Local Cider With No Added Sugar

Just stopped at the local apple orchard and picked up 2 gallons of cider. I asked what type of apples were in it, but she didn't seem to know more than "it has a little bit of all of the apples we grow here", but I'm sure I'm the only one who asks the question... I got home, tried a swig, and it reminded me of some if the great SW Michigan ciders I used to buy. Exactly the flavor of cider I was looking for!
I decided a while back, after trying JK Scrumpies for the first time, to make my next cider with no added sugar and cider yeast. I let it sit on the table for 2 hours to warm up to 62 degrees, then checked the gravity on each gallon. They were both at 1.044. I poured the cider into my 1 gallon tester carboy (wine jug) I added almost 4 tablespoons of a cyser slurry I had leftover that was made with white labs English cider yeast WPL775...I hope that wasn't too much, but we shall see.
I finished about an hour ago and pressure is noticably building and the airlock is just about to start bubbling. I'm going to let 1 iof the gallons go for a week, cold crash, then drink as-is. The other gallon, I will let go to dry and clear on its own, or cold crash if I get too impatient, backsweeten with some of the cider I saved, bottle, carb, the pasteurize. I'll keep this post updated...

Update (before I even post the original message):

I was taking the pictures for this thread and as the camera flashed, I noticed there was a line going through the middle of the carboy. Turns out the cider is showing significant amounts of what is probably the trub from the slurry and a shatload of yeast. On top of other, naturally-occuring sediment and whatnot. It just bubbled for the first time. I have a feeling these are going to have an explosive start to their fermentation...perhaps ill do just 1 tablespoon next time....

GO LIONS!!!! are you a transplanted autoworker?

roadymi said:

GO LIONS!!!! are you a transplanted autoworker?

Click to expand...

Indirectly...yes I am!

I placed the 2 gallons into my makeshift fermentation area with temperature control....it is a blanket clamped to a low window sill and draped over an A/C vent. The temperature fluctuates from 62 degrees to 72 degrees, depending on if the air is running. A lot of the "stuff" that can be seen in the bottom half of the carboy (3rd picture) has settled to under 2 inches. This is still substantially more yeast/trub/floaties than I would like, but as long as it tastes good when it is finished, ill be happy.

I finally made some time to get a gravity reading from both gallons. Both of them were at 1.008. Right now, the ciders are at about 4.6% ABV. Neither one had much flavor left to them; it was pretty bland. The alcohol is noticible, but not strong tasting. I out one gallon in the fridge to cold crash and kept the 2nd out to let it keep going. I'll take the refrigerated one, rack it out, and mix in some fresh cider today and call it done. So, as of right now, I'm not impressed with how it tastes, but at least it doesn't taste like [poop] backsweetening with more cider will help this one a lot.

Backsweetening with juice will help the flavor but it will start fermenting again unless you stabilize. Aging will normally bring some flavor back. I like adding a bit of cinnamon and vanilla to my diders for flavor.

I was going to mix the "soft" cider into the hard cider and Mel it in the fridge until I finish drinking it. I do have the stuff here to stabilize, but I've done this with a few 1 gallon batches already with no issues.
I haven't attempted adding cinnamon or vanilla to any of my ciders yet...maybe the next one!

If you are leaving in the fridge and not bottling you should be fine.

Yes, that is exactly what I'm doing. It's only a gallon, so it isn't worth bottling for me. Maybe ill bottle the 2nd gallon just for the practice of carbing and pasteurizing.

So my refrigerated gallon of cider was just pulled from the fridge, after backsweetening and placing back oh the fridge for a few days. The smell reminds me of j k scrumpy, but not as pungent. Overall, it was delicious. Part of that had to do with me adding "soft cider" back into it, which gave it its flavor back and dropped the ABV even lower than it already was. But I think I'm going in the right direction. I'm going to let the second gallon sit for another 2 weeks to se where it is at.

Right on. I was curious to see how it went with your orchard juice. Especially being a liker of the JK's brand
I personally think that by not adding any sugar, you're gonna end up with the most natural-tasting hard cider. Like you, I'm not looking for something that's gonna get me ripped after a couple, but coming home from work and and enjoying a damn fine thirst quenching cider. On a sidenote, I added some brown sugar to a recent small trial batch (haven't added sugar to much of mine for awhile), and theived a sample tonite and realized it is gonna need some time to mellow. It's at 1.015 with S-04 and was kinda dissappointed in the taste. I swear it's because of the little bit of sugar I added. Didn't have any concentrate on hand to bump up the SG. Normally I don't add sugar and at 1.015 it's tasting very good.

It's funny but my ciders made from store bought juice always seem to taste better.

I guess I will update this thread now that I have more info. I cold crashed the remaining gallon I let sit longer 2 days ago. The taste, while still pretty weak in apple flavor, is significantly more prevalent than it was at last test, and definitely more noticable than the one gallon I stopped earlier. I poured it into another empty 1 gallon jug, topped it off with more of the same cider I've been buying....I must have bought close to 15 gallons so far this year ...and stuck it back in the fridge. Before I added the juice, the gravity was at .995 roughly. I haven't tested it since adding the roughly 1-1/2 cups of cider back into it but it tastes great. I might try to carb these up to test my stove top pasteurization skills....I still haven't tried it yet.

I just finished a gallon of fall cider, it ended up tasting... like fall cider, only punchy. VERY punchy. I'm going to let it sit in secondary over the weekend, add my sugar and juice sunday night so it can sit overnight (upstate mike's style) then i think skip straight to bottling it. It really isn't harsh like apple juice was after the first ferment.

Of course the farm cider took a whole month to finish primary. Didn't really get going until a week and a half in. I started a cyser with farm cider at the same time and it's STILL churning away.