New to the forum....and cider!

Hello everyone!

Living in the Niagara Region, I figured homebrewing my own wine needed to be done... so I made a batch of red wine last fall and it tastes amazing!

Anyways....what I really want to do is make a cider, something along the lines of strongbow; after reading over that Apflewein thread in "Wine Making" it seems like that is close but doesn't really have the 'apple' kick that a hard cider does....

So basically I'm just wondering where I should start, what terms I should search for and any other tips you can give me.

One a students budget here but I've got some equipment from my wine making.....

i am bottling my batch of apfelwein tomorrow.
the taste i tried after the hydrometer reading was more appley(is that a real word) than the apple cider i made back in october that cost way more(real apple cider,apple juice and applejuice concentrate)
i recommend the apfelwein especially if you are on a budget

Give this a try. It's dryer than Strongbow and much better IMHO.

Apfelwein (German Hard Cider)

Ingredients

5 Gallons 100% Apple Juice (No preservatives or additives) I use Tree Top Apple Juice
2 pounds of dextrose (corn sugar) in one pound bags
1 five gram packet of Montrachet Wine Yeast

Equipment

5 Gallon Carboy (I use a Better Bottle)
Carboy Cap or Stopper with Airlock
Funnel

Directions

1. First sanitize the carboy, airlock, funnel, stopper or carboy cap.
2. Open one gallon bottle of apple juice and pour half of it into the carboy using the funnel.
3. Open one bag of Dextrose and carefully add it to the now half full bottle of apple juice. Shake well.
4. Repeat Steps 2 and 3, then go to step 5.
5. Pour in the mixture of Apple Juice and Dextrose from both bottles into the carboy.
6. Add all but 1 quart of remaining 3 gallons of apple juice to the carboy.
7. Open the packet of Montrachet Yeast and pour it into the neck of the funnel.
8. Use the remaining quart of juice to wash down any yeast that sticks. I am able to fit all but 3 ounces of apple juice into a 5 gallon Better Bottle. You may need to be patient to let the foam die down from all shaking and pouring.
9. Put your stopper or carboy cap on with an airlock and fill the airlock with cheap vodka.

There’s no need to worry about filling up a carboy so full when you use Montrachet wine yeast. There is no Kreuzen, just a thin layer of bubbles. Ferment at room temperature.

It will become cloudy in a couple of days and remain so for a few weeks. In the 4th week, the yeast will begin to drop out and it will become clear. After at least 4 weeks, you can keg or bottle, but it is ok to leave it in the carboy for another month or so. Racking to a secondary is not necessary.

If you want to bottle and carbonate, ¾ cup of corn sugar will work fine. Use as you would carbonate a batch of beer.

Remember to reserve judgment till after 3 glasses. It grows on you.

Hey Ed, great thread you started over there...

Couple of questions though:

1) Why brown sugar (as opposed to the white that I've used in my other concoctions)?

2) Will most brew shops have Montrachet? Is there another name for it or maybe one of those codes yeast sometimes have (like K1-V1116)?

3) Why no starter for the yeast?

4) Did you ever try adding some concentrate to 'increase' the apple taste (like Fish did in that other thread...)?

this forum has brewed over 289 gallons of ed's receipe so far.

what more of a recommendation do you need?

1) Why brown sugar (as opposed to the white that I've used in my other concoctions)? I don't use Brown Sugar. Corn Sugar (Dextrose) is white and dissolves easily.

2) Will most brew shops have Montrachet? Is there another name for it or maybe one of those codes yeast sometimes have (like K1-V1116)? Most brew shops that sell wine yeast will sell Red Star Montrachet.

3) Why no starter for the yeast? I never have and it works fine. Why add more effort and another step?

4) Did you ever try adding some concentrate to 'increase' the apple taste (like Fish did in that other thread...)? Nope. It would just ferment out if you don't stabilize it. My goal in the recipe was to recreate a Frankfurter German Apfelwein and this recipe does exactly that. Try it but withold judgement till after 3 glasses.

Alright sounds good, I'll give it a shot...

Quick thought, I've never bought dextrose before.... will my local supermarket carry it?

Can we answer in 4 days when you're 21?

Dang Olllllo you beat me to it

SpamDog

olllllo said:

Can we answer in 4 days when you're 21?

Click to expand...

Canada!

21 - 3 = legal

Dextrose is corn sugar.

Maybe that's considered a grocery in Canukistan, I don't know but I doubt it.

olllllo said:

Dextrose is corn sugar.

Maybe that's considered a grocery in Canukistan.

Click to expand...

Easy there, next time just look at the location....

But yeah, I assume the grocery store has corn sugar, thanks!

We've had a few prison hootch makin' kiddies incidents lately.


Just don't want this site shut down by the James Dobsons of the world.

olllllo said:

We've had a few prison hootch makin' kiddies incidents lately.


Just don't want this site shut down by the James Dobsons of the world.

Click to expand...

Eh no problem, that's understandable.

Olllllo, you think maybe, Joe Arpaio's gonna catch him?

Oh, I don't want D. James Dobson to shut this place down, either!

steve

Several of the grocery chains here in BC carry dextrose with the rest of the brewing/wine making supplies/kits.

EdWort said:

Remember to reserve judgment till after 3 glasses. It grows on you.

Click to expand...

This quote makes me smile! Cheers Ed!

EdWort said:

Remember to reserve judgment till after 3 glasses. It grows on you.

Click to expand...

Ed - You failed to specify what size the glass size should be used. From what I understand it can be as little as 3 shots.

Maybe 3 hydrometer test vials.

Please clarify!

Chillbrook said:

Anyways....what I really want to do is make a cider, something along the lines of strongbow; after reading over that Apflewein thread in "Wine Making" it seems like that is close but doesn't really have the 'apple' kick that a hard cider does....
. . . .
One a students budget here but I've got some equipment from my wine making.....

Click to expand...

If you got the gear (and you probably do) here is my strongbow "clone" . . .

5 gallons + 2 quarts of juice/cider (what ever is on sale and is pasturized)
sweet mead yeast (slightly sweeter) -OR- english ale yeast (slightly dryer)

sanatize everything
take the 2 quarts and the yeast and make a starter a day or 2 prior, normally I dont uase the whole 2 quarts, just what I need

sanatize everything
put 5 gallons of juice into fermentor
add starter
add airlock
put someplace and try to keep the temp at the low end of you yeasts tolerence

check air lock every week so it dont go dry (just lost 5 gallons myself by letting the airlock go dry and it got nasty on me)

Start it today and you'll have something fantastic to drink when it's hot out

I started my replacement batch a couple weeks ago, I'll rack it to a secondary in a month or so, then let it sit until probably may until I bottle it, unless I get thirsty sooner. If ya like it sparkeling prime it with what every ya want to appropriate levels. Should get ya somewhere between 5-5.5% ABV, more then enuff for my cider

Pumbaa said:

If you got the gear (and you probably do) here is my strongbow "clone" . . .

5 gallons + 2 quarts of juice/cider (what ever is on sale and is pasturized)
sweet mead yeast (slightly sweeter) -OR- english ale yeast (slightly dryer)

sanatize everything
take the 2 quarts and the yeast and make a starter a day or 2 prior, normally I dont uase the whole 2 quarts, just what I need

sanatize everything
put 5 gallons of juice into fermentor
add starter
add airlock
put someplace and try to keep the temp at the low end of you yeasts tolerence

check air lock every week so it dont go dry (just lost 5 gallons myself by letting the airlock go dry and it got nasty on me)

Start it today and you'll have something fantastic to drink when it's hot out

I started my replacement batch a couple weeks ago, I'll rack it to a secondary in a month or so, then let it sit until probably may until I bottle it, unless I get thirsty sooner. If ya like it sparkeling prime it with what every ya want to appropriate levels. Should get ya somewhere between 5-5.5% ABV, more then enuff for my cider

Click to expand...

Sounds like a good recipe; how close is it to the 'Strongbow' taste?

I havent done a side by side but I'd say it's close, and I like it. I'm not really a fan of the spiced or raised ABV ciders

BTW a batch costs me about $10 - 20 for 5 gallons depending on if I can get the cider/juice on sale and if I have to buy yeast or not