want to start making cider, but i need a recipe

hey all,

ive been enjoying hard cider for several years now, and how that i have a home brew kit, i realize i dont have to pay 15 dollars a bottle for it.

i wanted to know if anyone has a recipe for a very sweet hard cider, with a good abv. my wife doesnt like dry anything, so i have to make something she'll like, please post your recipes for ciders.

Try this: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f25/man-i-love-apfelwein-14860/ If you want it sweet, you'll have to backsweeten with nonfermentable sugars like lactose, splenda, stevia, etc... You can also find cider recipes in the recipe section. Regards, GF.

by backsweeten, im guessing you mean add the sweetener in the secondary rihgt?

That is correct, or at bottling. Also, You might consider adding a can or 2 of frozen apple juice concentrate to your juice, it gives it a more pronounced apple flavour, and will bump the ABV up a bit. There are quite a few variations on the apfelwein recipe, all of them pretty easy to make. If you've been paying $15 per bottle, I'd guess you've been buying/drinking real cider, made from cider apples. There will be a significant difference between that & the non-cider apple cider... Not bad, just different. There are plenty of recipes here: Cider - Home Brew Forums Regards, GF.

try mine - https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f81/all-apple-hard-cider-103366/


of course this will ferment out pretty damn dry - so expect to have to backsweeten it to your taste.

how to back sweeten? I'll recomend using splenda for this, as trying to back sweeten with something fermentable can become a problem if you want to carbonate this in the bottle (which is the only way to get it sparkling if you don't have a kegging system)

of course this becomes a problem... because to bottle carb your yeast has to be still viable, so you cant kill it off with a wine stabilizer... adding sugar will wake up those dormant yeast and they start pooping Alchohol and farting Co2 all over again... the'll eat the sugar all up and bring the beverage dry again.

So try using splenda - how much is up to you. but remember it's sweeter by volume than sugar.
Make sure you get straight splenda (not the sugar splenda blend!)
follow my recipie I linked above, but on bottling day, draw off a 16 ounce (1 pint) glass of the apfelwien. DON'T draw off the whole thing yet in to your bottling bucket. (you want the siphon action to make a nice vortex in the bottling bucket to blend in the priming charge and the backsweetening charge. so get all your other ducks lined up before siphoning off your carboy into the bottling bucket) using this pint glass as a test sample - try a tiny sip of it (as a reference) Now, start adding small amounts of splenda to the test glass -try tiny, small sips between each addition till it is just right to your taste. keep accurate track of how much splenda it takes to make a 16 ounce glass of Apfelwien sweet enough to your taste. now multiply this amount by 39. add this amount of splenda to the bottling bucket along with your 16 ounces of priming concentrate. Now, it's time bottle this in apropreate pressure rated bottles
crown cap glass beer bottles, champange bottles with a cork and wire cage, Grolsh or other swingtop beer bottles, or PET plastic bottles with screw caps. are ideal.
never use still (non sparkling) wine bottles, or non carbonated beverage bottles made of glass for bottle carbing - they can explode and make a mess (and if you happen to be holding one when it bursts... could hurt you.)
expect it to take 2-4 weeks to get a good bottle carb going. at that point the cider is "done" and you can start enjoying it... but I really reccomend you wait another 2 months to get some age on it. it'll start getting REALLY good then.

DON'T FORGET TO POUND THE REST OF THAT TEST PINT YOU DREW OFF enjoy the buzz you'll get.

A few other notes - the ABV of this is VERY respectible - expect to feel a pint, two will get you pretty silly... 3?... sloppy drink plenty of water at bed time and leave a few asprin on the nightstand if you go on a bender with this stuff.

The longer it ages - the better it gets, so always hold some in reserve with date labels on them (resist the temptation to drink it all) start a new batch every month or so to keep a pipeline going, and just put away the last few bottles of each batch - take it out on special occasions.

enjoy