I tried my first cider recipe a while back and it finally finished fermenting. The finished product was great.
What you need:
5 gallons Musselmans apple cider
1 packet Wyeast cider yeast
1 pound of light brown sugar
yeast nutrient
yeast energizer
pectic enzyme
potassium sorbate
2.5 cups sugar
1 can apple juice concentrate
2 cups apple juice
1 cup orange juice
SG: 1.054 - 1.060
FG: 0.998 (before back sweetening)
I bought 5 gallons of Musselmans cider from Wal-Mart. It just happened to be the first one I came across without preservatives.
I poured the first 4 gallons of cider into a clean and sanitized fermenting bucket. The last gallon a poured a little into the bucket and added some light brown sugar into the jug and shook. I poured out a little more and added in some more light brown sugar. I repeated this step until I had about 1 pound of dissolved light brown sugar into the mix. The purpose of this is to raise the fermentable sugar levels to get more alcohol content out of it. Since the apple cider was pasteurized I did not need to add campden tablets. If the apple cider was bought straight from the farm then it would have likely had wild yeasts in it, the campden tablets would have stopped those from fermenting. Before adding yeast and throwing on the airlock I added in some yeast nutrient, yeast energizer and pectic enzyme; all per instructions on the packaging. Place this into a dark place for one week, or until there is no more bubbling out of the airlock; after one week you should be good to go.
After one week in the primary I transferred into a clean and sanitized glass carboy with an airlock. I left this in the same dark area for about 3 weeks. I checked on this often and it got super clear. When I thought it was clear enough, I added in some potassium sorbate (to stop the fermentation process); per packaging instructions. I did this because I am going to back sweeten this concoction.
Transfer into a clean and sanitized keg.
If you were to stop here you would have a very dry cider. Basically, when you ferment natural apple cider down, you burn out all the sugars to make alcohol. This leaves you with a very dry must. If you were in the UK this would be great, no offense anyone, but it's really not my cup o' tea. I like my cider with some sweetness. So, after the fermentation was complete I needed to experiment to come up with something that didn't take away from the apple complexities. After careful experimentation (meaning I drank a bunch of booze) I added in some sugar, apple juice concentrate, apple juice and a dash of orange juice to get a balance that worked for me. This was all poured directly into the keg and shaken...vigorously. Very tasty. If I were to use some green apple extract next time, I believe that I can get somewhere close to Angry Orchard's Crisp cider. This comes in at a little over 6% alcohol, so until then I will be happy with this.
Once you force carb, you are done. Cheers!!
What you need:
5 gallons Musselmans apple cider
1 packet Wyeast cider yeast
1 pound of light brown sugar
yeast nutrient
yeast energizer
pectic enzyme
potassium sorbate
2.5 cups sugar
1 can apple juice concentrate
2 cups apple juice
1 cup orange juice
SG: 1.054 - 1.060
FG: 0.998 (before back sweetening)
I bought 5 gallons of Musselmans cider from Wal-Mart. It just happened to be the first one I came across without preservatives.
I poured the first 4 gallons of cider into a clean and sanitized fermenting bucket. The last gallon a poured a little into the bucket and added some light brown sugar into the jug and shook. I poured out a little more and added in some more light brown sugar. I repeated this step until I had about 1 pound of dissolved light brown sugar into the mix. The purpose of this is to raise the fermentable sugar levels to get more alcohol content out of it. Since the apple cider was pasteurized I did not need to add campden tablets. If the apple cider was bought straight from the farm then it would have likely had wild yeasts in it, the campden tablets would have stopped those from fermenting. Before adding yeast and throwing on the airlock I added in some yeast nutrient, yeast energizer and pectic enzyme; all per instructions on the packaging. Place this into a dark place for one week, or until there is no more bubbling out of the airlock; after one week you should be good to go.
After one week in the primary I transferred into a clean and sanitized glass carboy with an airlock. I left this in the same dark area for about 3 weeks. I checked on this often and it got super clear. When I thought it was clear enough, I added in some potassium sorbate (to stop the fermentation process); per packaging instructions. I did this because I am going to back sweeten this concoction.
Transfer into a clean and sanitized keg.
If you were to stop here you would have a very dry cider. Basically, when you ferment natural apple cider down, you burn out all the sugars to make alcohol. This leaves you with a very dry must. If you were in the UK this would be great, no offense anyone, but it's really not my cup o' tea. I like my cider with some sweetness. So, after the fermentation was complete I needed to experiment to come up with something that didn't take away from the apple complexities. After careful experimentation (meaning I drank a bunch of booze) I added in some sugar, apple juice concentrate, apple juice and a dash of orange juice to get a balance that worked for me. This was all poured directly into the keg and shaken...vigorously. Very tasty. If I were to use some green apple extract next time, I believe that I can get somewhere close to Angry Orchard's Crisp cider. This comes in at a little over 6% alcohol, so until then I will be happy with this.
Once you force carb, you are done. Cheers!!
