reynardthefox
Member
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2018
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greetings to my fellow cider-makers and cider-lovers
I live in an Islamic country where public alcohol consumption and trade is extremely frowned upon and is often accompanied by an assortment of punishments by law. (whipping and jail)
therefore, there are no brew shops in sight and the only kind of homebrewed alcohol is a raisin spirit which is above 50% ABV and destroys the whole gastrointestinal system, not to mention it has horrible smell and taste.
since I have a master's degree in English translation and applied linguistics, I've become familiar with the fine aspects of western culture. after reading a crazy load of online forums on homebrewing and watching a crazy load of youtube, I decided to make hard cider at home.
my main obstacles were yeast and airlock. I found a French baker's yeast called saf-levure (saf-Levure is dehydrated active dry yeast) and fashioned a DIY airlock from youtube. I bought a 7-liter plastic container and drilled a hole in the cap and glued in my airlock. bought some fresh, sweet and ripe apples from a nearby farmer's market and juiced them with my mom's fruit juicer at home. btw, i tried to stay as clean as possible using dish soap.
first, I activated a full teaspoon of the yeast in some warm water with two tablespoons of sugar and waited 15 minutes for it to foam. I stole about a pound of white sugar from my dad's stock
(he's a beekeeper) and dissolved it in some hot water and let it cool. (i eyeballed everything, no measurements whatsoever lol)
when the yeast was ready I pitched it to the cider and added the sugar. after stirring it well, I used some Teflon water-proofing tape around the container mouth and fastened the cap and airlock. I put the container in my closet and wrapped a blanket around it. it's early spring here and the temp is around 20 to 30 degrees Celcius.
much to my child-like amazement and wonder, it started bubbling like crazy in 24 hours. in a week, it became quiet and in 2 weeks I opened it to taste and rack. that first sip was heavenly. even though I have never tasted wine or cider in my life, I immediately knew that I was on the right track. it was just the right combination of sweet and alcoholic mixed with the joy of tasting my first homebrewed cider. it was the best feeling I could imagine. yum. yum .yum
there was quite a bit of sediment at the bottom so I siphoned it to a similar plastic container and put on the airlock so that I can get it a bit drier. after a week (this is day 21) I racked into glass bottles and just to be safe (no hydrometers, just going by what I have read) i put them in the fridge for a few days.
at this moment, I am sipping the first bottle and enjoying this lovely cider. there are no noticeable yeast flavors and I'm guessing the alcohol is about 6 to 8% ABV because it gives the lightest buzz ever. maybe I'll let a couple bottles age and see what happens and I'll definitely be making more soon.
i would like to thank homebrewtalk.com and the whole internet homebrewing community for helping me do the impossible. I hope another fellow Moslem-born reads this and gets brewing.
I would appreciate any suggestion you might have to help me make a better cider. I might even start making mead with my dad being a beekeeper and the 1 metric ton of natural honey stored in the next room lol
cheers
I live in an Islamic country where public alcohol consumption and trade is extremely frowned upon and is often accompanied by an assortment of punishments by law. (whipping and jail)
therefore, there are no brew shops in sight and the only kind of homebrewed alcohol is a raisin spirit which is above 50% ABV and destroys the whole gastrointestinal system, not to mention it has horrible smell and taste.
since I have a master's degree in English translation and applied linguistics, I've become familiar with the fine aspects of western culture. after reading a crazy load of online forums on homebrewing and watching a crazy load of youtube, I decided to make hard cider at home.
my main obstacles were yeast and airlock. I found a French baker's yeast called saf-levure (saf-Levure is dehydrated active dry yeast) and fashioned a DIY airlock from youtube. I bought a 7-liter plastic container and drilled a hole in the cap and glued in my airlock. bought some fresh, sweet and ripe apples from a nearby farmer's market and juiced them with my mom's fruit juicer at home. btw, i tried to stay as clean as possible using dish soap.
first, I activated a full teaspoon of the yeast in some warm water with two tablespoons of sugar and waited 15 minutes for it to foam. I stole about a pound of white sugar from my dad's stock
(he's a beekeeper) and dissolved it in some hot water and let it cool. (i eyeballed everything, no measurements whatsoever lol) when the yeast was ready I pitched it to the cider and added the sugar. after stirring it well, I used some Teflon water-proofing tape around the container mouth and fastened the cap and airlock. I put the container in my closet and wrapped a blanket around it. it's early spring here and the temp is around 20 to 30 degrees Celcius.
much to my child-like amazement and wonder, it started bubbling like crazy in 24 hours. in a week, it became quiet and in 2 weeks I opened it to taste and rack. that first sip was heavenly. even though I have never tasted wine or cider in my life, I immediately knew that I was on the right track. it was just the right combination of sweet and alcoholic mixed with the joy of tasting my first homebrewed cider. it was the best feeling I could imagine. yum. yum .yum
there was quite a bit of sediment at the bottom so I siphoned it to a similar plastic container and put on the airlock so that I can get it a bit drier. after a week (this is day 21) I racked into glass bottles and just to be safe (no hydrometers, just going by what I have read) i put them in the fridge for a few days.
at this moment, I am sipping the first bottle and enjoying this lovely cider. there are no noticeable yeast flavors and I'm guessing the alcohol is about 6 to 8% ABV because it gives the lightest buzz ever. maybe I'll let a couple bottles age and see what happens and I'll definitely be making more soon.
i would like to thank homebrewtalk.com and the whole internet homebrewing community for helping me do the impossible. I hope another fellow Moslem-born reads this and gets brewing.
I would appreciate any suggestion you might have to help me make a better cider. I might even start making mead with my dad being a beekeeper and the 1 metric ton of natural honey stored in the next room lol
cheers
