Popping my cider cherry!

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Lovestojam

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Hi all,

I'm new to the forum, though I've been browsing for a couple of weeks. Just went today and picked-up my starter equipment - 5 Gal Glass Carboy, 7 Gal Bucket w/ Lid & Spigot, Tubing, Air Lock, Stopper, Hydrometer, brushes, etc.

My idea is to start out making a basic cider using a mead yeast & a mixture of Delicious & Gravenstein unfiltered apple juice. I may additionally add a few cups of fresh crab apple juice depending on the acidity and tannic levels in my mixture. My plan is to start the fermentation process in my 7 gallon bucket with lid using the mead yeast. I may need to add some excess sugars depending on what the preliminary gravity readings show. I would ideally like to have a specific gravity reading somewhere around 1.060+, as I'd like the alcohol content to be somewhere around 7.5+%. Once I have the sugar/gravity correct, I'll add the mead yeast and yeast nutrient to the primary. Once secondary fermentation has completed, I'll rack the cider into my secondary (5 Gal Glass Carboy) via the auto siphon. Of course I'll be testing the gravity and sugar contents along the way. Once the batch has been setup for secondary fermentation, I'll store away the carboy for a couple of months until I'm ready to sample.

A couple of questions for the experienced cider brewers out there...

1.) Am I missing any important steps?
2.) What are most folks preferences with regards to secondary sugars?
3.) Is there any specific process for preparing the mead yeast for primary fermentation?
4.) Generally, how long should it take for primary fermentation to complete where I can rack to secondary fermentation?
5.) Any additional points/advice?

I really appreciate there being a forum like this where questions/comments are encouraged. I really look forward to hearing from you guys/gals.

Cheers,

LTJ
 
I guess I have about 8 batches of cider under my belt, so take it for what its worth. I've never tried a mead yeast, only champagne, white wine and ale yeasts. I've never had to add any yeast nutirent to them, and I think most people dont as well. I've found that just straight apple juice and no sugar has resulted somewhere around 6% PA. So it probably wont take that much sugar to get it up to 1.060. Most of all, I've never racked into a secondary. I'm sure it's fine, just more of a preference. All my ciders have been in a carboy, let it ferment, and bottle. I've found all of them have cleared nicely within 3-4 weeks so I've found no need for a secondary, just seems like extra work to me. If it were my first batch I would mix up your juice "dont boil of course" add whatever sugar you need to bring it where you want it, put it in your ferementer "and by the way, the cider I've done has never really foamed up enough to worry about as long as you fill it below the shoulder", pitch your yeast, maybe whisk it for some oxygen and let it sit for a month. I think you will see it will be fairly clear and ready for the bottle! Whatever you do....enjoy!
 
welcome to the obsession. your plan sounds good. however, what type of mead yeast do you have? I highly recommend WYEAST brand sweet mead yeast. I would definitely stay away from any DRY mead yeast or even the White Labs "sweet mead yeast" as this will strip all the flavor from your cider and make it like a dry white wine.

your process sounds good though. some say theirs clears up in a month, for me it usually takes many months, so i think you may benefit from the secondary.I would recommend adding 1lb brown sugar iwhen you first put the cider in the primary, if you want to end up around 7.5%.

As far as a process dont heat or boil anything, or you wil lprobably have a cloudy cider and even may drive away taste and aroma.
-just add the fresh juice to the primary bucket with the brown sugar, cover and shake to mix and aerate.
-if you have the wyeast mead yeast that comes in a smack pack, activate it a few hours earlier, then add to primary contents
-for dry yeast just add it to your primary. i have never needed a starter
- keep an eye on the SG, I would highly recommend a target FG of 1.010
- Cold crash if possible at 1.010, if cold crashing is not an option, or if it keeps fermenting, rack it to secondary to try to stop the ferment
-bulk age for 2 months or so.
-bottle


this proceedure has produced some of the best beverages i have ever tasted. good luck and keep us updated. also keep the questions coming when you have them.
 
wreckinball9,

Thanks so much for your response. I did exactly what you said with the exception that I used corn sugar rather than brown sugar. I'm still getting the hang of home brewing, and I'm gradually coming to the realization that you can use alot of ingredients that aren't necessarily just found at the home brew store, though those guys are a great source of info and inspiration. Regarding your point about yeast, I did use the Wyeast with activator packet and found that it looked much more desirable than a subsequent test batch I made using Montrachet dry yeast. The wet activated yeast began to ferment much quicker and has remained fairly consistent from a fermentation perspective. I currently have three batches going in primaries. The first is a 5 gallon bucket of more basic cider using the Wyeast wet activated mead yeast suggested by my local brew store. The second is a 1 gallon glass carboy using Red Star Champagne yeast, corn sugar, and fresh pressed pink lady apple juice. I figured this would make a nice campagne for new years for my wife, as I'm still trying to get her to be more into cider in addition to her normal beerpreference. My third batch is a one gallon glass carboy filled with non-past gravenstein apple juice, approx 1 pound of corn sugar, and dry Montrachet yeast. I have to say this is the most fun hoppy I have ever had. I am keeping a brew log with daily updates regarding each batch. My plan is to post the recipe along with my digitized log once each batch has completed and is ready for sampling.

On a separate note, there is a gentleman who lives approx 20 miles from me who has been working for many years to preserve native southeastern US apple species which are becoming more and more interspecies blended. Through out our coorespondence he has offered to let me pick-up various apples for making a few test batches, which I would of course share with him. Being a lover of chemistry and nature, I'm really looking forward to seeing just what I can do using primarily organic ingredients and natures best and most natural products. Anyway, I'll close my diatribe. Thanks for all your help and please keep your advice coming.

Best regards,

JM
 
JM,
sounds like you have some fun experiments ahead of you! thats awesome. i'm glad you have the wyeast sweet mead yeast going; the stuff is awesome.

try to keep the temp in the low to mid 60s if you can. it may take up to a month to ferment at those temps, but it will probably finish around 1.010 on its own, and you will love the results. i have had people describe my cidcer as "liquid apple cake", whatever that means.

definitely post your results and questions as you uncover them! good luck
 
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