizing-pics-193295/

Also I find that this site's search function doesn't work well, but you can search HBT direct from google and get much better results. Just type "site:homebrewtalk.com" (without the quotes) into the google, followed by whatever terms you want to use (in this case "bottle pasteurization"). Used that method to find the thread linked above.

What type of yeast should I use

jbrooke said:

What type of yeast should I use

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I just made a batch with S-05 that came out great. Also used a wheat ale yeast (Wyeast 1010) that came out very well. WLP001 or Wyeast 1056 should do just fine too.

jbrooke said:

What type of yeast should I use

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Safale S-04 is also popular for ciders.

I really like this...or I should say my WIFE really likes this. I made some a few months ago and she's been bugging me to make it again. Put in another batch just now... given how easy it is to make, I'll probably try to keep some on hand all the time.

dayflyer55 said:

So I was at the local orchard the other day, and decided to buy a few gallons of fresh (unfermented) cider to make hard cider. I gave it a taste and enjoyed it so much that I decided I wanted to brew it in a way that keeps as much of the original flavor as possible. Also, this recipe is a huge time saver, as it is ready in less than a week!

4 gallons fresh, unfiltered pressed apples (uv pasteurized)
1 1/4 lbs brown sugar
2 cinnamon sticks

1) Pour 3 1/2 gallons of juice into fermenter
2) Heat remaining half gallon with cinnamon sticks and brown sugar until sugar dissolves properly. Let cool to room temp.
3)Combine mixtures and mix vigorously to oxidize.
4)Hydrate and Pitch yeast.

-Let ferment for about 2-3 days, or until it hits 1.04.
-Bottle it. No need to rack of clear, this stuff is going to be cloudy no matter what you do to it, as it hasn't really fermented that far. it may help, however to give it a day in the fridge to get rid of excess yeast. I didn't do this though.

Let it sit in bottles for a day or so to carb, then bottle pasteurize. I did this by using my sanitize/rinse setting on my dishwasher of 10 minutes, but you can also do it on the stove (see stove-top pasteurization sticky).

Result:
A sweet, hard cider at about 5% abv that keeps a lot of original cider flavor, and is just a tad more tart and dry than the unfermented version. Definitely looks "rustic" due to its cloudiness. Cheers!

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Just read this post and it sounds really easy. Maybe I'll give it a try.
By the way are you a Browns fan?

Hello I'm new to this forum as of right now this very second!
I make the Apple Pie Moonshine and I make in a large batch about 2.5 gallons at a time.
I'm now looking to make Blueberry Pie Moonshine so if any of you have AWESOME recipes you wouldn't mind sharing I would greatly appreciate it.
I've also had people as me for Raspberry, I guess someone had a lemon drop one that tasted just like the lemon drop candy?
That would great.

Or any other recipes that are similar to the Apple Pie Moonshine Shots.

Thank you!

MnMoonShiner said:

Hello I'm new to this forum as of right now this very second!
I make the Apple Pie Moonshine and I make in a large batch about 2.5 gallons at a time.
I'm now looking to make Blueberry Pie Moonshine so if any of you have AWESOME recipes you wouldn't mind sharing I would greatly appreciate it.
I've also had people as me for Raspberry, I guess someone had a lemon drop one that tasted just like the lemon drop candy?
That would great.

Or any other recipes that are similar to the Apple Pie Moonshine Shots.

Thank you!

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You are at the wrong place. This is webpage is for brewing, not for distilling or cocktail recipes.

This recipe looks fantastic. I'll have to try it once I free up one of my fermentors.

followed thr recipe until I realized that I did not have the cimminom sticks, melted in a couple of the cimminom jolly ranchers and they did the trick. Turned out great!

jimwitt said:

followed thr recipe until I realized that I did not have the cimminom sticks, melted in a couple of the cimminom jolly ranchers and they did the trick. Turned out great!

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That's brilliant! I'm going to try that next time...