NY Brewer and First time Cider

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cwhill

cwhill

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Greetings from Upper, NY. We are getting ready to enter the great apple seaon up here before the cold winter settles in. I have many all grain beer brews under my belt and have lots of equipment not getting used. I also keg and use a chest freezer for the kegs. So now I'm ready to try something sweeter! I'd like to try and get some fresh cider from one of the many local apple orchards here. They have all kinds as far as fresh pressed and or pasteurized etc. I'd like to keep it simple. So any suggestions on what to get?
1. Do I just go and get 5 gals of pasteurized cider in my 6.5 carboy and put champagne yeast in it?
2. Does using apple cider get as clear as using apple juice?
3. Can it be kegged with CO2 just like beer?
4. How long to let it ferment? Same as beer until the gravity stops dropping?

Thanks in advance for any advice!!
:mug:
 
The apple cider isn't going to have enough sugar to produce the ABV you will be looking for (6-8ish?). You're going to need to add few pounds of sugar, corn sugar would be great.

I have used montrachet yeast with good success, it tastes like apple flavored champagne. You can use white wine yeast as well if you like.

You'd probably want to shoot for 1.5-2lbs corn sugar. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't get as clear as if you used filtered apple juice, but if you kegged it it would eventually clear up realtively well, although clear or not the cider probably tastes better than juice.

Yeah just keg it like a beer. CO2 it to your liking and you are g2g.

Fermentation is just like beer. However you're going to want to let it age for as long as humanly possible. Cider tasted ok at 4 or 5 months, better after 6, and great around a year. Just let it sit in the primary until you can't stand it anymore. Longer is better.
 
cvstrat said:
The apple cider isn't going to have enough sugar to produce the ABV you will be looking for (6-8ish?). You're going to need to add few pounds of sugar, corn sugar would be great.

I have used montrachet yeast with good success, it tastes like apple flavored champagne. You can use white wine yeast as well if you like.

You'd probably want to shoot for 1.5-2lbs corn sugar. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't get as clear as if you used filtered apple juice, but if you kegged it it would eventually clear up realtively well, although clear or not the cider probably tastes better than juice.

Yeah just keg it like a beer. CO2 it to your liking and you are g2g.

Fermentation is just like beer. However you're going to want to let it age for as long as humanly possible. Cider tasted ok at 4 or 5 months, better after 6, and great around a year. Just let it sit in the primary until you can't stand it anymore. Longer is better.
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Awesome...Thanks for the great feedback. I'll get a few pounds of the corn sugar from the brew shop. I assume dextrose is fine as usual? Should I dilute it in water to liquify it it. Hot water that is?
 
dextrose = corn sugar so that's what you need yeah. Try 2 lbs, with 5 gallons of cider.


I'm guessing you're getting the cider in 1gal milk jug type containers. Pour half of one gallon into the carboy then pour a pound of sugar into the cider jug, put top back on and shake like hell. the sugar will more or less dissolve into the cider, pour that into the carboy. Repeat for the second gallon. Sprinkle in the yeast then wash it all down with the last gallon.
 
Please dont use champagne yeast! sorry to disagree with the other responses, but if you want something sweet and appley you DONT want to use champagne or wine yeast.

i recommend 2 lbs light brown sugar to up the abv and use Wyeast Sweet mead yeast 4184. that produces great results. if you cant get the wyeast sweet mead yeast, or dont want to pay that much for liquid yeast, then use safale s-04. if you read the sticky at the top of the cider section, you will see kevin and other experts get great results with s-04 and other ale yeasts.
 
Agree with poster above about champagne yeast. However what are your tastes? do you like sweet or dry? body or no body? have you had any commercial ciders you like? I'm also getting ready for apple season here in NY and after trying a bunch of different cider/juice/sugar/yeast combos over the past couple years i'm actually going to try a cider yeast for once lol. Also depending on the type of apple juice, you're gravity can be anywhere from 1.035 to 1.06 so adding sugar is not always a necessity.

Do you have an idea of which orchard you'll be getting your cider from? Also its a bit late but goulds orchard just started having cider competitions, this year is the second year, i believe its sometime in november.
 
JoMarky said:
Agree with poster above about champagne yeast. However what are your tastes? do you like sweet or dry? body or no body? have you had any commercial ciders you like? I'm also getting ready for apple season here in NY and after trying a bunch of different cider/juice/sugar/yeast combos over the past couple years i'm actually going to try a cider yeast for once lol. Also depending on the type of apple juice, you're gravity can be anywhere from 1.035 to 1.06 so adding sugar is not always a necessity.

Do you have an idea of which orchard you'll be getting your cider from? Also its a bit late but goulds orchard just started having cider competitions, this year is the second year, i believe its sometime in november.
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I think I like the champagne yeast as I tend to prefer the drier less sweet ciders. If I'm correct the champagne yeast yields that type generally? As far as using the safale 04 doesn't the ABV get too high for that type of yeast or no? I have tons of that on hand as well as nottingham. I've seen a few posts using that I think. Anyway as I said I prefer it a bit drier.
I'll be getting some of the cider from up in the Saratoga County area. Saratoga Apple in Schuylerville or even from a place in Argyle. Not sure what types they currently have.
 
if you like dry i'd recommend the white labs cider yeast, it ferments quite dry but keeps the flavors of the cider, attenuation is greater than 80%, it can handle the alcohol, and it doesn't take forever to develop a good profile. where do you go for your homebrew stuff? hennessey in north greenbush has a great selection of yeasts(including all that have been mentioned in this thread).
 
JoMarky said:
if you like dry i'd recommend the white labs cider yeast, it ferments quite dry but keeps the flavors of the cider, attenuation is greater than 80%, it can handle the alcohol, and it doesn't take forever to develop a good profile. where do you go for your homebrew stuff? hennessey in north greenbush has a great selection of yeasts(including all that have been mentioned in this thread).
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I can certainly get to Hennessey. That's about an hour drive maybe a bit less. We have a home brew shop up here too, EBI. They closed the shop for awhile the NYSLA (Liquor A$$holes) said they couldn't sell the stuff in their beverage center. They reopened it next door in a little building so they are back in full swing. Not aure if they carry the cider yeast or not. I'll stop in and check. They are just off exit 15 on the Northway; Right near me. Thanks for the advise!!
What kind of ciders are you making?
 
Hopefully EBI has the yeast, i'm sure they could use the business after getting dicked around by our wondrous liquor board, they probably had to throw up a good amount of cash just so they could sell some malted barley. I have three ciders going right now, EdWorts Apfelwein (using 5 gal apple juice, 2lbs dextrose, montrachet), Brandon O's Graff (4 gals cider, 1 gallon wort of 2lbs DME and 1lb C60, 1oz aged leaf Saaz with S-05 yeast) and a plain cider; 5 gallons cider, 2 lbs brown sugar, and whitelabs cider yeast.
 
Finally some homebrewers in NY. I knew I couldn't be the only one, but I might be the only one in the city. So a silly question from a newb. Does it have to be pasteurized cider or juice? Also, can it age in bottles, or does it have to sit in primary for a year? I only have two fermenters, and would rather not tie one of for a year. Thanks, guys.
 
mikeysab said:
Finally some homebrewers in NY. I knew I couldn't be the only one, but I might be the only one in the city. So a silly question from a newb. Does it have to be pasteurized cider or juice? Also, can it age in bottles, or does it have to sit in primary for a year? I only have two fermenters, and would rather not tie one of for a year. Thanks, guys.
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If its not pasteurized I think standard procedure is to use campden tablets, wait some period of time for them to wear off, then pitch yeast. My cider usually doesn't last longer than 3 months. 1st month primary, 2nd month kegged, 3rd month getting drunk. My friends who bottle usually do so between 3-4 weeks and they start getting opened after 3 weeks in the bottle. There is a significant difference the first bottle and the last. I have no experience with patience so cant help you there.
 
What do you mean finally some home brewers in NY???LOL Been here brewing up apple wine and graff all year..:ban: I'm about 40 mins fron toga and an hour from Albany but am in town at least once a week including today.. What's the phone number for the brewshop in Saratoga? That's alittle closer to me..

BTW I'll be dining tonight at the pump room in Albany and I hear they have a few tasty brews on tap..:rockin:
 
the pump station is good, their oktoberfest is good and goes quick so try and get some if they have it on tap already. across the river in troy is browns brew pub, up until recently their beers were average at best, but recently they have made some great improvements and are coming up with some really interesting ones as well, the food is good so definitely worth a try. Its an old river side brick warehouse/mill building just like the pump station.
 
What I mean is that you're the first person from NY I've come across on HBT. I don't think I've come across any from NYC, and definitely nobody from Staten Island. There's so little interest, that there's not even a homebrew shop in SI or manhattan. It gets painful waiting for orders from the internet shops.
 
Mr. Mikey:

We're thick as fleas here in NYC. Just look around next time you take the ferry into the City and sure as there's gum on the bottom of your shoe, there's six or eight of us home brewers sitting there reading the Post along with you. I've been hearing of a startup brew supply that set up in Brooklyn within the last few weeks. Try WWW.BROOKLYN-HOMEBREW.com.
 
I'm sure there are, but I don't know any. I've been searching high and low for a LHBS, and there certainly aren't any on Staten Island, and I've found one listed on Yellowbook.com that's out of business. There are a few in Brooklyn, which I've heard are garbage, so I guess that only leaves jersey. I need a place in a pinch, but I guess I'll just have to stock up on stuff, as it seems there aren't any places close by. Thanks for the info, i'll check it out. Or should I say salamat.
 
If you have not yet brewed a batch of Brandon O's Graff yet, I highly recommend it. Recipe is easily found on the forums. I did mine with Fuggles hops and Nottingham yeast and it came out great. Apple season in NY is gonna have me trying the simple cider recipe mentioned here next... 5 gals cider, 2lbs brown sugar and white labs cider yeast. The possibilities are endless in NY in the fall when it comes to apple anything. Good luck! :rockin:
 

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