I'm beginning to like cider as much as I like beer

The last cider I made was so popular that the whole 5 gallons was kicked before other beers that had been on tap for weeks before. I've decided that since I like it so much, and everyone else seems to like it so much, I'm going to start alternating beer and cider, so that 3 of my 6 taps will be devoted to ciders. Since I'll have 3 ciders at a time, I decided I should branch out a bit and get some variety. Here are the recipes that I've tried and liked:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f81/grahams-english-cider-107152/ - Backsweetened with 12oz treetop concentrate in the keg. This is the basic recipe that I work with to make the other ciders.
Basic apfelwein - I prefer no added sugar, just juice, nutrient, and wine yeast. I haven't tried this backsweened, but probably will give it a shot.
Black Cider - 4 gallons english cider, 1 gallon strong american stout, blended post-fermentation. Deeeelish.

Here are recipes that I'm planning to try:

House Perry - 100% pear juice has proven elusive/expensive to me, so I'm fermenting 5 gallons of apple juice and backsweetening with 16oz of pear concentrate. The juice is fermented and the concentrate is ordered, we shall see. I can't imagine it will be bad.
Imperial cider - It starts with 3 gallons of fermenting juice, then concentrate is added one 12oz can at a time until it reaches 5 gallons. Effective OG should be about 1.100. This is highly experimental and I won't be surprised if it flops, but I'm going to try it sometime.
Raspberry cider - Graham's with fruit flavoring. Naturally other fruits have potential as well.
Fall Spice cider - Graham's with cinnamon, ginger, clove, and nutmeg.

Does anyone have other suggestions for unique ciders from store bought juice? I tried graff a few times and didn't care for it. I may try pressing my own sometime or buying fresh pressed if the opportunity arises, but I've really enjoyed my results so far so I have no plans to do so soon.

I too have remembered how nice good ciders can be and am also ramping up the production pipeline.
You have already listed the recipes I have tried, I think I need to experiment a little more myself.

With 3 on tap, I'd suggest having at least 1 dry and 1 sweet. That way you're happy no matter what mood you're in

I'm working on tweaking a recipe based of edworts apfelwein that I'm going to be my summer drink. Specifically to be made into shandies with gingerale. Maybe that would be an idea for you to have on tap? A lower alcohol, refreshing cider shandy. I assume if you kill the yeast, you could blend them at kegging, and force carb as usual.

Coastarine said:

Imperial cider - It starts with 3 gallons of fermenting juice, then concentrate is added one 12oz can at a time until it reaches 5 gallons. Effective OG should be about 1.100. This is highly experimental and I won't be surprised if it flops, but I'm going to try it sometime.

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I've done this very thing before, I call it Top of the Tree apple wine, it's about a year old now, I haven't even tasted it yet, but we'll see how it turns out, It's planning on becoming apple jack.

KFBass said:

I'm working on tweaking a recipe based of edworts apfelwein that I'm going to be my summer drink. Specifically to be made into shandies with gingerale. Maybe that would be an idea for you to have on tap? A lower alcohol, refreshing cider shandy. I assume if you kill the yeast, you could blend them at kegging, and force carb as usual.

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Thanks, that sounds tasty. There is no need for me to kill the yeast when kegging, since it will quickly be cooled to below 50 and the ale yeast will be dormant.

I went through 10 gallons before Christmas, I can relate.

Freezeblade said:

I've done this very thing before, I call it Top of the Tree apple wine, it's about a year old now, I haven't even tasted it yet, but we'll see how it turns out, It's planning on becoming apple jack.

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Cool, I figured someone else had thought of this before. I plan to be drinking it after about 2 months of aging. I firmly believe that almost any strong ale can be drinkable after 2 months with sound techniques. I am drinking a 9.9% wee heavy right now that was tapped after 2 months and had no trace of rocket fuel.

Coastarine said:

Cool, I figured someone else had thought of this before. I plan to be drinking it after about 2 months of aging. I firmly believe that almost any strong ale can be drinkable after 2 months with sound techniques. I am drinking a 9.9% wee heavy right now that was tapped after 2 months and had no trace of rocket fuel.

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Debatable point. as you've seen from my cider recipes I'm quite the believer in aging for ciders/wines. Beers can be drank earlier because they don't finish at 1.003 like that Apple Wine did. :cross:

Coastarine said:

Imperial cider - It starts with 3 gallons of fermenting juice, then concentrate is added one 12oz can at a time until it reaches 5 gallons. Effective OG should be about 1.100. This is highly experimental and I won't be surprised if it flops, but I'm going to try it sometime.

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I was brewing yesterday and listening to my celtic rock/folk station on pandora, and I heard a song that gave me the perfect name for this when I do make it: Johnny Jump Up.

The recipe I'm working with now is:

5 gallons cider
1.5 lbs demerara sugar
1.5 lbs chopped up raisins
5 teabags worth of strong tea
Fermax
Nottingham

It's a lot like Graham's with more alcohol and a little more body. The raisins seem to keep the apple flavor from being stripped out, even though it's higher gravity. I find it very drinkable right out of the secondary.

I think half an ounce of medium toasted oak per gallon does wonderful things to cider.

I like tea better than commercial tannins.

I've found that boosting the gravity with concentrate can leave a bitter aftertaste in the final product that takes a while to smooth out. Half concentrate/half honey doesn't seem to cause the same problem.

Thanks! And oaked cider! That's brilliant; another to add to my list.

I've seen raisins used before in mead recipes. Are they just for flavor or do they bring some nutrients or something else?

I read somewhere here on the forum that raisins could be used to add body.

Annie Proux writes about using them to boost gravity in her classic New England cider recipe.


I posted here on the forum asking what weight I should use per gallon, then did a bunch of one gallon test batches.

There's also a great video about it on youtube.

4 oz. per gallon is what works best for me. Raisins definitely add body. What surprised me was how much adding raisins helped the flavor. In my limited experience, increasing gravity = less apple flavor. I like a little more kick and a little more body than "just juice." So far, raisins are the cure. All this might go out the window this fall when I can get my hands on fresh, un-pasteurized juice. Until then, I'm really, really happy with this recipe.

Coastarine said:

I was brewing yesterday and listening to my celtic rock/folk station on pandora, and I heard a song that gave me the perfect name for this when I do make it: Johnny Jump Up.

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I'm glad to see another cider lover down here in the bottom of the homebrew forums

I also listen to pandora while brewing. I love the thumbs up/down option and how it finds new music. There's a bunch of new bands I've found through it...but strangely some of them I can't find CD's for. Makes me wonder how they got the music

Another fruit recipe you could try is blueberry. Ferment an apfelwine and then put a bunch of crushed blueberrys in the secondary. Turns out delish and very nice deep blue/purply color.