Started my first batch of hard cider. Constructive criticism welcome!

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Coders

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Recipe for my first cider:

5 gallons Boa Vista Orchards (local) unpasteurized apple cider

.5 gallon filtered water

2 lbs light brown sugar

1.5 lbs pure cane sugar

.5 lb honey

Safale S-04 11g packet


UPDATE 1:

Took a hydrometer reading today.
S.G. =1.072

Pitched my yeast about an hour ago. And now, the waiting game.
 
I'm not sure the cherries will mix well with the honey and brown sugar. When I used honey I wasn't real impressed with the results. I prefer caramel, but that's just me. The S-04 is what I'm going to be using next, from what I've read most people seem to have had great results with that.

Why the water? Did you heat it for the sugar and honey? I usually just heat some apple juice.
 
For your first cider, I would just ferment that apple juice plain. Once you get a feel for what the apples bring to the table, then you can start thinking about other flavors you want in the mix. You can make some amazing cider with only apple juice.
 
Hmm guess I'll just see how this turns out on it's own. I couldn't decide what sugar to use for my first batch so I figured a combination would be interesting.

Yes, the water was for dissolving the sugars. Guess I could have done without it.
 
Started my first hard cider today, too.

I used:

4 gallons pasteurized cider
2 packets Cotes des Blancs yeast
Yeast nutrient

Aim is for a sparkling cider.

We'll see how it goes...
 
What ever you do don't rush things. Let it sit.... I have 10 gallons going now. We pressed the Juice this past Sunday. It sat on campden tabs for a couple days, then racked to Glass. One with 2lbs light brown sugar and Whitelabs liquid cider yeast. One with just dry champ. yeast. I will let it sit for 3 months, then re rack to glass for another 3 months. Using natural apples, not store bought "juice" takes more time for the ture flavors to mellow out.
my.02
 
kketterer said:
What ever you do don't rush things. Let it sit.... I have 10 gallons going now. We pressed the Juice this past Sunday. It sat on campden tabs for a couple days, then racked to Glass. One with 2lbs light brown sugar and Whitelabs liquid cider yeast. One with just dry champ. yeast. I will let it sit for 3 months, then re rack to glass for another 3 months. Using natural apples, not store bought "juice" takes more time for the ture flavors to mellow out.
my.02

Is it alright to open up one of my ciders that is one week in to see how far along it is and stir in more sugar? Or is that bad? Recommendations? Thanks.
 
Is it alright to open up one of my ciders that is one week in to see how far along it is and stir in more sugar? Or is that bad? Recommendations? Thanks.

The more you open it up the more chances you have of an infection. That being said people do open them up to take hydrometer readings. Why do you want to add more sugar?
 
weissbierdrinker said:
The more you open it up the more chances you have of an infection. That being said people do open them up to take hydrometer readings. Why do you want to add more sugar?

Well first off I didn't have a hydrometer when I started and now I do. But I added 2 pounds of dark brown sugar with a champagne yeast and I don't think the alcohol content will be as high as a wanting? Or will it? Looking for mid teens.
 
Well first off I didn't have a hydrometer when I started and now I do. But I added 2 pounds of dark brown sugar with a champagne yeast and I don't think the alcohol content will be as high as a wanting? Or will it? Looking for mid teens.

You definitely don't want the cider to be in the mid teens. I mean, you do if you just want to get drunk, but there's no way it will taste good.
 
Nateo said:
You definitely don't want the cider to be in the mid teens. I mean, you do if you just want to get drunk, but there's no way it will taste good.

Won't it become a wine at that point? And is it really that horrible? Hypothetically how much sugar would that require?
 
You definitely don't want the cider to be in the mid teens. I mean, you do if you just want to get drunk, but there's no way it will taste good.

false.
false.
false.
it will require more age, much more age, but once mellowed out, it will be awsome. i have a true cyser going now that is 15 pounds of honey and 4 gallons apple juice. 17% abv, waiting at least two years to even taste it. when i bottled it a few weeks ago (at around 5 months of age) it was slightly apple flavored jet fuel.

i kegged a cider one time that i bolstered up with corn sugar and honey to around 11%, force carbed it and that bastard was responsible for more hangovers than anything else i ever made. it was so drinkable you had no idea it was that strong, so we were drinking pints of it. that needed ~3 months of age, then it was perfect. that was store bought clear juice, fresh pressed juice (soft cider) would take longer if you wanted it clear. i called it strong cider (or liquid clothing remover, depending on how many i drank.)
 
Won't it become a wine at that point? And is it really that horrible? Hypothetically how much sugar would that require?

depends on the juice.
the store bought stuff i use when i am making cider outside of fresh season gives me about 5.5% abv, so i add around 6 pounds (i think) of corn sugar to bring it up to 11%. not sure on those numbers as my notebook is at home. i do know that 5 pounds of honey into 5 gallons of apple juice gives me about 10.5% because i just did that....again.
 
Started my first hard cider today, too.

I used:

4 gallons pasteurized cider
2 packets Cotes des Blancs yeast
Yeast nutrient

Aim is for a sparkling cider.

We'll see how it goes...

I did the same thing as you. Only I was able to find un-pasteurized right from the press (un-pasteurized or cold pasteurized are recommended because of flavor) and got enough for a 5 gallon batch. I then added 1 crushed Campden tablet per gallon and let it sit overnight to kill any wild yeast and bacteria. Then I wisked it vigorously for 1 minute to oxygenate the cider and pitched the yeast and nutrient. Been bubbling nicely about a week now. :D

Some recipes say to add 2 pounds of brown sugar or honey if you want to boost the fermentable sugar and up the alcohol content. I left it plain. Mine should be 6% alcohol when fully fermented according to the hydrometer. Good enough for me. I figured if I wanna up the alcohol content, I'll freeze some and make Apple Jack. :drunk:

You can use 3/4 cup of honey or brown sugar at bottling to make sparkling cider but you have to leave it sit a week or two. Unless you have a CO2 system. ;)
 
Jet fuel sounds really good, actually. I don't know what I was thinking.

wow, man, do you work for the media? that was some primo selective editing from what i said. using your logic, no one would ever make wine or mead or anything above 9% abv or so.

higher alcohol things need to age because when they are young, they taste "hot" (as in like alcohol) then as they age, that flavor mellows and good flavors build back up.

unlike what you said though, when properly aged, they can be delicious.
 
Frydog - Do you really think a 17%abv cider that has to age for years is appropriate for a beginner on their first recipe?

All I was saying is that maybe, since this is their first recipe they shouldn't try something so ambitious until they know they have the basic skills to tackle something like that.
 
You definitely don't want the cider to be in the mid teens. I mean, you do if you just want to get drunk, but there's no way it will taste good.

i agree with your last post, except its not really any harder to make(just more patience which is lacking in beginers usually), but the above is what you actually said. that "there is NO WAY it will taste good".
i was merely telling him that wasn't true, it will just need more aging time.
simple as that. i was told a bunch of junk like that when i first started and when i learned that it wasn't true, i was ticked off.
it's no more complicated to make really, just takes more time to age.
 
i agree with your last post, except its not really any harder to make(just more patience which is lacking in beginers usually), but the above is what you actually said. that "there is NO WAY it will taste good".
i was merely telling him that wasn't true, it will just need more aging time.
simple as that. i was told a bunch of junk like that when i first started and when i learned that it wasn't true, i was ticked off.
it's no more complicated to make really, just takes more time to age.

The only batch of any brew I've ever dumped was the Belgian dark strong I tried to make for my 4th batch. Fermentation petered out around 8% abv and it got a nasty infection. I didn't know enough about brewing back then to know how to get fermentation going again, or that I even needed to do that.

Yeast management and health is a bigger concern on high gravity brews. I guess I should clarify my comments a little bit, so from my experience high gravity brews are much harder than low gravity brews. Someone else's experience may differ. I wasn't saying that any/all high gravity brews turn out poorly.From my experience it's very likely a beginner trying to make a high gravity brew would have a hard time.
 
allrighty, i gotcha. i agree as well, if we were talking about beer, higher gravities are something a beginner should not jump into. i just haven't seen the ciders stall out during fermentation as much as beer can do. coming at it from a beer standoint, you are entirely correct.
to the OP, if this were to happen, shake up stuck must, then dump in two packets of Lalvin EC-1118 and walk away, check after two weeks.

Nateo, glad we cleared this up. enjoy Bennet springs, that area is damn nice. i was married up on the big glade at tonka, just north of you and that is still where my heart and soul live.
 
Yeah I'm not sure how long I want to age. Hoping to get a good yield so I can sample a few with friends and family around Christmas time.

I'm going to shoot for an 8% ABV and let it age for 4-6 months.
 
might still be a little cloudy then, but the taste will be great. can always add pectinase and bentonite into your secondary if you want to try to clear it quicker. do a thread search on how to use them, been brought up a lot. basically, the pectinase clears the pectin, then the bentonite clears the pectinase. for your first one i would just leave it a little cloudy though, won't effect flavor
 
I can wait longer if it would help with clarity.

Luckily I still have some beers from my last pale ale adventure.
 
do you mean you put them in,but didn't crush them?
if so, you'll probably be fine. some will still dissolve off the tablet. many people argue about the use of that anymore with current yeast pitching rates. i still use it, but it's a pretty decent debate.

as long as your fermentation took off and didn't stop after a day, you'll be fine. the problem with not crushing it can be that it takes longer than 24 hours to clear out and can inhibit the yeast you pitch.
 
do you mean you put them in,but didn't crush them?
if so, you'll probably be fine. some will still dissolve off the tablet. many people argue about the use of that anymore with current yeast pitching rates. i still use it, but it's a pretty decent debate.

as long as your fermentation took off and didn't stop after a day, you'll be fine. the problem with not crushing it can be that it takes longer than 24 hours to clear out and can inhibit the yeast you pitch.

I would have to agree here, Did you notice if the tablets completely disolved prior to pitching your yeast? I generally give the Camden tabs 36-48 hours. Many let then sit 24.
 
So, 60 hours after pitching my yeast, there's no visible sign of fermentation. Could the campden tabs kill my yeast if not given enough time to dissolve?

If this is the case, should I pitch another packet of yeast? I have a packet of Nottingham if necessary.
 
S04 usually starts in a few hours. I'd pitch again. When you pitch, dont just dump it in - sprinkle it on the surface and let it spread out, so that it rehydrates evenly. I pitch a third of a packet at a time, waiting about 15 min for the first round of yeast to sink before pitching the next third. Then shake the carboy up. I dont believe I've ever had S04 take more than 6hrs to start, even at low temps.

Probably a good idea to shake your carboy up before repitching. the tabs have probably dissolved by now, but the k-meta may be mostly sitting at the bottom. S04 is top fermenting, but will sink to bottom first before ferments starts.

Just agitating the carboy now might start things going, although if no start in 60 hours, the S04 is probably not in good shape, even if its able to start eventually.
 
i would still bloom that yeast in luke warm water for 20 minutes before pitching it. such a simle step and it makes a good difference. rehydration nutrient goes a long way too, and i always use it, but it's not totally necessary.

aerate, re-pitch, re-post in three days with an update
 
I had the same thing happen the first time I tryed to brew some stuff called Skeeter Pee. I did what frydogbrews posted above and it started to bubble inside of a couple days after that.
 
After re-pitching with some Nottingham yeast and some shaking up, fermentation is underway. Things are looking good so far.
 
I just got back from vacation and took a gravity reading. It's showing .994 which indicates a 10.4% ABV if the calculator I used is correct.

I read a couple of posts saying that Nottingham's tolerance is about 11%. Can someone verify this? I would like to have a slightly carbonated cider.

My plan is to rack into my bottling bucket on my priming solution and stove-top pasteurizing when ideal carbonation is reached. Good plan?
 
I read a couple of posts saying that Nottingham's tolerance is about 11%. Can someone verify this? I would like to have a slightly carbonated cider.

My plan is to rack into my bottling bucket on my priming solution and stove-top pasteurizing when ideal carbonation is reached. Good plan?

in what kind of bottles, regular crown caps?

notty can go a little higher than that sometimes, i wouldn't stress about it too much.
as far as bottle pasturizing....i've never done it. seems sketchy. plus, heating up your booze seems rude.
i would just put in priming solution in bottling bucket, bottle and set aside for awhile. if it's at .994 now, and you add standard amounts of priming sugar, it shouldn't build enough pressure to blow those bottles anyway. it may not drop any lower than that anyway. if you just want a light effervescence, cut the priming sugar in half.
 
I used 12 oz beer bottles and a few 750 mL, all with crown caps.
Found a priming calculator and dissolved 1/3 cup cane sugar into some water and used that as my priming solution. I believe the units of CO2 was something like 1.75 for a ~5.5 gallon batch.
 
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