Enjoying my first cider!

Just starting in this adventure and am doing small, 1 gallon batches. This is my first finished cider and I'm quite happy with the results. Here's what I did:

1 gallon of juice (it was from Wally World)
1 cup of white sugar
White Labs WLP720

I did not get a hydrometer reading, but an identical batch I have going using Red Star Pasteur Champagne yeast measured 1.065. I let this go a full two weeks then racked it over to a secondary, added a cinnamon stick, 2 cups of the original juice to sweeten, then threw it in the fridge for 3 days to crash it.

I had wanted to try using Nottingham but the LHS had sold out. I'm a bit more confident in the version I have using the Red Star yeast (and it is considerably cheaper than the White Labs!

So sipping on a glass now and with that touch of cinnamon, it's just right. I'm plotting my future cider making efforts and wondering just how much space I'll be allowed to store all of my fermenting carboys. Next batch is tomorrow and I'll be using brown sugar and Nottingham. Here are some pics:

Done fermenting
Ready to go!

Cheers!

Questions:

1) What type of juice?
2) Why did you add sugar?
3) Did you pitch the entire vial of yeast into a one gallon jug?

I am about to try making some cider and was planning on using Costco Apple Juice but have had no plans on adding sugar. For yeast, thinking of WLP002 or Nottingham which would be easier to use a partial quantity of.

OP: I would graduate to 3 or 5 gallon batches. You can always say you have only one vessel fermenting and wife pants should be okay with one little vessel, right?

Enjoy! I love doing ciders now.
Nagorg,
You can easily get away with a tsp of yeast in a gallon jug. I realize others have pitched an entire package and I am sure that works fine as well. For me, I stopped fermentation early when I pitched a whole package and it tasted like soaking wet bread and juice. Check out the recipes here online.

Adding sugar is helpful to have a sweeter cider. When using wine yeasts it will ferment dry and all of the sugar will be eaten up. Back sweetening helps. Also, adding sugar will increase the ABV, which is always fun.

Nagorg said:

Questions:

1) What type of juice?
2) Why did you add sugar?
3) Did you pitch the entire vial of yeast into a one gallon jug?

I am about to try making some cider and was planning on using Costco Apple Juice but have had no plans on adding sugar. For yeast, thinking of WLP002 or Nottingham which would be easier to use a partial quantity of.

Click to expand...

Have a look at my simple cider recipe.

MC

Hello said:

Adding sugar is helpful to have a sweeter cider. When using wine yeasts it will ferment dry and all of the sugar will be eaten up. Back sweetening helps. Also, adding sugar will increase the ABV, which is always fun.

Click to expand...

adding sugar will increase ABV but it will not increase sweetness - at lease not until you hit the yeast's limit (at which point it can't ferment anymore) but that limit is typically 12% or more. i doubt a 12% sweet cider is going to taste good.

if you want a sweet cider, backsweeten with a non-fermentable sugar like lactose, Xylitol, Splenda, etc.

sweetcell said:

adding sugar will increase ABV but it will not increase sweetness - at lease not until you hit the yeast's limit (at which point it can't ferment anymore) but that limit is typically 12% or more. i doubt a 12% sweet cider is going to taste good.

if you want a sweet cider, backsweeten with a non-fermentable sugar like lactose, Xylitol, Splenda, etc.

Click to expand...

My thoughts were there, my words were not. Sorry.

another option for backsweetening is to use a fermentable sugar but keep the bottles or keg cold - they/it can't leave the fridge, so you need sufficient cold storage space.

or, use a fermentable sugar and then use the stove-top pasteurization method.

TheClairvoyant138 said:

Click to expand...

The way this pic is cropped on the home page makes it look like you vacuum sealed a dead, skinned rat

TheHairyHop said:

The way this pic is cropped on the home page makes it look like you vacuum sealed a dead, skinned rat

Click to expand...

yeah, i thought it was some weird meat product - like a thinly cut piece of veal that was stretched out. that's what got me to click the link - i needed to see what the relationship was between the stretched flesh and "Enjoying my first cider!".

Nagorg said:

Questions:

1) What type of juice?
2) Why did you add sugar?
3) Did you pitch the entire vial of yeast into a one gallon jug?

I am about to try making some cider and was planning on using Costco Apple Juice but have had no plans on adding sugar. For yeast, thinking of WLP002 or Nottingham which would be easier to use a partial quantity of.

Click to expand...

Sugar will definitely dry out the cider (if you let it ferment all the way out without removing the yeast or killing it through pasturization, etc) It will also up the abv as previously explained. I would highly advise that you ferment apple juice/ciders that contain no additives other than apple juice (concentrate or fresh is up to you), water, sugar, and ascorbic acid (vit C). Anything else can seriously affect the yeasts ability to do its job.

The OP's recipe is pretty similar to the amazing recipe for apfelwein by EdWort. Though the yeast is different it is high test, dry, tart, and delicious.

I didn't see it until after I posted the pic... although to me it looks like a skeleton sitting down with his knees drawn up....

lmao glad I'm not the only one who saw it

Thanks for the answers. I don't think I'll worry about back sweetening this first batch. I'm guessing something a little dry could be good.

Also, I will be bottling this so I assume I simply ferment it down to <1.010, add priming sugar, bottle and let it bottle carb/condition for ~3-4 weeks just like beer?

Hopefully I don't wind up with a skinned rat for display in a glass!

Nagorg said:

Also, I will be bottling this so I assume I simply ferment it down to <1.010, add priming sugar, bottle and let it bottle carb/condition for ~3-4 weeks just like beer?

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ciders typically ferment lower than beer, so the "wait for < 1.010" beer rule isn't a good one. most cider finish below 1.005, with 1.000 being quite common. so bottling at 1.008 wouldn't be a good idea, even though it's below 1.010.

better plan is to let it fully ferment out and wait until you get stable gravity readings.

TheHairyHop said:

The way this pic is cropped on the home page makes it look like you vacuum sealed a dead, skinned rat

Click to expand...

Ha ha, I was thinking the same when I saw it. Thought it was some kind of fetus in a glass.

This guy has a lot to say about cider: http://www.howtomakehardcider.com

In response to a fellow brewer's post:

Non-fermentables will definitely work for sweetening (if you like a sweet cider)

BUT!

Don't feel limited to a non-fermentable sugar to backsweeten. There are several additives that you can use which will effectively sterilize/kill off your yeast. I believe Potassium Sorbate is a popular one that most LHBS's will have.