First attempt at hard cider (LONG)

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Budd0413

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I am diving into the world of hard cider for the first time this year. I am a bit green when it comes to this so I have been doing a fair amount of reading but still have some unanswered questions.

Let me start off by stating what I have already done and what I plan to do.

I started off by purchasing the 6.5 gallon ale pale kit from homebrewit.com.
It comes with a basic airlock, spigot, bucket and lid. I happened on an apple orchard that was kind enough to provide me with some unpasteurized cider. Apparently in NY it is illegal to sell unpasteurized juice so the orchard will have to remain unnamed. I started off with 5 gals of cider and I warmed them to 140 for about 45 min to kill off any unwanted natural yeast. While warm I added 2lbs of brown sugar. I let the cider cool to room temperature then added my re hydrated lavlin 71b. I noticed fermentation by the next morning. I started this on September 16th. The cider is still producing C02 at quite a rapid rate. I plan on letting the primary fermentation go for 14 days. Then I plan on racking in my secondary for another 14 days before bottling just to settle out a little more. I would like to have my cider carbonate in the bottle so I plan on adding 3/4 cup honey or brown sugar before bottling. I will probably let sit 28 days in the bottle before drinking.

So my anticipated time frame is as follows:
Sept. 16-30 = primary fermentation
Oct. 1-14 = secondary
Oct. 15 = add honey and bottle
Nov. 12= drink

From everything that I have read my time frame may seem a bit shy of what is actually needed but I don't know for sure.

I bypassed the use of campden but figured that I killed off any wild yeast by heating at 140 for 45 min. Am I correct in thinking this?

After my primary is freed up I plan on trying out some different recipes, perhaps doing some single gallons to get a flavor that I like. Could someone provide some insight on any steps that I may be forgetting or time frames that need extensions or any safety issues that I missed. Also what is the shelf life for unpasteurized hard cider stored at room temperature. I know its a long first post, thanks for getting to the end.
 
So by bringing it to 140F for 45 minutes you basically pasteurized it, you also most likely set the peptic enzymes which is why most people use camden tables instead.
In any case, your on the path to making hard cider, it might be a little cloudy but should be good.
You time to drinking is kind of short for cider, but it will be a cider, the flavour will really come out in around 8 months to a year so save some of those bottles.
 
Thanks for the quick response. I was under the impression that pectin's wouldn't set if you kept the temperature at 140. I thought it took a higher temperature. I also thought that pasteurization required 160 degrees. I guess either way using heat to kill wild yeast is a form of pasteurization. Next time I will try the tablets and no heat. As for bottling time I think I may hold off on cracking open that first bottle. I could probably wait until Christmas.
 
I'm not sure about temperature specifics, but it definitely doesn't take a lot of heat to get it hazy. It's more of a preference call, though. If you don't mind a little haze, then don't worry too much about it. Haze doesn't bother me. The same could be said for bottling. I prefer to keep my cider in a secondary carboy for a few months, just to age it. It can be done in bottles too though. I saw in your list of items that a glass carboy was not mentioned though. Did you forget to write it down, or do you not have one?

Good luck on your cider, it sounds like so far you are doing good! By the way, what apples did the orchard use?
 
I'd skip the campden and the heat. If the press you got your juice from is reasonably sanitary, you dont need either. Campden will strip out a lot of the apple flavor and leave you with a bitter finish that will take several months to subside. The cultured yeast will quickly overwhelm any wild yeast.

Next time, I'd recommend using an ale yeast. S04 is my favorite, but US05, Nottingham and the liquid yeasts work well also. You will have more residual apple taste than with champagne yeast.

As far as shelf life goes - if you add nothing to the juice, it will last 6-8 months when fermented out. If you want to store it for longer than this add 1/2 of the recommended dose of campden after fermentation - the campden has much less of an impact on the taste if you add it after the ferment, as opposed to before
 
Well I tasted the cider to see just how dry it it is going to be and wow, the driest wine you could imagine x 2. I dont have my hydrometer yet but I would say that it has a pretty high abv. I would say that all of the sugar is probably converted at this point the co2 production has slowed to almost nothing in the last two days. I am going to rack it for 14 days then backsweeten before i bottle it. I was planning on carbing in the bottle so I am going to have to figure out what unfermentable sweetener I like the most. any suggestions...(no splenda)
 
Unless you stabilize the yeast, back sweetening with ferment able sugars, and bottling will only produce bottle grenades.
Spenda works for me, maybe you can find something else that you like.
 
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