Here goes nothing! - (first cider attempt)

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Lunarpancake

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Monmouth County NJ
Picked up 7 Gallons of fresh juice from the local orchard. They don't even UV Pasteurize which is nice.

Washed and sanitized all my (brand new) equipment.

Filled my 6gallong better bottle with 2 gallons of of juice added my packet of yeast and shook it for a few seconds. Then I filled the rest of the bottle put bung and airlock on and walked away.

Took my SG reading of 1.04 at 68 F. and taped the reading and date to the bottle.

So thusfar have I done everything O.K. ???
 
That's going to yield a 5.3% ABV if your yeast ferments all the sugar. The only thing I could have thought of differently was to add a bit of corn sugar to boost the ABV maybe to 7 or 8. But that's personal preference. I always think of cider as a warming beverage. Something a little bit more potent than beer. If you were aiming for 5.3, which is totally fine then I think you are good. Otherwise you could add maybe a pound of corn sugar and get a little more oomph!
 
cheers!

Did you let the yeast rehydrate nice and evenly? Its better if you dont just dump it in, but if you did, dont sweat it. The yeast might be a little slower coming out of the gate is all.

1.040 seems a little on the low side. You might want to double check that if you still have some juice thats not already in your carboy. Do you know what kind of apples?
 
If you bump the sg, I'd recommend a mix of 2/3 organic cane (light turbinado) and 1/3 corn sugar. That is closer to the apple sugar taste. But first double check the sg if you still have some juice left over. 1.040 seems low. If you decide to do it, you can add it tomorrow - or in the next few days for that matter. Add it a little bit at a time though, so it doesnt shock the yeast.
 
Cville : The orchard grows many types of apples and they have a special mix that they squeeze for the juice.




ok ill def. add the pound of sugar (2/3 organic 1/3 corn sugar) ...i guess ill do it over the span of a few days.


again should i just dump the raw sugars in? or do i need to make it into a syrup or something?
 
You can just dump the raw sugar in, just add it slow so it doesnt foam. When you are done, its good to put a bung on the carboy and give it a shake to mix up the sugar before putting the airlock back on
 
You probably need to go to the brew store to get the corn sugar. Its not the same as corn syrup. I wouldnt worry about it though, its not a huge difference, you can go with all organic and you would have to have two glasses side by side to tell the difference
 
Cville...Tell me why you would add sugar with an "Apple Taste" when all you are doing is increasing the fermentables, sugar added at this stage is fully consumed by the yeast and brings nothing to the table flavour wise....I normally use good ol' cheap, readily available at any Home Brew store, corn sugar (dextrose). I normally end up with about 9% ABV and a FG of .995ish.

Also, Lunarpancake....normally with unpastuerized I find I get a better fermentation if I treat the juice with K-Meta at the begining (Potasium Metabislufite). It will halt the wild yeast and give your introduced, controlled yeast a chance to take hold as the dominant yesat for fermenting. Also, if you want it clear Pectic Enzyme would work.

If you want my full recipe/instructions let me know...I can email it to you.

DS
 
DSeibel.....i would love to have a recipe to checkout.

Also this is just my first batch so I dont mind letting the wild yeast and yeast I added fight things out. Im sure whatever I get in a few weeks will make me happy....and drunk :)


For the next batch ill plan things out a little more. This was just the "trial run"
 
I would wait alot longer than 2 weeks. 2 months is the minimum I have waited with positive results, and then another 6-8 weeks in the bottle. I will send you the recipe after via this post.
 
DSeibel - Dextrose is not neutral. It finishes with a slightly beery taste, which is why everyone who makes beer assumes it is neutral. Plain white sugar is a little winey, organic is very slightly caramel, brown heavily so. Three seasons ago I experimented around with about 20 single gallons worth of sugar variations. The closest taste to no sugar when it fermented out was the 2/3 turbinado 1/3 dextose mix that I use now.

k-meta is very harsh tasting, especially with tart juice, and takes a while to subside. That is why you need to wait 2 months minimum to get positive results. I used to wait two months also for ciders made with unpasteurized juice to be drinkable, until I stopped using it at the beginning of last season. Now I wait 2 weeks (at least this time of year - the ferments get longer as it gets colder)
 
Cville......I read your sticky after I posted...alot of great information. Perhaps I will experiment with other sugars. I am putting 4-5 gallon batches on so I am looking for ideas.

AS for the no K-Meta....how do you ensure the wild yeast is not active before introducing the other yeast?

As for the 2 weeks....the last batch I did didnt even clear until the 4th week or so...could you explain that a little more.

Thanks

Dave
 
Lunarpancake...here is my recipe I have been doing.....Like I said I love my cider completely dry...which gives me the option to drink it dry, or sweeten it when I serve it. But to each his own.

-Take qty-5 1 gallon jugs of pure fresh pressed unpastuerized cider (no preservatives, no additives). Dump ½ of each jug into sanitized carboy using the sanitized funnel. Reserve one cup cider for pectic enzyme.
-With each remaining ½ jug of cider add 1/5 kg dextrose, 1/16 teaspoon of potassium metabisulfite to each jug (total between jugs is 1kg dextrose and ¼ teaspoon of potassium metabisulfite). Put cap back onto each jug and shake until dextrose is dissolved. Pour each remaining jug into carboy. Use 6th gallon of cider to top up carboy to ensure aprox 6 inches of airspace above liquid.
-Take sample of liquid in carboy and measure with hydrometer. Record original gravity reading. Should be arounf 1.09ish
-Cover loosely with a clean cloth and let sit for 12 hours
-After 12 hours add 1 tspn of pectic enzyme dissolved into a small amount of cider (reserved from before). Add this to carboy.
-Cover loosely for another 12 hours with cloth.
-After 12 hours with pectic enzyme (24 hours total) add yeast (use EC-1118 wine yeast). Just open pack and dump it in the carboy using a food grade funnel (re-sanitized since using for cider). Wash yeast down funnel with leftover cider.
-Ensure at least 4-6 inches of airspace in carboy. Remove middle part of airlock and cap. Fill about ½ full with vodka. Drop in middle part of airlock and ensure it sits about ½ way down in the liquid. Install airlock cap.
-Store in a dark place at approximately 20 degrees C for 6-8 weeks.
-After 6-8 weeks take sanitized turkey baster and take gravity measurement. 2 days later take another measurement. If it is close or the same between the 2 days its done fermenting and ready to bottle, this is your final gravity, should be around 1 or less. Use following to determine alcohol volume.
Alcohol=(original gravity-final gravity) divided by 0.00738

Required for fermenting.

-6 gallons unpastuerized pure fresh pressed cider (Martins Farm St Clements), 6th gallon for top up of carboy within 6 inches of top.
-2Kg dextrose (1 for fermenting, some leftover for bottling)
-1 pack potassium metabisulfite
-1 pack pectic enzyme
-1 pack EC-1118 Lalvin wine yeast
-1 6 gallon carboy
-bleach
-food grade funnel large
-turkey baster
-hydrometer

For bottling you can prime with 3/4 cup dextrose in a bottling bucket...which after 4-6 weeks has a nice fizz. I use 1L plastic home brew bottles (I know I should use glass but this works for me). I have never had a bottle bomb. I leave about 1.5" airspace in each bottle.
 
Dave - the wild yeast will be active for the first few days. Once the cultured yeast gets going, it will overwhelm the wild yeast. But in its short life, the wild yeast will give the cider a bit of complexity. And you dont have to wait 2-3 months for the k-meta burn to wear off

I cold crash to clear. If you look at page 15 of the sticky you will see pictures of some carboys after 7 days of fermentation. The one on the left has been cold crashed for 24 hours.

If you like it completely dry then EC-1118 is a good one to use. 9% ABV and a FG of .995ish is crazy dry though. Even my friends who are wine geeks and like it really dry draw the line at about 1.002 or maybe 1.000. That's your taste and that's cool. You are lucky to like it so dry because keeping it sweet is a lot harder - but who else do you know that likes it served at 0.995?
 
I like it dry, and several of my friends like it that way. Even the girlfriend likes it dry however she has commented that she wouldnt mind it a little sweeter. If you cold crash you cant bottle carb can you? If I use an ale yeast would it ferment sweeter?
 
One other question. I have a theory. I was going to buy a temp controler and a freezer to create a fermenting chamber. My house is at about 20 degrees (celcius...I'm Canadian Eh) so for wine or ale yeast I think is perfect but I would have my carboys in the freezer in the basement. I would set the controler to hold at 20 degrees which means I would assume the freezer would rarely come on, but at least I know it would hold at 20 degrees. Once I get to the point that I want to cold crash it I just dial it down to fridge temperature. Would this work considering the fact it would take the freezer some time to get down to that temp? How long once the correct "cold crashing" temp is reached would it take to actually cold crash it?
 
Yep, if you cold crash, you cant bottle carbonate - you'd have to keg carb. That's the catch - but if you have kegs then no problem.

Yes ale yeast ferment sweeter - they can go fairly dry, but dry for an ale yeast is 1.000 or 1.002. They are also a lot easier to stop with cold crashing.

I think what you are proposing would work but I'm not sure. My basement temps are usually 15-20C and the fridge is just above 0C. It usually takes 24 hours to get nice and clear. Wild yeast ferments sometimes take longer as does pasteurized juice. I'm not sure if its the absolute temp or the sudden drop in temp that causes everything to clear
 
Some images...this is roughly 24hours since starting. Everything look ok?

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that is pretty much what mine looked like, if you don't see some activity in the next few days then I'd start to worry.
 
well while i took the pics I did see a single bubble pass the airlock....so that gave me some hope. Should I see more activity in 24hrs?
 
Thanks for posting pics of your setup. I plan start my first 5-6 gallon batch in the next week, so I will be following your progress. Good luck!

One observation/comment. Considering your head space, have you considered putting a blowoff tube on your vapor lock, in case things really get active? Looks like you have a concrete floor, so a mess won't be a big deal. My first attempt was with 1 gallon jugs, with only slightly less head space than you have, and both got active enough to froth out of the vapor locks and make a sticky mess on the jugs and table. (With my limited experience, I don't know if that is normal or not, but one of my yeasts was S-04. YMMV.)
 
went to movies and saw Toy Story 1 & 2 as a double feature in 3D....I highly recommend it!

came back and THIS was going on!!!!! (about 8-9 hours since last images)

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So now im going to do as ChrisM suggested and place some sort of mat underneath the carboy just incase of overflow-age.
 
That looks fairly normal. The krausen usually builds up like that for two or three days and then drops back down. S04 is usually pretty mild mannered, and the krausen will drop before it gets up to your airlock, but sometimes it pushes up through. I've got one S04 batch with honey from Thursday's pressing that needed a blowoff tube. There is a pic of a blowoff tube on p14 of the sticky - its basically just a length of 3/8 od tubing with one end in the bung and the other in a glass or bottle filled with water to make a giant airlock. The higher the water level, the more pressure it will take to make bubbles, and this tends to push the krausen back down. The other thing you can do, which is a littler easier it to just wrap a damp dishrag around the base of the airlock, where it goes into the bung. That way if anything does come out, it wont make your carboy sticky.
 
it'll be close to blowing your airlock but I think you'll be alright. rather safe than sorry though. how is it doing today?
 
it looks like the foam has settles down.....much more bubbling going on though. Im not worried about it coming through the airlock anymore. Seems to be chugging away!

Ill post some pics soon.
 
Some new images.....roughly 48hrs now. You will hopefully be able to see some of the tiny and large bubbles.


Note: All my images have been taken with an iPhone 3g ...so they arent the best quality.


:ban:
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I know .....im obsessed.

Anyways I checked on the cider and it seems the foam has receded but its releasing much more gas now. The airlock is bubbling just about every few seconds.
 
Congrats. Looks like you are making cider! In a few days after all the bubbling is done, the hard part begins. Waiting a few months before the first taste!
 
Congrats. Looks like you are making cider! In a few days after all the bubbling is done, the hard part begins. Waiting a few months before the first taste!

Aw I need to read up on how to speed up the process a little. I would love it if this could be ready for thanksgiving!!!!!
 
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