Organic Whole Foods Apple Juice + Yeast, anyone try this?

Hey guys,

I'm kind of new to brewing, and I purchased 2 gallon jugs of apple juice, to hopefully make some good cider with. I mostly bought them for the gallon jugs to brew beer in later (lol), but at the same time I didn't want to pay for an empty gallon jug. My girlfriend loves cider, so I figured it wouldn't be bad to share a couple gallons with her.

Anyway I figured since the juice is already pasteurized, it's as simple as remove some juice to make some headroom, pitch yeast, and throw it in the fermentation chamber. Has anyone tried this and ended up with good cider? It sounded easier than crushing a bunch of apples myself, and well, I get a gallon jug I can use later as well

 

Yes and yes!

My recommendation is to use cider yeast. I've tried others and wasn't happy with the results.

I didn't use Trader Joe's, but I did get a 6% hard cider out of the one I used.

 

Awesome thanks! If it comes out good, I'm sure I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for when they go on sale

Good to know, I did buy some liquid cider yeast just for this

 

I used dry, but I suspect you'll have similar results. Just be cautious with quantity...I measured mine out.

 

The guy at the LHBS told me to smash, shake, and put half the packet in each 1 gallon jug. Would that work or is it overkill? Each packet is made for 5 gallon batches, but he told me half packet in each 1 gallon should work. Does that sound right?

 

That's pretty much what I did.

I unscientifically removed enough juice ... just pay attention to that and you should be fine.

 

Ok cool, thanks for the advice! Also one last thing, is a blowoff tube necessary for cider? I hear there's less krausen so I'm under the impression that there's less blowoffs with cider (though I'm sure like anything it does happen). If I plan to be gone for a day or so after pitching yeast should I just put a blowoff tube just to be safe?

 

I left enough headspace where it wasn't an issue... Doesn't mean you won't but you're right about krausen.

 

Yes! I had great results with WF juice & Nottingham yeast. Aged a few months, (followed Grahams English Cider Recipe) bottle carbed - It's one of our favorites so far. Can't beat the free glass gallon carboy. A gallon for me at WF is $9. Not bad with the container but a gallon of orchard juice is usually @6.50 so I do WF only when I need more glass.

I usually use 2 grams dry yeast per gallon. 1/2 a packet is plenty per gallon. I'd do a blowoff tube because you never really know....I leave lots of space but I've had a few go crazy - usually wild yeast at warmer temps though.

 

Ok! Finally got these started.

OG reading was 1.050 just the raw apple juice with no added sugar. Fermenting with Wyeast 4766, temp set to 65 F. I'll report back when it's done.

Anyone have experience with that yeast? I can't find much info but have seen a couple reviews / comments that it finishes fast (5-7 days) and if you leave it in primary too long, there will be off flavors?

 

No experience with that particular yeast; however, you should be fine.

 

You do primary in a box? Temp control? How’s that work?

 

It's a Kenmore chest freezer with an Inkbird temp controller. I tape the probe to a fermenting container and set it to 65. Temp range goes from 63.5-66, so it works to keep the range steady.

Haven't had a finished product yet since I just started, but so far so good! I keep the temp set closer to the lower range of the yeast so I'm assuming that's why I'm not getting overly vigorous fermentation but it's nice and steady so far

 

I just started a 5 gal batch with these. I got them so that I could secondary in them instead of buying a carboy, but I used them when I used to brew and it always turned out good!
I think of it as buying 1 gal jugs and getting juice for free

 

I made a cider with 4766 a few years ago. I was very happy with the results.

 

I'm getting ready to make my first batch of cider. I just finished a 5gal mead batch. It came out nice.

I bought thr TJ organic apple juice. I'm doing this in a 3gal carboy. A few question I have are about sugar and water. First water, do i just use juice, or do i need water too? What about sugar? I have heard brown sugar or white sugar or corn sugar....which do I use if any at all?

I read above about a blow off tube, whats that? Airlock?

Thanks. I'm hoping to start it this week.

FL Bill

 

100% AJ is fine....no water needed.

I add FAJC to my regular ciders...to get ABV to the 7% range & like the appleness of this approach vs sugar.......no sugar/FAJC needed upfront for a 4.5-5% cider.

I've not needed a blow off tube....only an airlock.

Cheers & good luck!

 

I didn't use anything but the apple juice and wyeast cider yeast. I did end up drinking it before it was totally done fermenting though since I wanted a little bit of sweet / apple flavor and not super dry. I thought it came out good! Everyone else loved it too.

Though if you want it stronger than 5-6% like bmd said, you need to add sugar, the OG for the juice by itself is 1.050.

For what I did, I don't think the blowoff tube was needed, but even if I don't think I'll need a blowoff tube I use one anyway. Instead of an airlock you put tubing through the bung and into a jar / container of sanitized water for krausen to spill over into, if you have an aggressive fermentation. However, with this cider I didn't need that.

 

Nor did I use it on mine...fyi: the cider I use had a higher OG and finished at 6.5%. I forget what the OG was though ... don't have it written down anywhere. I basically did it because I needed/wanted another glass 1 gallon fermenter, and I had cider yeast burning a hole in my pocket

 

I've been making sparkling hard cider from store-bought juice for some time now. Aldi has an organic Apple Juice for about 2 bucks a 1/2 gallon. I get good results using Red Star Premier Blanc, basically a champagne yeast. I crank up the OG to about 1.060 with added sugar and get about 8 1/2% after primary. I back sweeten it with frozen Apple Juice concentrate and more sugar, because without it it's too dry for my taste. I also add a pinch of yeast before bottling just to make sure it will carbonate in the bottle. I use "bail and stopper" bottles collected from the French lemonade sold at Aldi. Or liter bottles I got from my friendly, neighborhood HBC. I like to keep things simple. 2 to 4 weeks in primary, another 2 weeks in the bottle, chill and drink!

 

That is funny, because that is the exact same bottles I used for my mead. Are you able to get the old labels off? I just left them... I also saved all my old liquor bottles.

So tell me about how much sugar do you add and do you use plain white sugar? And for carbonation, a pinch of yeast... is that like a teaspoon? 1/2 teaspoon? less? How do you add the concentrate to all this? (mix it with water? Thaw it only and mix it?)

And if I am working with a 3 gallon carboy, how much head space do I need to leave? 1/4 gallon? Or more like a few inches?

I love shopping at Aldi, but went to TJ because I was not sure if Aldi would have organic AJ. I was going to look next time I was in there.

Every try adding cinnamon to the cider? (like a stick?)

Thanks