First time Cider Experiment

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WiscoMan

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 18, 2012
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Location
Madison
Here is what I have:

1/2 gal Organic No-Preservative Pasturized Apple Juice from Concentrate
Brown Sugar plus Corn Sugar Added
Safale US-05 yeast

I have it fermenting in the orignal apple juice container that the juice came in. It says on the bottom that it is #1 plastic so I assumed that this is alright.

Will there be any problems>? :mug:

** It's the little guy on the bottom

IMG_0691.jpg
 
Did you heat up the yeast first, ya know you "make it come alive"?

If so it may have killed your yeast. It's happened to me before.
 
I hydrated the yeast with a little bit of the apple juice warmed up to about 80-100 F ...

The airlock bubbles about once every few min and if I push on the bottle the airlock bubbles so CO2 is definitely being produced...
 
I guess I wasn't specific with my question. Will there be any problems fermenting it in the original plastic the juice came in? It is producing CO2 so I know it is working.
 
Thank you for the help.

Should I rack to a secondary container at some point? I'm not sure if people add fruit or anything to the secondary but that may be nice to try.
 
You can rack it after all the yeast has settled. My last batch came out dry, so I'm going to add a frozen concentrate to it next time, to see if I can sweeten it up.
 
The only problem I for see you having is you only made a half gallon. I'd let this one do it's thing so you have a good base for what it should be normally and then play with it from there. I hardly ever make a normal batch of cider anymore, but I do occasionally just to remember what it started as.
 
Sounds good I am thinking like 3 weeks in the primary then bottle? It's been over a week and i am still seeing little bubbles everywhere. Is there anything I can add into the fermenter which will prevent it from going super dry. I feel like it already has a dry strong smell to it.
 
My first basic batch just went into the keg on Saturday. It's drinkable not great I made mine with Kirkland juice and frozen concentrate, and brown sugar. I don't remember what yeast I used but it ended pretty dry. Much more wine then cider in my opinion.

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how long did you leave it to ferment on the yeast? What can we do to prevent this dryness everyone complains about?
 
I think I could have ended the ferment early or back sweeten to take out the dryness. A different yeast might change it as well. I think that batch was with Red Star® Côte des Blancs yeast. It was recommended to me at the local brew shop based on what was written in the recipe I was following. I'm doing a batch of graff's now and am using Nottingham ale seems like that might not ferment out as dry??

Like I said my batch is drinkable. The taste is more like wine then a cider and it's a bit thin and dryer then I'd like. It's a great base line though to compare other recipe additions with.
 
Yea I have the disadvantage of not having a hydrometer so I go off judgement... I will likely let it go for a few more weeks then bottle and just hope for the best.

I choose to use Safale US-05 which everyone says is a great yeast for just about everything.
 
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