JKenshi
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- Nov 10, 2017
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My third batch of cider is finally complete! Here’s how it went…
I started with 6 gallons of Fresh, unpasteurized cider from a local orchard (thank you Sound Homebrew Supply!). Added Potassium Metabisulfite to stop things from going wild and waited 24 hours. I drew off 2 cups of the cider and heated it gently in a sauce pan with 1 cup of raw local honey and half a cup of brown sugar. Dissolved completely, this was returned to the fermenter. OG was 1.055. Added Pectic Enzyme and yeast nutrient then pitched a packet of Nottingham Ale yeast. Covered, airlocked… wait two days… chugga chugga!
After two weeks of chugging away the fermentation started to slow down… SG now at 1.010. Racked the lot to a carboy (and a jug) for secondary fermentation… left there for 4 weeks. SG now at 1.000… bottling time!
Here’s where I split things up a bit… I racked off 1 gallon to another glass jug for a tertiary rest (more on that in a moment). The rest I split into two, 2.5 gallon batches. Batch 1 I wanted a little sweet so I dissolved some corn sugar in water for priming. I added enough to bring the sweetness up a little bit and some more for priming. I added a small amount of natural apple flavor to goose the flavor a little and bottled.
Batch 2 I wanted sweet and well spiced. I heated a can of all natural frozen apple juice concentrate in a sauce pan. I added some cinnamon sticks, a few slices of ginger, some whole all spice berries and some dried orange peel and simmered gently until aromatic (left this simmering while bottling batch 1)... kind of a stripped down mulling spice mix. Again I added a small amount of apple flavor and put this mix in my bottling bucket, racking the 2.5 gallons on to it, then bottled. After clean up I took those spent cinnamon sticks and through them in the jug with the reserved gallon… going to try a dry cinnamon batch.
And now we wait… I set up tester bottles and kept everything together. I’ve read a lot of advice from people who waited 4 days to bottle pasteurize and wished they’d waited only 3. I was looking for just a very light carbonation… just enough to tickle the tongue and please the eye. I started checking my testers at 3 days… after almost two weeks the carbonation was finally where I wanted it. I bottle pasteurized everything… no bombs, no loss.
Here’s a thing to note… while I was careful to keep the temperature under control, the spiced batch came out of the pasteurization a little hazy. I’m pretty sure this has to do with the essential oils in the cinnamon sticks or orange peel, not really sure which. I don’t think it’s the pectin as the first batch came out clear as a bell. I don’t mind the haze, but I was going for more clarity. Right now I’m letting everything rest a couple more weeks so we’ll see if it clears out… fingers crossed. Should be ready to drink by Christmas!
While testing, the flavor of the spiced second batch was excellent… almost exactly what I wanted. I think I went a little too heavy on the orange peel and too light on the all spice. The flavor is kind of a tart hit up front with the cider/ginger, then you get a dry feel with a hit of the cinnamon in the middle, with a slightly heavy, sweet finish from the orange peel. I imagine this may change a little with the carbonation and refrigeration.
A big thank you to everyone on this forum that I lurked over to glean information and take advantage of lessons learned. Overall I’m very pleased and I think I learned a lot from this round!
I started with 6 gallons of Fresh, unpasteurized cider from a local orchard (thank you Sound Homebrew Supply!). Added Potassium Metabisulfite to stop things from going wild and waited 24 hours. I drew off 2 cups of the cider and heated it gently in a sauce pan with 1 cup of raw local honey and half a cup of brown sugar. Dissolved completely, this was returned to the fermenter. OG was 1.055. Added Pectic Enzyme and yeast nutrient then pitched a packet of Nottingham Ale yeast. Covered, airlocked… wait two days… chugga chugga!
After two weeks of chugging away the fermentation started to slow down… SG now at 1.010. Racked the lot to a carboy (and a jug) for secondary fermentation… left there for 4 weeks. SG now at 1.000… bottling time!
Here’s where I split things up a bit… I racked off 1 gallon to another glass jug for a tertiary rest (more on that in a moment). The rest I split into two, 2.5 gallon batches. Batch 1 I wanted a little sweet so I dissolved some corn sugar in water for priming. I added enough to bring the sweetness up a little bit and some more for priming. I added a small amount of natural apple flavor to goose the flavor a little and bottled.
Batch 2 I wanted sweet and well spiced. I heated a can of all natural frozen apple juice concentrate in a sauce pan. I added some cinnamon sticks, a few slices of ginger, some whole all spice berries and some dried orange peel and simmered gently until aromatic (left this simmering while bottling batch 1)... kind of a stripped down mulling spice mix. Again I added a small amount of apple flavor and put this mix in my bottling bucket, racking the 2.5 gallons on to it, then bottled. After clean up I took those spent cinnamon sticks and through them in the jug with the reserved gallon… going to try a dry cinnamon batch.
And now we wait… I set up tester bottles and kept everything together. I’ve read a lot of advice from people who waited 4 days to bottle pasteurize and wished they’d waited only 3. I was looking for just a very light carbonation… just enough to tickle the tongue and please the eye. I started checking my testers at 3 days… after almost two weeks the carbonation was finally where I wanted it. I bottle pasteurized everything… no bombs, no loss.
Here’s a thing to note… while I was careful to keep the temperature under control, the spiced batch came out of the pasteurization a little hazy. I’m pretty sure this has to do with the essential oils in the cinnamon sticks or orange peel, not really sure which. I don’t think it’s the pectin as the first batch came out clear as a bell. I don’t mind the haze, but I was going for more clarity. Right now I’m letting everything rest a couple more weeks so we’ll see if it clears out… fingers crossed. Should be ready to drink by Christmas!
While testing, the flavor of the spiced second batch was excellent… almost exactly what I wanted. I think I went a little too heavy on the orange peel and too light on the all spice. The flavor is kind of a tart hit up front with the cider/ginger, then you get a dry feel with a hit of the cinnamon in the middle, with a slightly heavy, sweet finish from the orange peel. I imagine this may change a little with the carbonation and refrigeration.
A big thank you to everyone on this forum that I lurked over to glean information and take advantage of lessons learned. Overall I’m very pleased and I think I learned a lot from this round!
