Panty Dropper Sweet Cider Recipe

I bought a gallon of organic no preservative cider added a package of muntons dry yeast and let her go. She fermented for a week then i crash cooled, let raise to room temp for a day and then crash cooled again. I am blown away on how it turned out. This has got to be my best batch of booze i have ever turned out..........period. And i dont even like hard cider that much.

I'm planning to start this tomorrow night, accept I changed it to a 3 gallon batch and I had to use white house premium apple juice since giant didnt have a great selection and I wasnt willing to drive to (or pay for the juice there) whole foods and see what they had. My one newbie question is can you take this straight from the primary and into bottles with nothing added and be safe without bottle bombs? I'm already guessing that if i do this its going to give it self a bit of carbonation after conditioning just due to left over sugars. plus this is gonna be my first brew ever.

If you let it ferment all the way down and then bottle with no additional sugar, then it won't carbonate in the bottle (unless the rousing of the yeast makes them eat some sugars they had left beforehand). If you bottle before it's done, then you have to worry about the bombs

Depending on your OG/FG and yeast used, it may not carbonate at all. I used Nottingham, I think, for my first attempt at this, and since it turned out to be 10.5% the yeast say 'screw this' when I tried to get it to carbonate in the bottle. As long as you have a more reasonable abv, though, you should be fine.

ok so mine has been in the primary for about two weeks now and I think I'm going to rack to secondary in another week. I havnt had bubbles over the past few days but I'm using cote de blancs which seems notorious for that. I plan to rack onto a bag of chopped crasins and maybe a can of cranberry-something concentrate. Should be yummy.

BrewFrick said:

This has turned out to be my best cider recipe so far!

The apple flavor is very strong and it has just enough sweetness as to not consider it dry but it's not sticky sweet either.

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How long did you let this age before sampling?

I just sampled mine actually. its only about a month and a half old since I started in the primary. Right now it just tastes like a white table wine with MAYBE just a little hint of apple flavor, not much though. It was pretty clear for a while, but a few days ago it go cloudy for some reason, Idk if someone is messing with my carboy or what. I checked the hydrometer and its done.
I think im going to stabilize and back sweeten with a 1 can of apple juice concentrate per gallon, does anyone think thats too much?

Hey people. New guy here. I'm recovering from a lapse in brewing. Failed batch threw me off the horse. Anyway, back on the horse today with this recipe. I used Wyeast brand yeast instead of White Labs due to local availability. The yeast variety is still sweet mead, however. Otherwise, I followed the recipe exactly. I do want fizz in this batch and so am planning on 3/4 cup dextrose primer before bottling. That sound right? I think I read it somewhere. Just double checking. All the dialogue on this thread makes picking a recipe a lot more fun, so I'll be making my contribution via an update on how it goes...

skone said:

Hey people. New guy here. I'm recovering from a lapse in brewing. Failed batch threw me off the horse. Anyway, back on the horse today with this recipe. I used Wyeast brand yeast instead of White Labs due to local availability. The yeast variety is still sweet mead, however.

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good move. the Wyeast sweet mead yeast is MUCH better than the white labs version. The white labs "sweet mead" yeast does not leave it sweet at all. it will finish well below 1.000 like other wine yeast.

i have had good luck with the 4184. (wyeast sweet mead yeast). i use 2 lbs light brown sugar for 5 gallons fresh cider. ferment cool, under 60F if you can. if you can get the fermentation temp in the low 50s it will probably finish around 1.010 which is a great FG.

This sounds like an interesting recipe.

I thought I would chime in on the technicalites of cider/wine ect.

Cider can be made from apples or pears. So technically speaking there is not such thing as a complete cherry cider. You could have cherry in cider however.

Hard cider should be between ~4-7% ABV and generally sparkling.

Apple wine is ~7-15% ABV may have a light sparkle or be still.

Wine is made from grapes and has a ABV of ~9-15%

Fruit Wine is made from any fruits other than grapes, apples, or pears generally with an ABV of ~9-15%

Difference between apple juice and cider is natural sugar content with cider having a lower level. Cider is generally made from first pickings of apples.

When making hard cider it doesn't really matter if you use cider or apple juice as the sugar is metabolized by the yeast.

mitch171 said:

This sounds like an interesting recipe.

Difference between apple juice and cider is natural sugar content with cider having a lower level. Cider is generally made from first pickings of apples.

When making hard cider it doesn't really matter if you use cider or apple juice as the sugar is metabolized by the yeast.

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sorry but I'm going to go ahead and completely disagree. The initial juice or cider makes a huge difference in the final product, especially if you don't ferment all the way down below 1.000. Thats pretty much a fact.

wreckinball9 said:

good move. the Wyeast sweet mead yeast is MUCH better than the white labs version. The white labs "sweet mead" yeast does not leave it sweet at all. it will finish well below 1.000 like other wine yeast.

i have had good luck with the 4184. (wyeast sweet mead yeast). i use 2 lbs light brown sugar for 5 gallons fresh cider. ferment cool, under 60F if you can. if you can get the fermentation temp in the low 50s it will probably finish around 1.010 which is a great FG.

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thanks for the input, wreckinball9. i stuck with the white sugar per the recipe but will be sporting improvisations in batch two, to be sure. i did a first check on the cider batch in question when i got up this morning. after about 15 hours in the carboy, the yeast was CRANKING. airlock gave me a nice bubble on the second, every second. super tight, little bubbles absolutely pouring up the wall and collecting on the surface edges. it was at 70 degrees on our living level of the house so i have now taken it down to the basement where it's a constant 60 degrees on the button. i can get it colder on our front porch (vermont) but the temp is not constant. 45 - 70 depending on time of day and the weather. let me know your thoughts on temps regarding this. i'm thinking it's best to stick with 60 degrees and avoid the temp swings? gotta tell you. feels good to have something in the fermenter again. two years is too long!

yeah i would opt for the constant basement temps also. but once you get close the FG you want (probably around 1.010) you may want to leave it outside for the night if you dont have room in the fridge. the cold temp will really slow down the fermentation.

wreckinball9 said:

yeah i would opt for the constant basement temps also. but once you get close the FG you want (probably around 1.010) you may want to leave it outside for the night if you dont have room in the fridge. the cold temp will really slow down the fermentation.

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Good advice. Thanks again - will follow up with a progress post...

My batch of this here cider is on Day 10 in the primary carboy. Bubble in the vapor lock every 10 seconds. Still steady streaming, tight bubbles on the walls up to the surface edge. Planning on a gravity reading (perhaps) around 15 days. I'm stand-offish though to be honest. I've forgone gravity readings completely in the past and been fine. Since I might do it can I ask: do you guys syphon out quantity in a narrow vessel that will accommodate the length of the hydrometer? Or do you loop a string around the hydrometer and lower it into the 5 gallon carboy? I'll google and search this site for my options but would appreciate the peanut gallery's comments on just how you like to do it. Thanks in advance.

I draw off a sample with a wine theif & test it with hydrometer/hydometer jar, then I always do a taste test. I NEVER pour the sample back into the fermenter. Regards, GF.

Most times I pull a sample with a sanitized wine theif, or a sanitized measuring cup and measure in a tube. I also never put it back in.
I use an ale pale for primaries of ciders and meads, it just makes it easier to work with. With that some times I just sanitize the hydrometer and put it in the bucket and take a reading.
I think tying a string on it would not allow a proper reading due to the added weight.

Thanks for the hydrometer reading tips. I realized shortly after that I had not taken a reading from the get-go and so would have nothing to compare against --- meaning can't do the second reading if you missed your chance to take the first. At least that's my logic. So gravity will be a mystery on this one I guess. I bottled my 5 gallons into Grolsch swingtops and a couple mason jars on December 5th. I took a taste test this eve (not quite a month). Carbonation is beautiful. Appropriate alcoholic taste to it. The sweetness is a little stronger than I bargained for. I guess I thought it would get drier. Will it get drier as it ages? It's still rather young. Hell, even as is - - it's a definite thumbs up already. Thanks again.

@skone: The sweetness might mellow and blend into other flavors, but if it gets much drier, thats an indication of continued fermentation in bottle, and with any kind of carbed drink, especially one using a sweet mead yeast that's rated for at least 12% ABV, you've got to be on the lookout for bottle bombs already.

This recipe seems like something you'd have to drink fast, or else risk having fermentation continue in bottle and having bottles blow up. How do you compensate for having a sweet and bottle carbed cider, BrewFrick?

Well I decided to try this recipe on Post#1 of this topic and the Cider is in the loft doing its thing at 68F. I started with a OG =:1.070. I think I have been reading too many topics under the forum and just getting different facts piling up in my head its somtime gives me an overload. Many opinions about being able to bottle, not being able to bottle, back sweetening. Anyone create a cider with this recipe? Just looking at what kind of sauce I am going to end up with.

I cracked this cider in late December at about one month old. Too sweet for me. I risked the bottle bombs and hung onto it. Thanks to my Grolsch swingtops, not one bottle bomb and it's nearly March. You should hear the pop on these guys though, when you open them. Yowza. The extra time in the bottle really helped dry it out, and in my opinion make the whole thing worth the effort. Only three left now and I'll be sorry when they're gone. I think next time however I'd cut back on added sugar in the primary.

I'm attempting my first try at cider with this recipe.

I'm trying three variations:
1. Lalvin EC-1118 Champagne Yeast
2. Wyeast Sweet Mead 4184
3. Wyeast Cider 4766

The bungs I bought from my LHBS don't fit my growlers (too big, keep popping out so we have them taped and ziptied down..oy) so there are a few issues going on which will affect the outcome of each one, but I tried

But either way it'll be interesting to see the end results and if either of the three ciders make it.

My OG was 1.066 (I believe I measured it correctly.)

Thanks for posting the recipe!

made 5 gallons of something similar yesterday.
16 oz belgian dark candi syrup
1 gallon unpasteurized cider
2 64oz bottles organic, natural apple juice
6 cans frozen apple juice
2 cans frozen apple/cherry juice
safale us-05
my og was 1.053 lower than i expected, i plan to bottle around 1.015 to keep er sweet and will prime with priming tabs.