Starting a simple cider

Yeah you know, I'm in the same boat. I don't see why it should take sooo long to enjoy a nice refreshing homebrewed beverage. I did spilt my 4.5 gallons in two and have the other half sitting with some strawberries in it.



Who knows if it's going to be any better? I'm guessing it should right? Im going to let it sit a few more weeks or longer possibly. But the quick version of this is damn good

I also started this, my "X" cider. It has oats and Carmel briess steeped into it, but it's basically the same juice and amount I used to do my "simple cider". After I transfer this to a secondary I'm going to throw some cinnamon sticks into it. I have another post running about how much cinnamon sticks to use but have gotten zero responses so far. Anyone have any suggestions?

I'm assuming that your second "strawberry batch" started fermenting again once you added the fruit right?

I'm thinking of doing the exact same thing with peaches, but shouldn't I start at a lower OG than if I weren't adding fruit in the secondary?

Hopefully that makes sense.

It did, but very little action. I just cold crashed it couple days ago and it is more bitter than the original cider I split it with. I can taste the strawberries but it needs to be back sweetend.

Having just finished my second batch of cider, I'm guessing the key to being able to drink it quicker is using a cider or ale yeast (somebody back me up if they have found this to be the case or not). I basically used the same process you did, including back sweetening with some apple/razz concentrate and it just tastes sour and yeasty as hell. Both times I have used a champagne yeast because the guy at my HBS said that was really the best choice for making cider. Perhaps it is, but you have to let it sit at least 3 weeks after primary before it is something you can begin to enjoy drinking.

I'm going to make a bigger batch this time and try an ale or cider yeast instead. Hoping I can enjoy this batch two weeks after starting this way. From what I can tell, the champagne yeast will yield a higher final ABV, but until I'm sitting on some finished cider I can enjoy in the meantime, the waiting is just too much (I have heard it is the hardest part).

So to break it down I used 4 gallons juice, added 2 cans of concentrate to the 4 gallons, added 1/2 tsp. pectic enzyme per gallon, made a yeast starter with wyeast 4766 cider yeast, added the yeast when temp was at 72-74*. According to my notes it took 2 days before any action took place, I let it sit for 10 days, transferred to secondary,cold crashed, let it sit for 3 days, added 2 more cans of concentrate to the 4 gallons for my taste preference and to back sweeten, bottled and in 1 day the bottles were good and lightly carbonated. I think that if I left the bottles to carb up for three days it would of been perfect any longer and they get to fizzy. After that I placed them in my fridge and out of 48 I only have 5 left, there that good!

popeboy said:

Having just finished my second batch of cider, I'm guessing the key to being able to drink it quicker is using a cider or ale yeast (somebody back me up if they have found this to be the case or not). I basically used the same process you did, including back sweetening with some apple/razz concentrate and it just tastes sour and yeasty as hell. Both times I have used a champagne yeast because the guy at my HBS said that was really the best choice for making cider. Perhaps it is, but you have to let it sit at least 3 weeks after primary before it is something you can begin to enjoy drinking.

I'm going to make a bigger batch this time and try an ale or cider yeast instead. Hoping I can enjoy this batch two weeks after starting this way. From what I can tell, the champagne yeast will yield a higher final ABV, but until I'm sitting on some finished cider I can enjoy in the meantime, the waiting is just too much (I have heard it is the hardest part).

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Don't know what my ABV was but after a couple your feeling a little unstable in a good way, like your on a boat.

popeboy said:

Having just finished my second batch of cider, I'm guessing the key to being able to drink it quicker is using a cider or ale yeast (somebody back me up if they have found this to be the case or not). I basically used the same process you did, including back sweetening with some apple/razz concentrate and it just tastes sour and yeasty as hell. Both times I have used a champagne yeast because the guy at my HBS said that was really the best choice for making cider. Perhaps it is, but you have to let it sit at least 3 weeks after primary before it is something you can begin to enjoy drinking.

I'm going to make a bigger batch this time and try an ale or cider yeast instead. Hoping I can enjoy this batch two weeks after starting this way. From what I can tell, the champagne yeast will yield a higher final ABV, but until I'm sitting on some finished cider I can enjoy in the meantime, the waiting is just too much (I have heard it is the hardest part).

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I made apfelwein with montrachet wine yeast which is high abv tolerant like champagne and only slightly less dry. Still too dry for me without backsweetening. Then I just sampled the batch a made a couple weeks ago with Nottingham ale yeast and I liked it better. Overall, from what I've read (I'm still a newbie) it seems if you want to drink it fast/young, you should go with a sweeter cider. The sweet/fruit flavors hide the youngness you would otherwise easily recognize if it was dry. Anyone can feel free to add their two cents of course.

HAREEBROWNBEEST said:

[View attachment 71239

My transfer into my sanitized bottles

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Aren't you worried about oxidation by filling your bottles like this?

I've never made a cider before, but I'm planning on it soon. Just to be clear, you didn't use a campden tablet or anything initially in the juice? I thought that was necessary for beverages that aren't boiled first?

So I got my 3rd (and first big batch) going collecting tips from everyone.
I used
- 5 gallons of store brand, no preservatives apple juice
- About 3lbs of brown sugar (started with 2lbs, but wanted an OG of 1.70)
- pitched Red Star Montrachet yeast (wanted to try Nottingham, but my local HBS didn't have it and I wanted to try something other than champagne as I said earlier)

Why brown sugar instead of juice concentrate to start? Purely because I already had two bags of brown sugar at home.

I'll try to give this one 2 weeks in the primary like it's described in the Carmel apple cider recipe and check the gravity to see how dry it's getting.
Back sweeten a little with concentrate for taste, but mainly so it can carb up (as was described in this thread) then refrigerate for a week and see where we are at. Crossing my fingers this will be a good batch!

-edit: Oh yeah, I would have taken some "sexay" photos of this as I go but I'm making it in an ale pail... which is opaque and makes for crappy pics.

Yeah I haven't tried brown sugar yet, I also have 4 lbs of DME I would like to try, it's all these "experiments" that keep this so fun.

Definitely bro, but from your other thread describing how much you are digging this batch... I'm not sure how much more room you have to move on up!

I have a crazy batch brewing right now, honestly have no clue how it's going to turn out. I got oats, Carmel briess, honey, cinnamon sticks into it. I used basically the same base cider recipe with the concentrate to build it. I'm now just waiting for my caps I ordered from northern brewer so I can bottle it.

AZ_IPA said:

Aren't you worried about oxidation by filling your bottles like this?

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i am wondering this as well, but what other methods are there to bottle? I don't think i've seen people siphon into bottles? Sounds like it would be super tedious and make a big mess.

Checked on my 5 gallon batch this morning @ around 5:45 when I got up and the three-piece airlock was already popping away. We have lift off.

Posting just so I can find this thread again in a few weeks when I'm ready to start my second ever batch of cider.:rockin:

irchowi said:

i am wondering this as well, but what other methods are there to bottle? I don't think i've seen people siphon into bottles? Sounds like it would be super tedious and make a big mess.

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How else would you bottle?

irchowi said:

i am wondering this as well, but what other methods are there to bottle? I don't think i've seen people siphon into bottles? Sounds like it would be super tedious and make a big mess.

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Ask and ye shall receive.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/bottling-tips-homebrewer-94812/

fishsniffer said:

Ask and ye shall receive.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/bottling-tips-homebrewer-94812/

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That's cool, but I like my way and so far it's work well for me. I get all kinds of stuff because I work in a phamcutical facility and found those little funnels work great, plus you can see what your doing, just tilt the bottle slightly and you get no bubbles. Thanks for the info though. I might try one of those domeday

Well, let me tell you the first difference between champagne yeast and montrachet... came home from work today and my basement was very fragrant. I don't know if this is the "rhino farts" everyone's been talking about from nottingham, but there is a serious scent a-brewing down there! I guess I was picturing more of a straight up sulphur odor... but this is something I have never smelled before. Somewhere between fruit and putrid. Seriously funky!
Hilarious, but I assume it will subside in a few days. My airlock is going to town so this batch is on it's way!

That's always a good thing. I check my airlock way to often, like it's an addiction.

I love using carboys so I can watch my cider do It's thing.

HAREEBROWNBEEST said:

That's always a good thing. I check my airlock way to often, like it's an addiction.

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Do you sniff your airlock like me? Wait for a blurp and then inhale? Haha! Someone said on one of the threads that they were addicted to doing it. I tend to shy away if it's sulfurry though. On a serious note, I hear that a sulfur smell means the yeast may be stressed and that nutrient/energizer helps with that.

I totally do that! I wait for a bloop and take a whiff. Gotta see how it's doing(or smell)

I'm actually making Edwort's apfelwein right now and it's been going for 11 days so far. I was surprised when I read that you only let your primary go for 10 days. What is it about apfelwein that makes it necessary to sit for a minimum of 5 weeks or the recommended 2-3 months?

As far as I can tell, all ciders are apple juice that may or may not include fermentable sugars but it seems like most ciders ferment for a very short period of time and still comes out tasty according to people's results.

If it's an issue with backsweetening or not, I am intending to backsweeten the apfelwein so would I still need to age it for so long?

I think it's a "cool" thing to do

irchowi said:

I'm actually making Edwort's apfelwein right now and it's been going for 11 days so far. I was surprised when I read that you only let your primary go for 10 days. What is it about apfelwein that makes it necessary to sit for a minimum of 5 weeks or the recommended 2-3 months?

As far as I can tell, all ciders are apple juice that may or may not include fermentable sugars but it seems like most ciders ferment for a very short period of time and still comes out tasty according to people's results.

If it's an issue with backsweetening or not, I am intending to backsweeten the apfelwein so would I still need to age it for so long?

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Actually several more recent posts suggest leaving it in the primary for 6 months to get a more cidery flavor. The apple flavor apparently comes back with aging. Hence why it tastes more like white wine after only a month or two. It's not as big of a deal if you're going to backsweeten since the forced sweetening will possibly cover up the young flavor of just the cider. I just made upstatemike's caramel apple cider which is tasty in a month because you backsweeten with a caramel sauce and apple juice concentrate. Essentially, for those that like a traditional, dry cider that is nice and flavorful naturally there is no substitute for time. Just my rookie take.