Pappy`s Pub Cider - Award Winner!

Yesterday I bottled my first batch of Pappy's Pub Cider, started in October. I chose this recipe because it was uncomplicated and the directions are well-written, important details as this was my first-ever attempt. The cider turned out very smooth, and by Autumn of this year it ought to be terrific! I'm gathering supplies already for another batch, planning to use organic spiced juice. Thanks, Paps, for sharing your great recipe and your wisdom.

I started my first batch 2 weeks ago. We cut it down to 3 gallons and will do in 3 one gallon secondary fermenters. I plan on letting one go as is, mix one with a brown sugar simple syrup, and the last with whatever fresh fruit i can get my hands on and puree.

This is going to be fun! Thanks for the recipe!

Just made a 1 gallon batch of this with the Whole Foods apple juice. OG was 1.096. I'm looking forward to how this turns out!

This right here...is going to be my first foray into the world of cider making! I've been requested to brew another batch of Irish Red and also a batch of cider for a family gathering in mid October.

One question, if bottled, will it travel well? Will be driving from Philly area to Atlanta, and don't want to ruin the surprise of 19% ABV!! [emoji16][emoji38]

Ghunter0815 said:

One question, if bottled, will it travel well? Will be driving from Philly area to Atlanta, and don't want to ruin the surprise of 19% ABV!! [emoji16][emoji38]

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I've traveled with a keg of it and it was fine & have shipped some bottles through the mail to people/ I think it loses a little of the carbonation from being shaken around so much. I'd recomend keeping it in an insulated cooler for the trip in case any bottles pop during the trip. Then serve em ice cold/on the rocks once you get to where you are going.

Paps said:

I've traveled with a keg of it and it was fine & have shipped some bottles through the mail to people/ I think it loses a little of the carbonation from being shaken around so much. I'd recomend keeping it in an insulated cooler for the trip in case any bottles pop during the trip. Then serve em ice cold/on the rocks once you get to where you are going.

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Thanks a bunch Paps! Had to make a slight tweak to the recipe. 5 gallons of Wegmans brand 100% apple juice, 8lbs of Wegmans brand sugar, 2lbs of diamond light brown sugar.

This is what I get for giving the wife my shopping list! Lol

Still debating the cinnamon stick addition. Would you say that gives it a more of a traditional spiced cider flavor?

Ghunter0815 said:

Still debating the cinnamon stick addition. Would you say that gives it a more of a traditional spiced cider flavor?

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I personally preffer the cinnamon version to the `regular` but everyones tastes may differ. I like the oaked version as well (i have a 10-gallon used whiskey barrel i use for that) and i find that both seem to offer a more mellow drinking experience vs the regular.However, i've not been able to let any of this age for a number of years which many claim that their ciders improve greatly with such age.

The process i use for adding cinnamon is fairly simple. After racking to secondary add 3 full sticks to the fermentor. I use "Adams" namebrand. They will float at the top of the carboy. Somewhere between 3-4 weeks later they will drop to the bottom of the carboy. That's when i know that it's `ready`

Hope this helps.

I know it's been discussed previously in this post, but has anyone had success bottle carving this bad boy? If so, was it difficult?

Trying to devise a valid argument to make to SWMBO, to venture into kegs (and a keezer!) If bottle carbing this proves too difficult...it may be just what I need!!

On a side note: started this on Friday. Hit 1.16 on the OG! It's been happily bubbling away! Anyone have a time machine, so I can FF a month??

I've bottled it before in 750-ml champagne/beer bottles (5th bottles)
NOTE always use champagne/beer bottles and never regular wine bottles for anything that will hold carbonation. Regular wine bottles have thinner glass and therefore less strenght increasing the risk of bottle bombs.
One bottle popped its cork and half the cider flew out onto the floor making a big mess. The rest of the bottles were all consumed quikly. I decided to get a kegging system either the 1rst or 2nd time i had to bottle a 5-gallon batch of beer. Cleaning ONE keg vs 53 beer bottles is SO much nicer/faster. Plus you don't have to store a large quantity of bottles or try to shade them from light.(for beer) Just the disadvantage is having to plop down $200-ish bux for a fridge conversion kit & another $60-180 on 2-3 kegs (don't buy just 1 keg,trust me on that) and another $50-150 for a used fridge/freezer. So basically a 300-600 bux more into the hobby that's supposed to `save money`. I have a deep freezer that i got the control box for the temps and it was able to fit 2 kegs into and my beergas tank. I however suggest NOT going that route and buy a used fridge and convert it instead. I now have a bad back due to my said keezer and lifting full kegs into it are no bueno for the injury. A refridgerator requires a MUCH lower lift of heavy kegs and as a plus you shouldn't have to buy a temp controller saving you $$$ on the project. No matter what you decide, get more than one keg. Even if you only have 1 tap, get more than 1 keg, otherwise your brews will be fighting over the space (which they will fight over the tap space sooner or later) Used ball lock kegs used to be cheap but now people are selling them for roughly $60 each plus shipping, when on sale, brand new ones run 80-85ish plus shipping.
http://www.beveragefactory.com/draftbeer/home_brew/kegs/KM5G-STH-ball-lock-keg.html
anywho.....hope this helps.

Just took a sample for Gravity check at 2 weeks. Current Gravity is 1.030, down from an OG of 1.160. So that's a current ABV of 17%. It tastes really good...though a bit sweet. Do you think it's bottomed out, or is it possible that it'll drop a little more and lose a bit more sweetness?

Ghunter0815 said:

Do you think it's bottomed out, or is it possible that it'll drop a little more and lose a bit more sweetness?

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I've had batches show visible airlock activity 6 weeks in.
Perhaps try adding a teaspoon on yeast nutrient/energizer into it and gently shaking the carboy. I will often shake a fermentor as the yeast starts slowing down in hopes of keeping the yeasties awake a little longer for a drier finish.

That's exactly what I did. Seems to have slowly picked up again. Also cut my test sample with some ginger ale....it was fricken amazing and totally dangerous!! Haha!

Paps, I think you may have created a monster! Lol

I just racked to secondary after 29 days in primary (I was getting about 1 bubble per minute in the airlock). It's extremely hot tasting but still nice and sweet. My OG was 1.096 and my SG when racking to secondary was 1.012 for an estimated ABV of around 12%. This is for a 1 gallon test batch.

I'm assuming it'll ferment a little while longer in secondary for an even higher ABV. I'm really looking forward to how this one ends up after the hotness fades away!

Care to elaborate?

Padj said:

Care to elaborate?

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Who???

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1438979355.420635.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1438979365.684825.jpg

Holy moly!! This stuff is good! Racking to secondary after a month. Bottomed out at 17.1%, but I'll be damned if it isn't delicious!

Random question though. There is a bit of a bitter note to the bouquet. Not so much vinegary, but I'd call it Limey. Is this normal? No off flavors, beautiful Apple background, mulish kick!

I give this a 98/100!!

My sense of smell is not very strong but i've not noticed any lime like smells coming from this. Perhaps it's due to it still being young/green.
If you happen to have a few 1-gallon glass carboys i reccomend adding a cinnamon stick to one and some oak cubes in the other....
The base cider is indeed good, the cider aged on oak/cinnamon is amazing.

Quick question. Can I force carb this like I would anything else? I'm a slow roll guy. usually set CO2 to about 11 and wait about a week for brews to get carbonated. Trying to make this for Mrs. Wolffmann. She wants something like the Aspel she had in London a few years ago. Any other advise would be grand.

wlffmnnn said:

Quick question. Can I force carb this like I would anything else? I'm a slow roll guy. usually set CO2 to about 11 and wait about a week for brews to get carbonated. Trying to make this for Mrs. Wolffmann. She wants something like the Aspel she had in London a few years ago. Any other advise would be grand.

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Yes you can. I have.

Has anyone bottled this recipe? I have tried to find an answer in this thread but never saw enough info. Need to know if I can bottle without priming and/or pasteurizing and still get some carbonation.

I am ready to give it a try, but don't have kegging equipment, so bottling is the only option.

Please help!

BrettNic said:

Need to know if I can bottle without priming and/or pasteurizing and still get some carbonation.
help!

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I keg so this might not be the best info on bottling...
1-do a full month primary
2-do a 2 week secondary
3-bottle
4-make sure to bottle at least one plastic bottle that you check daily for pressure (not opening but squeezing by hand)
5-if at ANY time your test bottle seems over-pressurized, then `burp` all of the bottles
6-once you feel that they are at the pressure you like, transfer all of the bottles to your fridge and store them there until consumed.
7-continue testing the plastic bottle daily.
8-it wouldn't hurt to store these inside some sort of plastic container in case any either explode or shoot a cork out and leak cider all over your fridge.

That's about the best i can do for the bottling question.
Perhaps somebody whom bottles this regularly might be able to chime in with what gravity they bottle at.
Hope this helps.
-Paps

I regularly bottle my version of this without any issues, after primary I rack to secondary for 3-4 weeks to ensure all activity is done. This leaves it slightly carbonated, simply small bubbles and no chance of bombs. With that being said, I store all my bottles in a cool part of the house around 73 degrees and would never risk these getting warm, but that should be the case with anything you bottle. You could always crush up a couple camden tablets in the secondary and bottle after a few days for a still cider, this has been a favorite for friends. Hope that helps!

One more question from me. Sanitization. Do you need to be a sanitization nazi like your brews or can you be a little lax with it. For the record I went with my typical sanitization process when I started this today.
Put this together at 16:00 today and now at 21:15 already bouncing the airlock.

Always be a sanitation-nazi. Always.

I sanitize everything, save some StarSan in a gallon jug and fill a spray bottle so it's always on hand.

wayned10 said:

I regularly bottle my version of this without any issues, after primary I rack to secondary for 3-4 weeks to ensure all activity is done. This leaves it slightly carbonated, simply small bubbles and no chance of bombs. With that being said, I store all my bottles in a cool part of the house around 73 degrees and would never risk these getting warm, but that should be the case with anything you bottle. You could always crush up a couple camden tablets in the secondary and bottle after a few days for a still cider, this has been a favorite for friends. Hope that helps!

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Do you use regular beer bottles and caps or the larger/thicker champagne/beer bottles and cork?

I am thinking I will be good with regular beer bottles and caps as long as I use the plastic bottle trick and check for the desired level of carbonation regularly. I can then pasturize if I need to.

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone!

Please forgive me if I have missed something... If your fermentation is done prime and bottle. If you are trying for sweet and fizzy cider, that is a whole different animal; in my opinion pasteurizing is the only way to prevent glass grenades. I missed a face full of glass one day in the garage by three seconds, I literally mean three seconds (or less), and it scared the crap out of me!

This particular recipe will pretty much ALWAYS be sweet.
There's 2 lbs of sugar per gallon......
The yeast cannot eat it all and therefore priming of this is not needed
as it will do no good anyways.
What the carb people are seeking is a timeframe when to bottle or a gravity reading as when to bottle. I personally keg but i do know that more than a few here bottle this regularly....
Hopefully they will remember to take a gravity reading come bottling day and post said gravity and later on how fizzy it became....
-cheers.

I made 3 1/2 gallon batch of
Pappy's Pub Cider

I used 3 gallons of three apple Fresh Pressed 100% USA, tree top juice and substituted 1/3 of called for sugar, with frozen apple juice concentrate (3 cans), added one week into primary formation. I used washed yeast from Apfelwein brew.

This fermented until yeast just about stopped, 3 weeks, I then racked into secondary and added another can of FAJC, bringing it back to 1.003 SG, I waited another week, pulled airlock and sealed secondary. This allowed some carb to build as fermentation, stopped due to high alcohol content. I then cold crashed, cleared and bottled. Has very little carb, but not quite flat. It's very strong somewhat sweet cider, I expect age will help mellow it out.

BrettNic said:

Do you use regular beer bottles and caps or the larger/thicker champagne/beer bottles and cork?

I am thinking I will be good with regular beer bottles and caps as long as I use the plastic bottle trick and check for the desired level of carbonation regularly. I can then pasturize if I need to.

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone!

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I use regular 12oz amber bottles without any issues, and I would never store them in a garage or anyplace that the temp would get above 75, this goes for beer as well since it makes the yeast really active. I love EC 1118 for my Applewine but lately I've switched over to a beer yeast so I can carbonate with priming sugar and not worry about explosions. Prior to the beer yeast I still bottled but I would never use added sugar to carb or I would kill the yeast completely to make a still cider.

Paps...I must say, this stuff is amazing! Just bottled last night, and already want to start another batch!!

After re-reading this entire thread i came up with one more question. Seems that it is well liked to add cinnamon sticks to secondary. I have never added anything to my secondaries before and must ask how you would sanitize the cinnamon sticks? Again Sanitization Nazi here.

wlffmnnn said:

After re-reading this entire thread i came up with one more question. Seems that it is well liked to add cinnamon sticks to secondary. I have never added anything to my secondaries before and must ask how you would sanitize the cinnamon sticks? Again Sanitization Nazi here.

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From the strength of it I wouldn't worry. You could soak the sticks I vodka if u are worried. 14% is well high enough where I wouldn't be worried

wlffmnnn said:

how you would sanitize the cinnamon sticks? Again Sanitization Nazi here.

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The sticks come in a sealed glass container and are made to be used in foodstuffs. I personally just throw them into the carboy. The high ABV probably kills many a microbe but if you are really worried about it you could possibly place them in a toaster oven or microwave and heat them to 180-F for 5 minutes or so.

Cheers

Just bottled my 1 gallon batch of Pappy's Pub Cider! It fermented in primary for 29 days and secondary for 37 days for a total of 66 days. It was extremely hot when I racked to secondary but when I sampled some at bottling today, the hotness has died down dramatically and it tasted really good. The sweetness also went away a little bit too.

Stats:
Size: 1 gal
Yeast: Lalvin EC-1118
OG: 1.096
FG: 1.008
Est ABV: 12.5%
Days in Primary: 29
Days in Secondary: 37
Ferm Temps: Mid 70's

If you ferment mid 60`s vs the 70`s it wont produce so many fuesel alcohols and not be so `hot`tasting at 1rst. Letting it age indeed does help with that though. Patience is indeed a virtue with this....Also making 10 gallons plus at a time helps with that vs a 1-gallon batch.
-Cheers.

Paps said:

5 gals of tree top apple juice (sometimes Motts if the store is out of tree top)
10 LBS table sugar (wal mart brand cheap stuff)
1 packet Lalvin EC-1118 yeast
1 tablespoon yeast nutrient (wyeast beer nutrient blend)

No rocket science here, just dump everything in the carboy and let the champagne yeast do it's thing.Primary till all bubbling of the air lock stops then wait a week.After the week is up rack to 2ndary (optional)
I used "super-kleer K.C."{kieselsol-chitosan} in 2ndary (optional) to clear the cider and the stuff is amazing.Cold crash in the freezer for an hour and bottle.

Do not attempt to drive,operate heavy machinery,or anything requiring coordination or basic motor skills after drinking this.

Cheers.

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Do you carb it at all in the bottles? or use anything to condition it?

yankeroo said:

Do you carb it at all in the bottles? or use anything to condition it?

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I force carb in a corny keg with beergas so i do not bottle.
Several others here do bottle and their posts offer some insight as to how to get some carb in this via bottling.

As for conditioning......"I used "super-kleer K.C."{kieselsol-chitosan} in 2ndary to clear the cider"
-cheers

I used Safale US-05 and everything else the same in the original recipe...Has anyone else used this yeast? Will this yeast be able to handle to high ABV?

I don't offhand know the alc tolerance of s-05 but i'm sure it's less than the EC-1118.
That being said even the EC is pushed to the max.
It would make a slightly less ABV content cider with more leftover sweetness to it. Which may or may not be what you are after.
-cheers.