Drunken Emu Hard Cider

Just made up 2 gallons of this and WOW! am I suprised how good it tastes going into the primary. Looking forward to the finished product. Just wish I would have started it earlier.

Hey I will be starting this monday. Just curious if anyone ended up using a pectic enzyme or yeast nutrient?

Fantastic Cider - thanks so much for sharing after all your cider brewing.
I couldn't keep the stuff around for more than a week after putting it on tap. Going to have to make some more soon!

I am thinking of doing this recipe. I have a couple of questions though... First off, I am am completely blind and fairly new to all of this. .

My questions for this recipe are:

1. How long have people found that this needs to be kept in the primary, if you follow the recipe fairly closely?
2. After racking to secondary, how long do people find they keep it in secondary before bottleing?
3. Is there any need to cold-crash or bottle pasturize this?

Being blind I cannot take gravity readings and such, since I really have not found a good way to do so. Thus I think I need to go with what other people have found for timing and hope for the best.

Thanks!

ddschwab9182 said:

I am thinking of doing this recipe. I have a couple of questions though... First off, I am am completely blind and fairly new to all of this. .

My questions for this recipe are:

1. How long have people found that this needs to be kept in the primary, if you follow the recipe fairly closely?
2. After racking to secondary, how long do people find they keep it in secondary before bottleing?
3. Is there any need to cold-crash or bottle pasturize this?

Being blind I cannot take gravity readings and such, since I really have not found a good way to do so. Thus I think I need to go with what other people have found for timing and hope for the best.

Thanks!

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You know... I work on computers all day and have found my eyesight rapidly diminishing. I was thinking about how I would brew if I couldn't see any more. Gravity readings was where I got stuck. There must be a way to do this electronically and get an audio read out...

I just made this recipe as my very first foray into brewing. I did forgo the Nestle Packets in favor of Ghirardelli unsweetened cocoa powder, and the option of adding lactose before bottling. I did this primarily to avoid the corn syrup and other bad filler stuff in the cocoa mix. The brew store near me was out of Nottinghams, and Safale S-04 was suggested as the best alternative. I'll post back to let you know how it turns out!
-Melissa

What does everyone back sweete with? I was thinking of using honey for taste. Any suggestions?

thiessenace said:

What does everyone back sweete with? I was thinking of using honey for taste. Any suggestions?

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I have made several batches of this. I typically use 2 cans of frozen concentrate straight up for a scaled 5 gal batch. I think that this latest batch I may have to add some plain AJ as when I transfered it to secondary, I was at over 9%ABV!:rockin::cross::cross::cross:

anyone do comparisons with the nottingham versus Montrachet or Champagne yeast? I have some of both kicking around and don't want to run out to my LHBS (half hour drive) for a 75 cent item.

I made a full batch of this but used some items that I already had on hand:

3 gallons store brand 100% juice
1/2 gallon motts fresh pressed unfiltered juice
1/2 gallon motts cider
WLP 775 English Cider Yeast (expired 05/12 )

All other additions were per recipe. It is happily bubbling away as I type.

Any bacterial issues with adding frozen concentrate post fermentation for sweetening?

I'm pretty new to homebrewing - how long can I leave this in the primary? I started a batch of it, but due to various things happening in life, I kept forgetting and putting off bottling it. It's now been about two months. The gravity is right around 1.000. Is it still safe to bottle and drink this? Will the taste be harmed by sitting in the primary for so long?

Finally got around to making a 5 gal batch of this. I used the following ingredients.

3gal local pasteurized unfiltered apple juice
2gal Tree Top Apple Juice
2lbs med brown sugar (didn't have dark on hand)
1lb white table sugar
4.25oz of mexican chocolate ground into powder (6 nestle packets * .71oz each = 4.26oz)
4tsp nutmeg
3 cinnamon sticks (I only had 3 on hand)

I ended up with an OG of 1.080 which means almost 11% cider if it goes completely dry I can't find attenuation specs for notty, but if it does at least 85% it should end at 3 plato which would still be 9.1%

I don't do a ton of ciders and I'm not sure I've ever paid attention to the first few days of fermentation. I wasn't expecting krausen, but is it normal for it to be bubbling like a tar pit? I'm guessing yes, but seeing it threw me a little bit.

I just now kegged it from primary, skipped secondary after checking the gravity. It is sitting at a mere 11.81%abv.

Hope to force carb and have ready for a camping trip next week.

Just racked it. Good stuff. Thanks for the post

Just bottled this yesterday. Batch #5 or 6 for me. Came out to 9.2%ABV!

Skipped backsweetening as I bottled it @ 1.020. Will just have to watch closely and cold crash it before I get bottle bombs!:cross:

Question. Could you add bentonite to this in seconday to clarify?

So notty yeast completley ferments it down to 1.000 your saying nukinfuts

gonna get my girlfriend into brewing with this one. this will be my first cider recipe so it should be interesting.

fezzman said:

It is sitting at a mere 11.81%abv. :tank

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jesus christ. what did you do to get that high of and alcohol content

edit: more specificly what was the sugar content of the cider used? how much dextrose was added? and what were your OG and FG?

Hoptimistic said:

jesus christ. what did you do to get that high of and alcohol content

edit: more specificly what was the sugar content of the cider used? how much dextrose was added? and what were your OG and FG?

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The last batch I did finished as 11.65% ABV. I can post my version of the recipie when I get home later tonite. Basically just cramming it with sugar and backsweetning with frozen concenrated Apple juice when bottling. It helps that the notty ale yeast is a trooper and keeps going and going and going.
EDIT:
My recipie=
5 gal cheap safeway apple juice
3# brown sugar
2# white sugar
5 cinnamon sticks
4 tsp ground nutmeg
5 packets safeway milk chocolate hot coca mix
1 packet nottingham dry ale yeast
2 12 oz. cans frozen concentrated apple jiuce for priming and backsweetening at the end.

OG: 1.088-1.090
FG: 1.002
ABV: 11.65%
Let ferment for 2-3 weeks, transfer to bottling bucket and backsweeten, age for 1-2 weeks untill desired level of carbonation acheived, and referigerate.

I am looking forward to trying bulk aging in a keg for a few months. This only gets better with time. This is a constant in my pipeline. The SWMBO loves it! (And as long as I make this for her, I can do what I want with little greif!)

Haha notty is a great yeast!! Just a heads up. I always use a blow off tube with it though. And drunk emu cider is tasty as all hell. I am looking at getting some extra kegs and making a batch of this!! So tasty!

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so I just finish this up for my first batch of cider. I added some whiskey soaked oak chips and just a Scootch more white sugar...... after all was said and done I ended up with a 1.100 OG I pitched an English cider yeast to attempt to get it nice and dry. if I hit my desired FG I'll be looking at about 13.25%....

I also used about 60 g of Nestl cocoa powder rather than hot chocolate mix.

I'm hoping for a high ABV oaky sweet cider to mess up all my friends.

any tips on how I can get my yeast to do the best job it can? I used white labs WLP775 English cider yeast.

update:

fermentation is under way. the kraussen on this sucker looks pretty evil. because of how much cocoa i put in it and the yeast (which sits at the bottom) there is this dark brown kraussen that forms huge bubbles. it looks like the chocolate swamp in candy land!

Goblism said:

nukinfuts29 said:

It adds a very subtle chocolate "hint". It's tricky to explain beyond that.

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i am not getting that chocolate hint really, a taste that i can't describe, that is why i am hoping it will fade away with time. I think if I were to repeat this recipe i would leave the hot chocolate mix out.
This stuff definately has a strong alcohol taste!

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yeah I got very much the same results. I don't care for it all that much. I'll definitely have to back sweeten to take the edge off. I found that a 20ml raw honey/1 cup ratio makes it pretty tolerable. my girlfriend loves it right out of primary. she said she could drink it all day.

I'm going to put it on some gas and see if it makes it taste a bit better.

UPDATE. so this has bulk aged a bit and i have tried to settle as much as i can out of the cider before i bottle. I put the gas on it and everythign that had settled came out of the tap first as a chocolatey sludge, followed by an opaque cider that tastes like its just about ready. im going to taste it in a week or so and see. then once im happy im going to bottle a bunch then serve up the rest to my buddies. im sure this will be in demand year around.

I so need to get this on tap! Let me know how this goes?

Hoptimistic said:

UPDATE. so this has bulk aged a bit and i have tried to settle as much as i can out of the cider before i bottle. I put the gas on it and everythign that had settled came out of the tap first as a chocolatey sludge, followed by an opaque cider that tastes like its just about ready. im going to taste it in a week or so and see. then once im happy im going to bottle a bunch then serve up the rest to my buddies. im sure this will be in demand year around.

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I usually bottle this. It ages amazing. I will be kegging a batch in the future. Keeping the SWMBO happy!

Thus far im starting to regret the whole bulk aging in the keg thing. Its been about a month and it still tastes the same only slightly less harsh. im thinking of bottling it soon and just letting it age.

Hoptimistic said:

Thus far im starting to regret the whole bulk aging in the keg thing. Its been about a month and it still tastes the same only slightly less harsh. im thinking of bottling it soon and just letting it age.

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What type of yeast did you use? Ec 1118?

thiessenace said:

What type of yeast did you use? Ec 1118?

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wlp775. i did not however make a starter..... which im thinking is partially responsible for my OG of nearly 1.040 (beginners mistake)

Hoptimistic said:

wlp775. i did not however make a starter..... which im thinking is partially responsible for my OG of nearly 1.040 (beginners mistake)

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All good my friend. No worrys. What was the fg

dr_al said:

Sounds simple enough and interesting I will put it on the list.

Does it clear? I'm guessing no and theirs nothing wrong with that lol.

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not one bit

thiessenace said:

All good my friend. No worrys. What was the fg

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oops sorry fg was nearlyu 1.040 the OG was 1.108!!!

so yeah :/

Ahh. And it still needs to age?

yeah. its aged a bit now and it tastes a little better. i think next time ill go with out the oak chips and cocoa powder

Finally done aging definitely making this again. Good stuff

I'm getting ready to head out and grab the ingredients for this now. I'm pretty excited about it!