Hard Cider Question

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Tielson's

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What type of Cider am I looking for? I heard it has to be not from concentrate, then I read other recipes that have apple juices from concentrate. :confused: If i want to use Cider instead of apple juice what type of Cider should I use? or if I want to use apple juice what do you recomend? any help would be greatly appreciated thanks. :ban:
 
Hi I made some applw wine years ago ..not knowing what i was doing I used regular apple juice from the store. I had a sacrometer from a home wine making kit so just added sugar to bring it up to a good level and actually used baking yeast. ( I was so ignorant then laughs)
I made several one galon batches all turning out differently. some were a good apple wine after 30 days MMmm. some even turned out as a sparkeling wine! really good!
thinks it depended on weather it was fully stopped fermenting when i bottled it.
hope this helps some.
 
If you want to use cider, look for either a local farm, or in the grocery store. Check the label, you don't want any preservatives (ingredients for cider should be just cider). Pasteurized or UV pasteurized is OK, but you don't want any anything added.

Apple juice is along the same lines. Look for 100% apple juice, whether in a bottle or in a frozen concentrate. Ascorbic acid is OK, but no preservatives. Most store's generic apple juice is just perfect for this, so long as it's 100% apple juice.
 
I just did a batch from 2 gallons of apple juice ( it said 100 percent on the label ) and a can of concentrate and a pound of brown sugar and a cimmanon stick. Used an Ale yeast to make it go. It's bubbling real good right now, and smells great. Regardless, I'm drinkin' it. I wasn't too concerned about additives, just don't use that concentrate with calcium added. I don't trust that crap anyway. :mug:
 
It can still say 100% juice and have preservatives. It should say

"Ingredients: Apple juice (or pressed apples or apple cider or just apples), Ascorbic Acid"


And nothing else. The ascorbic acid is just vitamin C, which is fine.
 
The best choice is unfiltered and unpasteurized cider from a local orchard. Check out the local farmers markets. Second best, cider with no preservatives added. Avoid frozen if it can helped.

Recipes A Simple Cider.
5 gallons of cider
2 lbs of dark brown sugar
2 honey
2 pk white wine yeast.
1 tsp of pectic enyene
1/2 to 3/4 cups of corn sugar (omit if still product is preferred)

Pour 4.5 gallons of cider in clean and santized fermentor.heat a 1/2 gaL of cider in order dissolved the sugar and the honey. add to rest of cider in the fermenter. Rehydrate yeast in warm water. Pitch and shake well. Ferment for two weeks (more or less) in primary. Secondary until clear.
 
That recipe is for a cyser... and good luck getting honey to ferment in only 2 weeks... 2 pounds of brown sugar & 2 pounds of honey, you're looking at (at least) 2 or 3 months...
 
You'll get more answers to some of your questions than there are people posting in this forum...

If you want a really solid recipe, try EdWort's Apfelwein -- look around; you'll find it in the forum. It's tried, true, tested and liked by many (but not all) on the list.

I haven't made EdWort's yet. But if you just want simplicity, buy some juice, or cider, filtered or unfiltered -- either; just make sure it has no preservatives in it other than Vitamin C (ascorbic acid). Pasteurized will make your life easier, but unpasteurized will work.

Then get some wine or ale yeast. Ale will probably be faster but maybe a little coarser and sweeter in the end (relatively) and maybe more likely to overflow in the early, vigorous fermentation; wine might take longer (a few months to peak) but be smoother or drier. Or maybe not. If you have a wide selection available, consider montrachet wine yeast, since a lot of people on this list seem to have experience with it.

Sanitize a stopper, an airlock and a container (unless you're using the one the cider/juice came in). Pitch the yeast; stop up the container up with the airlock (with some water or vodka in it). Let the airlock bubble and the cider foam (or fizz, depending on the yeast).

When the bubbling in the airlock dies down, check back and ask about racking and bottling and carbonating (or not), where you'll face still more choices. But the good news is that it's hard to go wrong. You'll just get a different cider.
 
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