Panty Dropper Sweet Cider Recipe

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BrewFrick

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I put this one together yesterday after some experiments with cider that turned out some good stuff but a little dry for my tastes.

8 cans of Wal-Mart Apple Juice Concentrate
2 Gallons Tree Top Apple Juice
2 lbs Regular White Table Sugar
Sweet Mead Yeast – WLP720
Topped up to 5.5 gallons with bottled spring water

Heated one gallon of juice up to 150 and added four cans of concentrate and the sugar to dissolve. I had previously left out the other four cans of concentrate to soften and to use to cool down the heated mix. Combined all ingredients in my primary bucket and it was right at 90 degrees, so I pitched that mead yeast.

The sweet mead yeast should be less attenuative and leave a sweeter taste to this brew, and there would seem to be plenty of sugar present to raise the OG of this and produce a kick-you-in-the-face alcohol conent but with good flavor. :tank:
 
This has turned out to be my best cider recipe so far!

The apple flavor is very strong and it has just enough sweetness as to not consider it dry but it's not sticky sweet either.:mug:
 
I had considered using a sweet mead yeast, but I used a wine yeast from Lalvin - the 71B-1122. Supposed to finish on the sweet side. Just put together a 3 gallon batch today (pitched around 7PM). Tough call though, since I only started with an OG around 1.050 (no added sugar, just straight pasteurized juice). On the plus side, it was only about $1 for the packet of yeast... I guess if I really want it sweet I could start tastings in about a week and sorbate it when it gets where I like. Kegging so I can carb it.

White labs have given me good success in the past, may need to give your recipe a try. What flavor would you say your cider compares with from commercial ciders? More of a Woodchuck Amber sweetness/dryness/flavor, or a Magner's, etc. or ???
 
Yeah, yeah, but if you follow my 3 glass rule for Apfelwein, you'll have a stack of panties to the ceiling. :D

Keg it, carb it, and tell them it's champagne. Lots of new tasters tell me that.
 
Well, I really don't know the ABV, never have taken the hydrometer out of the plastic tube. I am of the opinion that it causes more worry than it fixes.

This stuff is more like what I would consider a hard cider rather than an apple wine, but I have yet to try the full-on apfelwine recipe done by the mighty Ed of Wort, that's my next speriment. Overall, I was impressed by the sweet mead yeast.

Anyway, I am planning on leaving this in the fridge for another month before total consumption takes place, so I will let you know the effects of conditioning if I get back in here enough.
 
LouT said:
I had considered using a sweet mead yeast, but I used a wine yeast from Lalvin - the 71B-1122. Supposed to finish on the sweet side. Just put together a 3 gallon batch today (pitched around 7PM). Tough call though, since I only started with an OG around 1.050 (no added sugar, just straight pasteurized juice). On the plus side, it was only about $1 for the packet of yeast... I guess if I really want it sweet I could start tastings in about a week and sorbate it when it gets where I like. Kegging so I can carb it.

White labs have given me good success in the past, may need to give your recipe a try. What flavor would you say your cider compares with from commercial ciders? More of a Woodchuck Amber sweetness/dryness/flavor, or a Magner's, etc. or ???


Lou - How has your cider turned out?

I've been wanting to make some sweet cider w/o adding sugar at the end. If I recall 3068, WLP720, and Lavin - 71B -1122 have been used.

Have the results been pretty similar?
 
I like a sweet non carb cider so this looks like a great recipe for me. I'm going to use the WLP720 yeast, 4 gallons of store brand natural style (darker) apple cider, 1 gallon of store brand apple juice and 2 1/2 lbs of corn sugar. I checked the juice and cider and it's pasteurized but has no preservitives just vitamin C. I'd like to go with the extra 1/2 pound of sugar to give it a little more kick. Does all of this sound good? This is my first cider so I can use any advice you have.
Also I'm planning on doind a second batch after the first one leaves the primary. From what I read here I won't need more yeast I can just dump the next batch right on the yeast cake. Is this just as good? I wouldn't mind buying more yeast if it will make the cider better, but I would like to save the $7.00.
I am planning on bottling some up for Christmas and giving it as gifts. Is this enough time for the cider to be done well?

thanks!
 
Damn Squirrels said:
You all really need to try a malolactic conversion. That includes you, Ed! The change is considerable!!!

Nope, I staying Hetero and keeping the wedding tackle in place. :D
 
Damn Squirrels said:
You all really need to try a malolactic conversion. That includes you, Ed! The change is considerable!!!
what's that then? I dunno, this thread is just too complicated for me:confused:. Think i'll just stick to AG brewing,that i can get my head around:drunk:
 
Sorry about trying to be humorous on the name, won't happen again I guess. Where are the more professional mods around here when this kind of off topic trolling is going on I wonder?

To everyone with a serious post, this means you BeerDad:

Your modifications sound great, even higher ABV. I like to use the concentrate as it gives a better apple taste and a boost of sugar to it in my opinion. This one won't get totally clear due to the flocculation of the Sweet Mead yeast, so just make sure that it is done fermenting before you bottle it. Condition it for two weeks at ferment temps and then get it into the fridge until you give it out at Christmas time. I would also recommend to go ahead and dump the new cider on top of the cake for your first one, and expect a much faster ferment start up than before. Plus you will be saving a bit of cash if you reuse it then maybe get some out at the end of the second ferment and do some yeast washing on it for storage until the next time.
 
Thanks for the advice. I'm going to give it a go friday. Would it be better for me to leave the cider in the secondary for longer? I was planning on leaving it in the secondary until almost christmas racking about once a month to help it clear. If that's overkill great i'll just bottle it and put it in the fridge.

thanks!
 
I would leave it in secondary about halfway to X-mas and then bottle it and fridge it then.:)
 
It's gonna be tough to refridgerate all that cider I'm just gonna have to drink a bunch of it. :cross:

I made it last night. Went with the 2 1/2 lbs of corn sugar. I figured this to be 7 1/2 cups. Is that about right? It came out of a 5 lb bag and looked like half of it.

I used a yeast starter and bumped it an extra time. After 8 hours no activity but I'm being patient hoping to see something happening when I get home from work in 6 hours.

I do see a lot of separation happening. It's getting lighter and slightly clearer at the top and very cloudy in the middle. It looks cool. The bottom has some sediment already and some darker juice on top of it.

I used 5 tsp of fermax and 1/3 of a whirlfloc tab. I brought 1 gallon of juice to about 150 degrees and stirred it in well. I poured out 1/3 of each of the other juice bottles into the primary then put sugar in the bottles of juice shook and added to the primary. Then I put the cooled gallon into the primary and pitched the yeast. All seems to be going good so far.

The OG was 1.065 uncorrected. It was 74 degrees I'll figure the correction later.
 
So you ferment for 2 weeks, then bottle condition for a few more? I'm making this for SWMBO, who doesn't like beer, but then again the uncorrected OG was something crazy like 1.080 so a few sips will probably knock her on her ass (she's pretty much the biggest lightweight there is). I'm not planning on putting it in secondary at all (partly because it's fermenting in what I use for a secondary :)), and would like this to be quick and easy to see if she likes it.

I've never re-used yeast before, so if I'm re-using the cake do I need to do anything besides dump the new unfermented stuff on top?

Also, for what it's worth I used brown sugar and ale yeast instead of your ingredients.
 
The ale yeast should do ok in the recipe, it will likely not ferment out all the sugar in the recipe and leave it a little sweet tasting. The brown sugar will give it the added fermentable sugar and a molasses taste. I would say at least 2-3 weeks in primary and then three weeks in bottles, then chill for a week or so if you are not planning on a secondary for it. If you are going to just dump this on a used yeast cake you might get some off flavors from the hops if it is from a beer fermentation, but you will get a good active ferment for sure.
 
Ok, thanks. What I meant was dumping more apple juice onto the cake from the cider, so there won't be any hops in there. SWMBO likes it sweet, so that should turn out great :)
 
I would use 3/4 a cup of dextrose sugar to prime if you wanted it sparkling.
 
I want to use this recipe and would like to know if I can get away with using White Labs American Ale Blend WL060? The reason is I have just put it in a primary today with a basic wheat that I'm making a blueberry for my wife. Will this work and what can I expect as for taste?
 
Is there an update on how this is going? Bottled w/ carbonation? Flat? Does it live up to it's name?
 
I transferred mine to the secondary and tasted it. Pretty good stuff it's starting to clear nicely. I'm going to dump another batch on the yeast cake.
 
Hmm, this looks great. Anyone have any thoughts on using Red Star Cote des Blancs yeast with this?
 
I'm trying this recipe and can't wait. It's bubbling nicely in the fermenter now. I used Nottingham yeast because I'm not as experienced as some and still nervous about dishing out $7 for yeast that might die in the AZ heat. Would that make this Notty Panty Dropper Sweet Cider? :D Have a noob question. What's the difference between cider and wine. Say I replaced the apple juice in this recipe with Cherry juice (Yum) would I wind up with Cherry cider, wine, or a moldy fermenter full of crap? Or would it be better to us apple juice for the acid content and cherry concentrate? I been folowing the advice from this forum when I brew my beer and haven't lost a batch yet and don't want to start now. Thanks.
 
hrmmmm, I think the crossover between "cider" and "wine" is a matter of whether you exceed a certain alcohol content. Considering that there really isn't a comparable "cider" for cherries, it would probably just be cherry wine.

I think I've heard of very favorable results from adding cherries to cider, though, so by all means go for it!
 
I think the point where it needs to be called "wine" varies by state; it may have been EdWort who said it's 9% abv and up in Texas (or I may be making the person and state up; it's definitely 9 somewhere though). Of course, that's really only applicable if you're selling it I think, so you can probably call it whatever you want :)

I've let my cider sit on the yeast far too long; I hope nothing bad will come of it. It took me until this weekend to soak my bottles in bleach, and some of them were hand-me-downs with a lot of crap in the bottom. I'll see how they look tonight, I guess.
 
I tried making a knock-off of this recipe. I've finished my primary fermentation, and racked it into the secondary. The SG was crazy high, somewhere around 1.085 - 1.090. The final gravity is 1.000. I tasted it while racking (who doesn't?) and it tastes very dry...a little like vinegar, but I think it's because it has such a high ABV. It actually reminds me of the time I made wine and tasted it when I racked...that wine turned out to be very good. I added a little more spice because I want it to be more of a spiced cider than an apple wine. Any suggestions on how to make it sweeter/easier for SWMBO to drink?

Here's my version (yields just over 6 gallons):
Primary:
8 cans frozen apple juice concentrate
2 gallons apple juice
3 gallons bottled water
1/2 oz dried orange peel from my LHBS
4 cinnamon sticks
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 lbs light brown sugar
2 lbs powdered sugar

Secondary:
Transferred cider
Added 1 tablespoon allspice
Added 1 teaspoon nutmeg
Switched out the old cinnamon sticks with 4 fresh ones

Primary: (Nothing)
Secondary: Apple Cider
Ready to bottle: Red Wheat
 
Add sorbate and at the same time add apple juice frozen concentrate to sweeten it to taste. The sorbate kills the yeast. You will then have to force carb via keg or drink it still instead of carbonated.
Or leave it alone and give it some aging time to mellow down a bit, the flavor will grow on you.
 
Okay, so I'm trying the Panty Dropper Recipe. (Not that I really NEED any help dropping my panties or anything...I just liked the sound of it! :D )

But I'm having a concern here...I poured it all up and threw in the Sweet Mead yeast about 10 days ago. I've had not one happy bubble out of the airlock so far. The porter I brewed the same day has been bubbling along contentedly for days and days now.

The color of the mixture has lightened somewhat, and there's been some whitish foam about 1/2" deep on top.

But I've never used the Sweet Mead yeast before. Is it slower or less robust?

I know the answer is to wait and see-- I'm just lookin' for some encouragement here.

Jill
 
Ooops! Found my answer on another thread!


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Drunkensatyr says:

You are fine. Cider just barely bubbles. You will be hard pressed to see airlock action unless you are there at just the right time. After a few days normally it will look like a bunch of really tiny bubbles rolling up the walls
.
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:eek:
 
Any update on this? Tried brewing my own, smells awesome!

I was wondering what the ending SG should be? I've had stuff going for 6 weeks now, and I'm still getting a bubble in the airlock every 30 seconds or so.

Thanks
 
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