Hard Cider

5 gal. cider
5 lbs. dark brown sugar
1 package of cotes des blanc
hand full of french roasted oak chips

heat one gallon of cider on the stove (do not boil)
add 5 lbs of sugar to hot cider and stir untill sugar is disolved then remove from heat.
Sanatize fermenter, lid, air lock hydrometer and thermometer.

alow cider to cool a bit before adding to glass carboy. If you are using a bucket then add the 4 gallons of cider then add cider containing sugar and mix throughly for about 5 mins.
Take a temperature reading you want to pitch yeast around 80 degrees. Place lid on top and rehydrate yeast.
take a hydrometer reading.
Then pitch yeast and give it a good stir.
Place lid and air lock on.
Transfer after 2 week to secondary.
Wait 2 weeks then add sanitize oak chips to the secondary.
wait another two weeks before bottling .
Let it set in the bottle for at least a month two allow flavor to blend.

What was your OG and your FG with this? ABV?

How does it taste?

The starting gravity is 1.091 just racked to secondary checked gravity at racking it was 1.034.

I made a cider with 2 lbs dark brown sugar and it has a nice "mapley" flavor to it. It should really stand out with 5 lbs.

Yes. It also gives it a very nice color too.

I'm getting ready to make my cider. wouldn't a 1.09 cider take 6 months or more to mature enough to actually DRINK. I made a cider 5 months ago with an OG of 1.10 and it's just starting to get rid of the rubbery taste. The smell is still there, but I stuck my nose in a glass of Magners and even THAT has a rubbery smell.

I have never had a rubbery taste before. what are you using to ferment with? I usually start drinking mine after 2 months in the bottle. It does get better with age if you can keep it that long. I usually get a strong alcohol smell when it is just out of the secondary but after a few mins in the glass I can start to taste the other flavors coming through.
sorry i can't be much more help.

I want to do a recipe similar to this one, but I would like to also add some maple syrup. Any suggestions about how much to add and about when would be the best time to add it?

I was discussing the addition of maple syrup last night. it can be added to the secondary
but the sugar in it will restart fermentation and there is a chance that you could loose all flavor when it is done.

you could try adding sulfates to kill the yeast then add the maple syrup just be careful on the amount because you are also adding sweetness to the cider.

if you do try this please post your results. I am quite courous on how it turns out..

Will do. It'll be a Christmas brew so if I do it it won't post until then. I feel confident that if I use only a small amount to start and kill the yeast it should be good and not too sweet. I'll post the recipe when done.

Also, I see you have the 5 lbs of dark sugar to start. sounds delicious, but what's the tipping point for too much sugar to start with? Is there a formula you use?

So I started my Xmas cider with 4 gallons of apple juice, 4lbs of brown sugar and 2lbs of sugar in the raw with 1gallon of water. We plan to kill the yeast and back sweeten it with apple concentrate and then add the maple syrup along with some Cinnamon and a few other things. should be tasty, I just hope we use the right amount of syrup.

Sorry to take so long to get back to ya. I have not been checking on here for a month or so now.
I usually go with a one pound of sugar per gallon of juice.

looking forward to hearing how your cider turns out. Keep me posted.

Ok I entered this in a competition for the first time LVHB Malt Madness 2010. It took 1 place. there were 14 entries in the cider category. I entered it as a New England Cider.
I am waiting for the sheet to come in and will post what the comments.

So we used two cans of apple concentrate after killing the yeast. We then used I 120ml bottle of maple syrup. Gotta say it only made it sweeter. didn't give any more of a maple taste. but it was good. Also put in orange peel, lots of cinnamon and Nutmeg and coriander. good stuff.

Been researching to build a tradtitional recipe last few days. Clinton, i've seen 1.5lb/gallon, and not from a rocket fuel fan. Per a professor at Cornell.edu, "3. To the cider add 1lb. of sugar per gallon for a dry hard cider (not sweet) or 1 1/2 lbs. for a sweet drink. Honey can be substituted for sugar on a pound per pound basis. "

clinton said:

So we used two cans of apple concentrate after killing the yeast. We then used I 120ml bottle of maple syrup. Gotta say it only made it sweeter. didn't give any more of a maple taste. but it was good. Also put in orange peel, lots of cinnamon and Nutmeg and coriander. good stuff.

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what happen if you put cinnamon in at the start ??

during fermentation you will probably loose alot of the flavor from the cinnamon. I would add that to the secondary along with nutmeg and coriander.

johnnyo1977 said:

during fermentation you will probably loose alot of the flavor from the cinnamon. I would add that to the secondary along with nutmeg and coriander.

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think you

Do you really need to heat up the cider? We just started our very first batch about a month ago and we were told not too, and actually to add the yeast when the cider was at room temp. At 4 weeks in our cider stopped bubbling completely so we racked it off and tasted it and tested that alcohol content. we were at 13% Alcohol and it was delicious, but we wanted it sweeter so we added 1 more cup sugar and topped it off with more fresh cider. Im hoping we didnt ruin it! Any suggestions?

I only heated about a gallon to disolve the sugar the rest of the cider was added to the primary to warm to room temp before adding yeast. I do not heat all the cider and I do not boil it either. If you want it sweeter you should use splenda so as not to start fermentation again.
Did you use this recipe???

Johnny,

Are you using actual cider or apple juice like some others?

Thanks.

No, I just found this website today. really all we did was filled a 6 gallon carboy, added 5 pounds of white sugar and one package of champagne yeast and let it sit. Im thinking we should have bottled it when we tasted it because it was so good, but just pretty dry.

hi yambro44 I am using cider. Try using S-05 beer yeast or a wine yeast other than champagne yeast. The champagne yeast ferments out below 1.000 making it dry. The S-05 will stay above 1.000 making it more sweeter because there will be some sugar left over.

johnnyo1977 said:

hi yambro44 I am using cider. Try using S-05 beer yeast or a wine yeast other than champagne yeast. The champagne yeast ferments out below 1.000 making it dry. The S-05 will stay above 1.000 making it more sweeter because there will be some sugar left over.

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Thanks Johnny. I have some 05 as well as some wine yeast (Montrachet I think).

Got my cider!

Nice looking jugs. Where is the cider from?

johnnyo1977 said:

Nice looking jugs. Where is the cider from?

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Whitehouse all natural, from Publix.

Hey all - glad to see the cider interest. Just curious why you would heat your cider? That denatures the flavor and I have never had a problem disolving sugar by simply stirring it in (just takes some extra stirs). Just sayin'

Also have you ever try Wyeast's Cider yeast? Right now I have a beta testing event at my house, it will be interesting to see how the yeasts do in my batches. I pressed about 200 gallons of cider this year and put about 100 of it in glass. Very interested to see if all the chatter about the yeasts really plays a role. Have some cool test batches going as well

I only warm about a gallon of cider to disolve the sugar. I just started doing it that way and have not changed.

I did use a english cider yeast for a three gallon batch that used 3 lbs of sugar and a had full of oak chips and a had full of golden rasins. it turned out ok it was a little dryer than i like. It is forced carbed and has gotten better over the month.
I prefer a yeast that stays on the semi sweet side.

WOW... that is a lot of cider. Please keep us informed about your findings. what were the different yeasts that you used?

Oh.. by the way I had entered this in my second competition and it place 3rd.. the cider is all most a year old. I only have two large bottles left..

Will this carb in the bottle? What makes the cotes de blanc peeter out at such a high FG?

the original gravity is high and the yeast will only attenuate so far with that much sugar. It is not like a champagne yeast that can handle a high alcohol content.

Hey there Johnny,

It is a stupid amount of cider. But when I looked to buy apples for pressing it was way cheaper to by them by a 20 bushel bin. But then you need several kinds to make good cider... the bins were single variety only.... you see where this lead right? (4 bins later) Ha! I am using a range of wine and cider yeasts here they are:

Wyeast Cider 4766? - cider styled (demijohn)
Wyeast Dry Mead - cider styled (demijohn)
Lavlin 1118 - champagne, New England cider and traditional cider styled (5/6.5 carboys and 2 demijohns)
Lavlin D-47 - Cider and Apple wine styled (gallon and demijohn)
Red Star - Cote de blanc - Ciders (several gallon test variations)
Red Star - Pasteur Champagne - Cider styled (6.5 carboy)
I started a french styled cider too (wild yeast) - Cider styled (gallon sized)
(about 98 gallons) - can you guess what people will be getting for xmas haha

This is going to be a big learning year with all the strains in place. I plan on starting a cider fermentation with ale yeasts too, smaller batches. Oddly, I never used ale yeasts because my cider comes out so good with the wine yeasts. Looks like a lot of people use Safale-05 and Nottingham ale yeasts.

Racked off my last demi-john last night and tried some of the "green" tasting hooch - has a lot of potential in it, not bad for being so young. The great part is, i did something new this year when I racked off. If you get a narrow tallish conainer, you can dump the yeasty swill in it and refrig for a day or so. It clears, then you rack off into yet another bottle and you can enjoy some green cider early (even if you have to backsweeten a touch with fresh cider). In the demijohns that is about 1 half gallon of hooch, the 6.5's about 1 quart.

Almost forgot - I even have a gallon of perry going - though I had to top off with some cider at the first racking so it is technically a blend.

Holy Cow you have a lot of cider. The only other yeast you could have tried is from White labs, English Cider yeast. This is a awesome project. When did you start the batches?
I am looking forward to seeing how they turn out.
I am going to make a 3 gallon batch with S-05 I also want to see how it turns out. I have been told that it makes a realy tasty cider.
I am thinking about doing a spice cider. I am going to make a tea with some vodka and spice then add it to the cider.

I have a buddy working on the project with me, but I am the orchestrator - we will be having all too much fun in my cider cellar haha.

I hear you on the white labs - oddly, it was the only cider yeast my LHBS didn't have - I planned to order it via the mail, but forgot!

We had a cider pressing party in October and I put up the first batches of hooch throughout the week as I pressed (Oct 19-22). So unfortunately we have some waiting on the results.

I am actually trying the GRAFF recipe on the forum with the Safale-05 (starting that tonight or this weekend). I think next year I might try to do ale yeasts and see how they do comparison wise (nottingham, etc.) If you haven't tried the GRAFF recipe, you should check it out. Looks interesting, though a lot like brewing beer. The graff could be a good quick way to stave off temptation for early cider tastings - it only takes about 5 weeks to come around.

I like your idea on adding in the cinnamon too. I have thought about doing that, but didn't yet (sure I will try in the future so let me know how it turns out). One of the great things about dry cider is.... very easy tool to use (touch of rum, vodka, cinnamon, etc.). I have heard that if you add the cinnamon it is better to add some at the bulk aging point and the flavors will meld together better - I have no direct experience with it though. Your tea idea almost sounds like brewing (beer). Be sure to cool your tea down to about 70 degrees before adding to the juice. Cooking the juice will likely create a haze (for cider anyway, not sure about regular apple juice)

I have one really nice New England cider that seems to be doing very well flavor wise. I poured some out for a sample when it completed fermentation and it tasted like it had been aged for a couple months already. Big potential in that one.

Sorry did not explain well enough. I will soak the cinnamon and spices in the vodka to extract the flavor. then i can use a pipet to put some in a glass of cider to see how it tastes before i add it to a cider and bulk age it for a week to alow it to fullly blend together.
I do alot of bulk storage thanks to all the people that drink magnum bottles of wine. I also bottle some in 750ml to drink first. After a few months in the big bottles the cider will settle out a little more then when I need a couple of bottles I then transfer to a two 750ml or some 12 oz for judging. I get a little carbination this way to help keep it isolated from too much oxygen. I have kept a few bottles for over 4 years this way especially when i make my cider with the champaine yeast. There is one bottle folating around in the basement that is going on 6 years.

Wow six years! Very cool. When you try that one you will have to let us know how it tastes and if the aging improved it up to that point. None of my cider has lasted more than a year, but this year I am sure we will be having plenty left over. when I bottle I plan to divide it all out and space out bottle tastings to test the peak time of the hooch.

I had one bottle that was 5 years old. It tasted like a apple chardonnay. It had a great apple nose and a nice buttery apple with a slight oak characteristic. It was awesome. wish I had more..
Are you going to bottle with magnum bottles or just 750ml? Have you been hitting the recycling places for wine bottles?

Hi there JohnnyO,

I currently have a 3 gallon batch of cider, using your recipe fermenting. I currently am at 2 weeks and did a gravity reading and it's still at 1.031. I was wondering if you had similar results. You said to rack at 2 weeks, but I'm thinking that it still is full out fermenting; I'm still getting bubbles every 6-8 seconds and it's been fermenting in the 65-71 degree range.

I used Red Star Champagne yeast.

Smell is like you said very strong, like vodka, but so far it tastes pretty good, still extremely sweet.

I just wanted to get feedback from someone else who has done this recipe before. I guess more than anything I'm impatient...

Thanks!