Sparkling Hard Cider

Sparkling Hard Cider

Simple recipe, but I like the clarity and sparkle of the final product. I use unpasteurized apple cider that I make from the apples in my orchard (grind and press), though many should be able to find it in the fall at a local cider mill.

Ingredients

4 Gallons Unpasteurized Apple Cider
2 Gallons Apple Juice
1 packet Champagne yeast

Equipment

6 Gallon Carboy
Carboy Cap or Stopper with Airlock
Funnel
Bottles&Caps/Keg

Instructions
- Sanitize your equipment
- Pour in the Apple Cider
- Pour in a gallon of store-bought apple juice, stir
- Pitch the yeast
- Insert an airlock
- After two weeks, rack it to another carboy, wait a day or two (reduce sediment)
- Add another gallon of apple juice, stir
- Bottle with oxygen absorbing caps or keg immediately, wait at least 6 months to drink (best after a year, I think)

Sounds great, I am hoping to make something like this in the next few weeks. I have been making Apfelwein over and over and would like to try a cider.

Couple of questions:
Since the cider is unpasteurized, is there a concern without boiling?

Do you know what your OG and FG were?

Use your own discretion about unpasteurized cider. I believe in keeping it real by using it in raw form, though I've heard pregnant moms aren't supposed to drink it. I like to think the yeast/alcohol takes care of any bad stuff. So far, nobody has got sick off my cider, but if it weirds you out, I would suggest boiling.

Sorry, I didn't write down the gravities unfortunately, though I'll report back on this year's batch when I do it. I needed to raise the sugar levels of my raw cider (hence the apple juice). You don't want to end up higher than 8% alcohol for hard cider. I'd suggest monitoring it and tossing in some potassium sorbate when you've hit your target a day before adding the last gallon of juice.

I would never boil cider (it sets the pectins- think apple jelly), but if you don't want to do it the "natural" way, you can use campden tablets. I crush and dissolve one per gallon of cider, wait 12 hours and then pitch the yeast. Campden tablets kill wild yeasts and bacteria.

Good suggestion, thanks.

edernest said:

I'd suggest monitoring it and tossing in some potassium sorbate when you've hit your target a day before adding the last gallon of juice.

Click to expand...

If you sorbate it how will it become sparkling? The yeast wont carb with the added apple juice if you sorbate it.

lapaglia said:

If you sorbate it how will it become sparkling? The yeast wont carb with the added apple juice if you sorbate it.

Click to expand...

EASY, you keg it and force carb.

I think the suggestion was to use sorbate prior to pitching the yeast in order to kill off all natural microorganisms (both good and bad). You'll still be able to bottle carbonate later thanks to the yeast you added.

I was under the impression that potassium sorbate along with potassium metabisulfite didn't kill the yeast, just inhibited the growth and reporduction of new yeast. I put the equivilant of one campden tab of p. meta in each of my gallon jugs of fermenting cider the other day in preperation for bottling. I then will clarify and make sure fermentation is complete and doesn't start up again, then bottle some dry others carbed. Any comments on this?

I tried an experiment similar to this about a year ago. I wanted to see how pure apple juice would react when fermented without additional sugar or acid additions. I even made it sparkling, like this recipe. It came out to about 6.2% alcohol but it tasted flat, without the "bite" that I associate with hard ciders.

In my opinion, this recipe would benefit from the addition of some acid (acid blend, tartaric, malic, etc), unless the raw cider was already very tart. The relatively low alcohol content doesn't present a problem as long as it's consumed within a year or so.

What are oxygen absorbing caps?

Why don't you add any sugar? Does that just yield a lower ABV content? Is it less sweet?

I just read the wiki on cider making to get the basic overview. This was helpful, but I still have a few questions:

1. When to bottle? 1.015 like beer?
2. How do you sweeten the cider without the yeast eating your sugar? Are bottle bombs a common adverse event?
3. Can you age indefinitely? Will the cider eventually turn to vinegar?

Thanks,

Eurc51

Tossing out another question here.
Does the cider used contain preservatives, or do you recommend preservative free unpasturized cider?

Just curious, why are you adding store bought juice?

I make a fair amount of draft cider like this and I simply use all unpasteurized juice. You can add sugar if you want to goose the ABV but the more % alc the longer it typically needs to age. I would just go all fresh pressed and pitch your yeast. Rack after 4-6 weeks and top off to eliminate head space. After that you can let it ride until you bottle it. For me that is usually 6+ months. Take your cider and cold crash, rack onto sorbate, sweeten with fresh cider/frozen AJ concentrate, add malic acid for the green apple taste and water if needed to reduce ABV or acidity. Add sulphite and keg.

adamant said:

Tossing out another question here.
Does the cider used contain preservatives, or do you recommend preservative free unpasturized cider?

Click to expand...

Its got to be preservative free, Adamant. The preservatives are added to keep yeast from fermenting the juice/cider, which is the opposite of what we want.

Pappers_ said:

Its got to be preservative free, Adamant. The preservatives are added to keep yeast from fermenting the juice/cider, which is the opposite of what we want.

Click to expand...

Preservatives or not you can ferment it. If sorbate is in there and you pitch enough yeast it will start off (1-2 packets of dry yeast per 5 gallons).

While I don't think there will be any real flavor advantage to the preservative free versus preservative added juices (aside from perceived)... Fresh pressed unpasteurized cider juice is preferred. I don't think you will find a cider maker out there that can refute that.

I have tried both versions (commercial preservative free, preserv. added, fresh pressed), and unfortunately I tried the fresh pressed first. To me there is no comparison between the two, aged, or young. I only make hard cider when I have the time to press.

eurc51 said:

I just read the wiki on cider making to get the basic overview. This was helpful, but I still have a few questions:

1. When to bottle? 1.015 like beer?
2. How do you sweeten the cider without the yeast eating your sugar? Are bottle bombs a common adverse event?
3. Can you age indefinitely? Will the cider eventually turn to vinegar?

Thanks,

Eurc51

Click to expand...

Do you own a kegging system?

Pappers has a stove top method she can tell you about. I make all my draft ciders via a keg, and it is very easy, very repeatable. Let me know if you have a keg and I can explain how.

CidahMastah said:

Preservatives or not you can ferment it. If sorbate is in there and you pitch enough yeast it will start off (1-2 packets of dry yeast per 5 gallons) . . .

Click to expand...

Yes, I've read that is true (I've never used cider with preservatives in it, so can't speak from experience). There have also been posters here tearing their hair out because they used cider with preservatives and the fermentation was problematic. I think the best advice for new cider makers is to use preservative-free cider or juice.

CidahMastah said:

. . . Pappers has a stove top method she can tell you about . . .

Click to expand...

And Yooper's always getting mad that people think she's a man . . .

Pappers_ said:

Yes, I've read that is true (I've never used cider with preservatives in it, so can't speak from experience). There have also been posters here tearing their hair out because they used cider with preservatives and the fermentation was problematic. I think the best advice for new cider makers is to use preservative-free cider or juice.

Click to expand...

I totally agree that new people should go for nonpreservative added juice. Mostly wanted to mention it to reveal that:
1. sorbate isn't a silver bullet to "kill" yeast or stop fermentation (common misconception on here).
2. if people only have cheap/easy access to juice w/ preservatives they can still ferment it.

If you do attemp preservative added cider I would ferment at 68-70F and double pitch your yeast (use something like L-1118 or similar). It shouldn't give you any issues.

All that said, I am with Pappers. I would never recc using preservative added juice without a good reason. Personally I will only fresh pressed unpasteurized cider.

Pappers_ said:

And Yooper's always getting mad that people think she's a man . . .

Click to expand...

My bad Pappers - a thousand pardons!

Here I am a dude that makes a lot of cider , but I just assume from your website link, and er... humph ... the fact that you like cider so much, that you were from the female persuasion.

shame on me for sure, I should have clicked on your profile before ASSuming

CidahMastah said:

My bad Pappers - a thousand pardons!

Here I am a dude that makes a lot of cider , but I just assume from your website link, and er... humph ... the fact that you like cider so much, that you were from the female persuasion.

shame on me for sure, I should have clicked on your profile before ASSuming

Click to expand...

No apologies needed, CM - it gave me the biggest smile I've had in a while. Plus, I do look really good in high heels

Pappers_ said:

No apologies needed, CM - it gave me the biggest smile I've had in a while. Plus, I do look really good in high heels

Click to expand...

Haha! Of course I am sure that is with some signature heat pasteurized cider on ice in a flute glass.

Pappers_ said:

And Yooper's always getting mad that people think she's a man . . .

Click to expand...

Pappers_ said:

No apologies needed, CM - it gave me the biggest smile I've had in a while. Plus, I do look really good in high heels

Click to expand...

LOL! I've heard that Pappers has awesome legs but I know he's a he.

Thanks for making me smile out loud today.

summersolstice said:

I tried an experiment similar to this about a year ago. I wanted to see how pure apple juice would react when fermented without additional sugar or acid additions. I even made it sparkling, like this recipe. It came out to about 6.2% alcohol but it tasted flat, without the "bite" that I associate with hard ciders.

In my opinion, this recipe would benefit from the addition of some acid (acid blend, tartaric, malic, etc), unless the raw cider was already very tart. The relatively low alcohol content doesn't present a problem as long as it's consumed within a year or so.

Click to expand...

How much acid would you recommend, and when do you add it?

adamant said:

How much acid would you recommend, and when do you add it?

Click to expand...

I would only use malic acid - that is the acid naturally found in apples (tartaric and citric are not; acid blend is a mixture of mostly citric, then malic, then tartaric, from highest to lowest qty, if memory serves), so if you are making cider and want to stay true to it use malic.

THe how much is a taste thing. Taste your cider and if it is acidic (different than sour) the fix is to add some water (only a little bit at a time). If your cider is sour, no need to add malic.

typically I make draft ciders out of the blander ciders that I make. Usually I end up adding about 1tblsp per 5 gallon batch. I have gone as high as 3tblsp and as low as .5.

You add it in your bottling bucket (see my post below).

this is my recent post to some buddies in my local asking for help with first time draft cider making (see below). Item #9 and down is most relevant to your question on doctoring the cider to make a better flavor.

My favorite draft cider I have made so far uses frozen fresh pressed cider as a back sweetener. I thaw it about half way and pour off the liquid, leaving about half of the volume (ice) in the cider jug. This concentrates the cider to help backsweeten, and makes a fantastic draft cider. Probably the best I have had.


Cider:
1. Sanitize and clean fermenter.
2. Add unpast. juice to fermenter. (optional: You can add sugar, raisins etc if you want to goose the ABV but the more % alc the longer it typically needs to age).
3. Optional - sulphite with camden and let sit 24hours under airlock.
4. pitch yeast onto cider
5. let ferment 4-6 weeks (65-68F for most yeasts works well)
6. Once air lock starts to significantly slow, rack off into a new fermenter leaving lees behind and top off with more cider, or water if you don't have any cider.
7. leave for a minimum of 3 months. From start of ferment I typically will not touch the cider for 6 months except for the 1 racking at 4-6 weeks. Malollactic fermentation will usually take place right after the primary ferment, sometimes concurrent with primary ferment, then stay on for months so I let it do its thing.
8. For still cider you would sulphite at bottling and then you are done (bone dry cider with no sugar). See below for sweetening your cider without restarting ferment for a slightly sweet still cider.

9. For draft cider:
a. cold crash your carboy (not needed if you wait 6 months, no yeast will be in suspension).
b. Rack off desired cider amount into your bottling bucket (rack onto sorbate).
c. Add your sweetener (fresh unpast. cider, AJ concentrate, plain sugar, splenda etc.) to taste. For a dry cider 1.012 - 1.026 for sweet (woodchuck has 1.024). My wife likes 1.022-1.026; I like 1.012-1.018.
d. Taste the cider:

1. if it is acidic, add some water to mellow it (sparingly)
2. if it is insipid and needs some tartness, add some malic acid, start with 1/2 to 1 tblspn for 5 gallons.

e. now rack your cider into your keg, onto crushed camden tablets.
f. carbonate and serve on the draft like you would a beer.

notes:

remember that carbonating adds an acidity to the end product, so make the cider a tad sweeter than you like it, and the carb will balance it. Flavoring it is simply what you have to do based on the fact that we have american dessert apples to work with. It is very hard to get the malic tartness from the sweet dessert apples in an amount that you do not have to add a little malic acid. So making a darft cider with no add ins is very wonderful sounding, and nearly impossible with the apples we have here.

Anyway, that is the basic rundown. Of course, the most important part is the juice you get. This is why so many people report different results with yeasts, etc. You are never able to compare yeast results... apples to apples, because the results will be somewhat varied based on your blend.

When malolactic fermentation kicks in, the cider takes on a more vinous flavor and an almost buttery mouthfeel like a chardonnay of sorts, with apple nuance, like a wine and not like a draft cider. Draft ciders are sweet, so adding some sugar back in alone will bring you closer to a draft cider. You need to inhibit the restart of ferment though because wine yeasts tend to ferment dry.

Overall, you will get a better tasting draft cider than most commercial ones because you aren't watering the crap out of your cider and boosting the ABV with white sugar to maximize the yield.

Thanks for the rundown.

If I want to bottle carb, can I prime with apple juice? If so, can I take the grams of corn sugar needed and convert to apple juice based on the grams of sugar/serving on the label?

adamant said:

Thanks for the rundown.

If I want to bottle carb, can I prime with apple juice? If so, can I take the grams of corn sugar needed and convert to apple juice based on the grams of sugar/serving on the label?

Click to expand...

you can, but if you bottle carb please realize that the cider will ferment dry again. That is, if you add a gravity back up to 1.026 your will ferment back to 1.000 and get bottle bombs.

The only practical ways to ferment and keep residual sugar are the kegging method noted above, or heat pasteurization.

Are you looking to ferment to a bone dry 1.000 carbonated cider?

I would always go off a hydrometer gravity reading vs. the sugars noted on a package. You never usually know exactly how much liquid you have. Use that label as a starting point and add half in, stir, take a reading, add more in as needed (IMO).

CidahMastah said:

you can, but if you bottle carb please realize that the cider will ferment dry again. That is, if you add a gravity back up to 1.026 your will ferment back to 1.000 and get bottle bombs.

The only practical ways to ferment and keep residual sugar are the kegging method noted above, or heat pasteurization.

Are you looking to ferment to a bone dry 1.000 carbonated cider?

I would always go off a hydrometer gravity reading vs. the sugars noted on a package. You never usually know exactly how much liquid you have. Use that label as a starting point and add half in, stir, take a reading, add more in as needed (IMO).

Click to expand...

I was planning on pasteurizing once I get my desired carb level.

Does anyone know how much the SG changes between priming and carbonated? ie what change in SG equates to a fully carbonated bottle?

Kind of a bump on this thread, but I can't seem to find a straight answer anywhere. My current batch of cider has been in the keg (and in the keezer) for a good month at this point. Do I still need to try to kill the yeast if I were to backsweeten now? My thinking is that the yeast won't be able to do their thing at 38F.

I used this recipe and just took a reading. It was down to 1.004 and tasted sour. Did I screw it up or is that normal and will be fine in 8 months or so? Its about time to bottle but I don't want to waste my time if its crap. I plan on force carbing in a keg and bottling from there.

Turlian said:

Kind of a bump on this thread, but I can't seem to find a straight answer anywhere. My current batch of cider has been in the keg (and in the keezer) for a good month at this point. Do I still need to try to kill the yeast if I were to backsweeten now? My thinking is that the yeast won't be able to do their thing at 38F.

Click to expand...

my unpasteurized cider will always take off (start fermenting) in my refridge (36F). So yes, the yeast will likely still do their thing, just slower.

Depends on the yeast.

champagne, wine, lager and wild yeasts will usually continue to ferment at a slow rate when cold, if there is available sugar and nutrients.

most ale and wheat yeasts will stop

i.e. if you want to play it safe... sorbate and sulphite

Pappers_ said:

And Yooper's always getting mad that people think she's a man . . .

Click to expand...

I will do well to remember this, then. haha

What PSI did you use to force carb.

FalkyBrew said:

What PSI did you use to force carb.

Click to expand...

force carbing relies on your temperature in your keezer. I usually carb at about 15-16 (or more) PSI for my set up (34F). You may want to start at 12psi and move up to make sure your lines offer enough restriction (are long enough) for a 16+ carb

CidahMastah said:

force carbing relies on your temperature in your keezer. I usually carb at about 15-16 (or more) PSI for my set up (34F). You may want to start at 12psi and move up to make sure your lines offer enough restriction (are long enough) for a 16+ carb

Click to expand...

Wow! That seems really bubbly! I carbed some blonde ale at 14 PSI at 42* and was really carbed, can't imagine if it was colder! Though that was beer, is cider usually carbed much higher?