Fantastic Hard Cider Recipe with Instructions (and fall spice / cherry variations)

boombrewer · Nov 27, 2013

This is interesting. Nice write-up.

JSahrle · Nov 28, 2013

This is delicious! I used cider from a local cider mill. It turned out really well. And it was easy. I could drink all 5 gallons of this on my own.

radonc73 · Dec 7, 2013

I am trying this today. I got 4 gal.s from Costko and poured them in with some Mr. Beer yeast I had left over. I thought I would make it to the LHBS but didn't and they are closed Sunday and Mondays. I hope it brews up well but with it being my first batch I am pretty sure it will be drinkable and I can prepare better the next time if this goes over well. From what I have read other places most yeasts will work and I think the Mr B yeast is ale yeast.

Tex60 · Dec 8, 2013

I've searched and can't find what I need to know, if I want to do this recipe but want to keg what is my alternative to pasteurizing bottles to stop the yeast activity?

radonc73 · Dec 8, 2013

I think potassium sorbate is what to go with. I saw that is what they used on brewing TVs hard cider episode around the 12:30 mark they talk about it.

jak1010 · Dec 8, 2013

Tex60 said:
I've searched and can't find what I need to know, if I want to do this recipe but want to keg what is my alternative to pasteurizing bottles to stop the yeast activity?

I'm pretty sure your best bet is to Kegg it and keep it cold enough to keep the yeast calm.

Boins · Dec 13, 2013

Just did a batch off of this recipe. Monatrect yeast, 4 gals Trader Joe's unfiltered apple juice (cider more or less). 2 week ferment until next-to-no air lock activity.

Back sweetened with 1/2 gal TJ's unfiltered apple juice and 1/2 gal TJ's regular Cherry Juice and bottled.

Trial taste before carbonation was AWESOME!! Very similar to Anthem Cherry Cider which is a GREAT cider but is about $7 per 22 oz bottle.

I'm a newbie and not a numbers guy but after diluting 4 gallons of fermented cider with 1 gallon of back sweetener is the final product REALLY 7-8%??!? (I hope so!)

Can't wait to see what the final carbonated product tastes like!

Also, I'd love some feedback from anyone who has tried this recipe with Nottingham yeast. Got a packet in my fridge waiting to be used...

danbrewtan · Dec 17, 2013

I've never used Nottingham, but I plan to try it soon. Apparently you don't need to back sweeten with it which would save LOADS of time.

WhackedBear · Jan 23, 2014

WhackedBear said:
I pitched some PE when I did my first batch about 3 weeks go. I added it to primary. It is the secondary now almost ready for bottling. Mine is still pretty cloudy. I don't know if I should of added more when I went to secondary but giving this my first batch I am not sure if it helped at all.

I don't think it will hurt if you add it in but I am not sure how much good it will do since you will not be able to mix it thoroughly.

I added the PE to the primary then I poured my cider pretty rough and fast so that I could get some aeration. I forgot to get the yeast nutrient so I figured I better give the yeast some air!

This is the end result I got from using the pectic enzyme. It's been in the bottle for about 2 days and I will be doing the pasteurization probably tomorrow.

ttps://plus.google.com/u/0/photos?pid=5971808483557823282&oid=106163106282847766419

Clintaurus · Jan 23, 2014

Sounds good and easy, I have yet to make a cider so this looks like an easy one to start with. Thanks for the info.

sparkshooter · Feb 10, 2014

So I got this in my fermenter yesterday and have a question about OG.

I used a pail of apple cider from a local orchard. The orchard had frozen the pail, so I had to bring 5+ gallons of cider up to room temperature. I got a little impatient and transferred to the fermenter when about 4 gallons had turned liquid (leaving an iceberg inside).

Because Canada doesn't use milk jugs, I didn't have an easy way to store a gallon of juice in my fridge, and had to go out to buy a 4L bottle of water to store the leftover juice. As I transferred from the pail to the 4L bottle I took a gravity reading and it only came up as 1.028. I'm very positive about that reading, and it was taken at about room temperature. I didn't want to mess with the carboy while the yeast was taking hold, so I didn't take a reading from the carboy before going to bed.

Does anyone have any thoughts? I knew the ice part would slightly dilute the remaining juice, but I still wasn't expecting such a low OG.

phug · Feb 10, 2014

if I'm understanding correctly. you had a large quantity of juice that was frozen. Before it was completely unfrozen, you drained off 4 gallons, leaving you with 1 gallon including an iceberg?

If that's the case, the iceberg was mostly water. All the sugars and apple flavouring that are missing from your 1 gallon to be used for backsweetening ended up in your 4 gallons.

Think of a slushie, or slurpee if you will. You slurp all the tasty flavouring and sugars out through the straw, and are left with a pile of sluch that is mostly ice.

If you slurp out 80% of the juice, and then let the ice thaw, you're left with a very diluted drink.

If all your iceberg is melted, and you're seeing an OG of 1.028 there, you're going to have a higher ABV in your cider, and the backsweetening won't make it quite as sweet as you're hoping, but at 1.028, it should be okay I think. You can always ditch or drink the 1 gallon you have left, and get a fresh gallon of cider for backsweetening.

Agnt92 · Feb 10, 2014

TheOrlandoGuy · Apr 3, 2014

Hey all! I'm going to bump this thread a bit because I'm planning on brewing this as my first cider. My question is this - can I skip the bottle pasteurization by just racking to my 5-gal corny keg and cold condition it at 40 degrees?

Asgard · Apr 4, 2014

Dude, if you're in a corny keg why are you worried? Worst case scenario is it'll ferment your back-sweetener and the cider will be a little dryer than intended. Personally, I've never noticed that happening; I store my ciders in a refrigerated corny without pasteurization all the time. Personally I think my fridge is closer to 36-38 because I'm a bad person like that.

TheOrlandoGuy · Apr 4, 2014

Awesome! Yet another reason I love kegging....

Thanks for the info

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Everything_Bagel · Apr 9, 2014

My first cider!! I was planning on making an IPA but my local homebrew shop was closed unexpectedly, so I pitched my Nottingham starter onto 3 gallons of apple juice and 0.5 gallons cherry juice... forgot to do an OG though.

I want to carbonate, bottle, and pasteurize using the instructions here. Few questions regarding how Nottingham will change things:

1. Will I need to back-sweeten or will Nottingham attenuate less than Montrechet and leave enough residual sugar? I've read that Montrechet has a max ABV of ~13% vs ~9% for Notty.

2. If I don't need to back-sweeten as much (ie 1 gallon here), will back-sweetening with less juice allow enough carbonation?

3. If Nottingham does indeed leave enough residual sugar, doesn't that mean that it is maxed out and won't carbonate any additional sugar?

Thanks!

DrNad · Apr 27, 2014

taking a crack at this one today along side my Darth Vader Black IPA brew.

4 gal White House brand pressed apple cider, pasteurized, no preservatives.
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1 pkg Montrachet yeast pitched dry

held back another gallon of juice for the bottling day...
gluten-intolerant wife very excited for it....

The Doctor

"I came to Casablanca for the waters."
"What waters? We are in the desert."
"I was misinformed."

BeastMaster · Apr 28, 2014

Everything_Bagel said:
My first cider!! I was planning on making an IPA but my local homebrew shop was closed unexpectedly, so I pitched my Nottingham starter onto 3 gallons of apple juice and 0.5 gallons cherry juice... forgot to do an OG though.

I want to carbonate, bottle, and pasteurize using the instructions here. Few questions regarding how Nottingham will change things:

1. Will I need to back-sweeten or will Nottingham attenuate less than Montrechet and leave enough residual sugar? I've read that Montrechet has a max ABV of ~13% vs ~9% for Notty.

2. If I don't need to back-sweeten as much (ie 1 gallon here), will back-sweetening with less juice allow enough carbonation?

3. If Nottingham does indeed leave enough residual sugar, doesn't that mean that it is maxed out and won't carbonate any additional sugar?

Thanks!

1. Taste and find out. You shouldnt need as much juice to backsweeten though.

2. Yes as long as you add in more than a few ounces of juice you should be fine.
3. No, think about it like with beer, the yeast is "maxed out" in the carboy when you bottle, then you add in more sugar that hasnt been broken down by yeast yet and is easily fermentable. the same thing will happen when you backsweeten. If you end up using very little juice to backsweeten or you like where the Nottingham leaves you with the flavor, you can always just use some corn sugar(dextrose) to bottle. This is actually a good situation because the potential for bottle bombs is much lower.

Near-Beer-Engineer · May 20, 2014

Has anyone tried boiling some irish moss in a couple cups of water and then adding it directly to unboiled juice? Does it still have the same clarifying effect? I may try this tonight but would love to hear if anyone's given it a try already.

mxstar21 · Jun 13, 2014

Near-Beer-Engineer said:
Has anyone tried boiling some irish moss in a couple cups of water and then adding it directly to unboiled juice? Does it still have the same clarifying effect? I may try this tonight but would love to hear if anyone's given it a try already.

I don't think that would work. I believe it bonds during the boil process, but I could be wrong. Sorry you didn't get a reply sooner.

Recipe sounds great! Glad I found this thread.

mxstar21 · Jun 16, 2014

My recipe included apple juice and cider from the store, 1/2 gallon Knudsons black cherry juice, some nutmeg and clove, Log Cabin Maple syrup and finally WLP 670 American Far house Ale yeast. I had it laying around and it was expired. I figured if it took the flavor would be great. If it was dead, I could add some dry yeast I have.

plan on racking to a secondary and then adding a gallon of apple juice to back sweeten and add potassium metabisulfite to kill the yeast. Then I will force carbonate.

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prestonlewis74 · Jul 13, 2014

Can i keg it?

mxstar21 · Jul 13, 2014

Yes you can keg it. I keg and carbonate my cider.

prestonlewis74 · Jul 13, 2014

One more question...will it turn out like a sparkling cider

mxstar21 · Jul 14, 2014

If you carbonate it. It's up to you. If you don't carbonate it, you just use CO2 to push it out then turn the CO2 valve off.

prestonlewis74 · Jul 14, 2014

Thanks

bolus14 · Jul 14, 2014

I'm thinking of following this as my first cider. Just wondering how close the fall spice or the cherry "recipes" are to McKenzie's? My wife loves their Autumn Reserve(i think that's the name) and Black Cherry, so if this comes close that would be excellent.

mxstar21 · Jul 14, 2014

prestonlewis74 said:
One more question...will it turn out like a sparkling cider

I have always carbonated my cider, never tried the still cider.

magickman03 · Jul 14, 2014

Looking forward to trying this soon

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Fantastic Hard Cider Recipe with Instructions (and fall spice / cherry variations)

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