I actually WANT a cloudy cider..

Hey guys,

The cider mills here in Nova Scotia are starting to press some excellent blends of apples right now and I'm ready to make some hard cider!

Memories that I have of cider involve a medium-brown cloudy drink that tastes sweet, but not too sweet like apple juice. I want to make this for the holidays and so I've decided that my final ABV will be around 5% to ensure drinkability by the first weekend of December. As it stands the SG of the juice is 1.046-1.048 so I should be OK assuming the FG is more than 1.008 when it's all said and done. Then back-sweeten with concentrate.

But before all of that, I'll be starting off on the "wrong" foot. Like I said, I want cloudy cider so I'll be boiling my sweet cider to kill off the wild yeast and set the pectins before fermentation. I'm hoping that I'll have a hard cider that doesn't drop a lot of junk onto the bottom of the keg once it goes into the fridge...

I'd like to hear from anyone who has done this, my searches all result in HBT'ers telling others not to boil because it sets the pectins and nothing else... I'm going to go ahead with this regardless and post my progress and results, might even make it a youtube series if I can find a camera man/woman ha ha.

Thanks HBT!

Heat pasteurizing will set the pectin. I'm pretty sure that actually boiling it will cause the pectin to coagulate and drop - that is the process for making the clear stuff that is sold as apple juice. Why not use UV pasteurization? That will also set the pectin, but doesnt affect the taste. Or you could use Rome apples, which are great tasting for cider, but dont clear.

Maybe ask the local cider mills what apple they recommend for a cloudy hard cider that doesnt drop its sediment after fermentation. Some will have no idea but the ones that do are where to get your cider. Rome is used around here as applesause because of its pectin, so maybe a local applesause apple would work if you cant get some Romes. What sort of apples can you get?

Kevin,
I always use UV pasturized cider and it always clears

I started a storebought hard cider a few weeks ago...It was Musselman's 100% not from concentrate cider that was cloudy and had cider chunks in it...after 1 week I transferred to a glass carboy for aging and it still is really cloudy. Im willing to bet that it wont clear, which is fine with me...i even expected it. Hopefully it will be good around Christmas.
-Jefe-

Use Campden tablets to ward off any nasties, then proceed as desired.

Rugen - how long do you keep UV pasteurized in the secondary until it clears? Do you do anything else to clear it? I've found UVP to hardly ever get clear, even with extended cold crashing. It could be different apple varieties. The last UVP batch I did was a couple kegs of Jonathans about a year ago. They were cloudy till the end - although they were the first drinkable kegs of last season, so the end came pretty quick. Before that, it was mostly Stayman mixes and I would expect one of those to stay cloudy through the holidays unless some effort was made to clear it

I think I might have misunderstood you. I guess I just assumed that you were using pectin enzyme and it wouldn't clear it sounds like your not. Sorry!

CvilleKevin,

Thanks for the tip, I'll do more research as to how I can go about setting the pectins in the cider before proceeding. I've never heard of Rome apples being grown or sold in the province and I've worked as a p/t produce clerk after school at a fairly high-end grocery store for the last 3 years... There are a couple people at work that would know for sure if there are any commercially grown in the province.

JefeTheVol,

How old is the cider? If you've only just transferred it to secondary then it's probable that the yeast is still in suspension doing work on the sugars in the cider. It took my cider about 2 months to clear completely, and that was using a hefeweizen yeast that is supposed to stay in suspension. Give it time.

Yuri_Rage,

Will do, they're so cheap why wouldn't I right?

I've boiled cider and it caused the cider to go hazy, and naturally become more concentrated. Boiling it and cooling it will cause the sediment to sink to the bottom of the pot. The way I do it, is boil the cider, chill it in a cold water bath in the sink like you would if you don't have a wort chiller, then strain it while pouring it into a bucket.

Like the others have mentioned, the apple does naturally change the color of the juice. I used some pink lady apples because they are awesome in a cider...and delicious...and they had a nice brown color.

Teromous said:

I've boiled cider and it caused the cider to go hazy, and naturally become more concentrated. Boiling it and cooling it will cause the sediment to sink to the bottom of the pot. The way I do it, is boil the cider, chill it in a cold water bath in the sink like you would if you don't have a wort chiller, then strain it while pouring it into a bucket.

Like the others have mentioned, the apple does naturally change the color of the juice. I used some pink lady apples because they are awesome in a cider...and delicious...and they had a nice brown color.

Click to expand...

I'm in class eating a Pink Lady apple as we speak ha ha! I've been doing a little research and I've found that above 175*F the pectin the cider denatures and will drop out of suspension. That's exactly what I don't want to happen. I'm going to do a little test this evening with some water to get an idea of how I can maintain a steady temp of 165-170*F on my stove. I'll use campden tablets 24 hrs. prior to heating it and then heat it for 10 minutes before cooling it down and pitching my yeast. I' have a packet of Notty ale yeast, I hope it doesn't crap out on me like the last two times... I'll make sure my starter fully attenuates.

You dont need to use campden - especially if you are going to heat to pasteurization temperatures anyway