My First Cider

[New2HomeBrew]

Well, I bit the bullet and put together my first attempt at a cider yesterday. Here is what the recipe looked like:

5 Gallons Apple Juice (No Preservatives)
1/2 Gallon Black Cherry Juice (No Preservatives)
2 pounds Brown Suger
1 vial White Labs English cider yeast

I started off by desolving the brown suger in one gallon of apple juice slightly heated on the stove until all sugar was desolved. Put it into an ice bath in the sink to cool it down. I added that to the carboy first. Then added the cherry juice. then topped it off with the remaining apple juice. I would pour a little bit off the top of each bottle into the carboy then shake until the rest of the juice was foamy. Added the yeast, placed a plug into the carboy and shook the whole batch until it was well airaited. Placed the airlock onto the carboy and put it in the closet. Checked it this morning, and a nice Krausen had formed and the airlock was bubbling away.

I can't wait to try it! I'll post back after I have tried it in a couple of months and let you all know how it turned out.

 

[rod]

sounds like it will be great.
i used 1 litre of cranberry juice in a cider i made - way too sour

 

[New2HomeBrew]

The cherry juice that I used was pretty sweet with a slight tart tang to it. I am hoping that it turns out highly drinkable. If it turns out too tart, I might add some non fermentable sweetner to it when I keg it.

Speaking of which, does anyone know if Equal(my favorite sugar substitue) is non fermentable?

 

[mgayer]

Equal is not fermentable but it does have some buffers in it. Hazing it can produce uhmm! I have used splenda in the past as my wife likes the sweeter stuff and I haven't had any issues with it. If you use equal I would make sure it has been disolved in hot water first then added when it cools.

 

[SilvaRizla]

How did it go?

 

[New2HomeBrew]

Well, Just kegged my first cider batch last night. I am quite pleased with how it turned out. It has a nice fruity flavor. It did however finish quite dry. I am sure that the alcohol content is close to wine.

I drank a sample, then tried another glass with some splanda. I am thinking that I will serve it carbonated, and let people add the sweetner if they want to. It came out very clear with a nice pink hue.

All in all I am very happy with how it turned out!

 

[OdinOneEye]

*Brown sugar! How come you taste so goooooood?*
I'm going to have to try this when I get back home...
Grrrr... impatient!

 

[Adolphus79]

I used 2 pounds of brown sugar in my first batch of Apfelwein, and... YUM!!!!