1st timer, Mistake?

[Airken]

I think I made a mistake. First time brewing anything and thought cider would be quick and easy. Cleaned and sanitized 3gal carboy, I talked to a couple home brewers and they said this would be easy to do but I didn’t really take notes. I got 2 gal apple juice, pasteurized, not sure if cold or heat pasteurized. I added a frozen concentrate apple juice with a couple quarts of water and half cup of brown cane sugar. I brought the water, concentrate and sugar to a boil and let cool to room temperature in an ice bath. Once cooled, I added nutrient to the mix then proceeded to fill the carboy along with the apple juice. I shook the mixture together to try to get oxygenate(?) then pitched my yeast. I never took a gravity reading.

I just found this forum and think maybe I should have just used the two gallons of juice then add nutrient and pitch the yeast. Will boiling the concentrate water and sugar do anything bad to my cider? Any suggestions?

 

[AkTom]

You should be fine. Do you have a hydrometer? I’ll assume you have an airlock on the carboy...
Cheers

 

[Miraculix]

Boiling changes the taste, but other than that, what Tom said!

 

[Toxxyc]

I may be unpopular here, but I quite like that boiled apple juice taste. I find it softer and more refined than fresh apple juice. Haven't made a cider with it yet, but I'm keen to try now.

 

[madscientist451]

You don't have to do much of anything with cider: dump the juice in, pitch the yeast, put the airlock on, keep the carboy in a cool place. Rack it off to jugs after about a month and let it age.
Want better cider? Start with better apples/juice.
I've done some experimental batches with boiled apple juice after reading about Rev Nat's boiled cider commercial product. Last spring I made one with spruce tips, it is OK, better when blended with a light lager. My current experiment used second run juice, I added water and enzyme to pressed pomace, let it sit a few days then pressed out 1.040 juice (the first pressing juice was 1.060) that I boiled down to 1.050 and then added light LME, but no hops. Its fermenting now, I'll post the results eventually.
I've also made "apple molases" by boiling down apple juice that I'm going to use in a recipe eventually.

 

[Miraculix]

I may be unpopular here, but I quite like that boiled apple juice taste. I find it softer and more refined than fresh apple juice. Haven't made a cider with it yet, but I'm keen to try now.

I made a comparison once with one cider being pasteurised in the bottle to remain sweetness and carbonation, and the same without the pasteurisation.

There was definitely a difference in taste, but I couldn't tell which one I prefer.

 

[Toxxyc]

I boil fruits for my kid (baby still) and then mince them for him to chow on, and twice now I've taken the boiled water-juice that comes out of the pots after the boiling and tasted it. It's sweet, but very mildly flavoured, and it lacks the natural acidity you get in apples for me. I'm considering buying a few bags of apples, cutting them up finely and then boiling them, then to mush them up and rinse them with boiling water to get a sweeter apple soup, which I then want to ferment, possibly, in the high apple season. I love that flavour, and even with a lot of water in the pot added beforehand, the solution measured 1.032 on the hydrometer, so I'm sure I'll get a nice hard cider out of it!

 

[Miraculix]

I boil fruits for my kid (baby still) and then mince them for him to chow on, and twice now I've taken the boiled water-juice that comes out of the pots after the boiling and tasted it. It's sweet, but very mildly flavoured, and it lacks the natural acidity you get in apples for me. I'm considering buying a few bags of apples, cutting them up finely and then boiling them, then to mush them up and rinse them with boiling water to get a sweeter apple soup, which I then want to ferment, possibly, in the high apple season. I love that flavour, and even with a lot of water in the pot added beforehand, the solution measured 1.032 on the hydrometer, so I'm sure I'll get a nice hard cider out of it!

Let us know how it goes!

 

[MarkKF]

The easiest way is to start with a gallon of locally pressed juice that is sorbate free & sold refrigerated. You might not even need to add yeast!

 

[Toxxyc]

The easiest way is to start with a gallon of locally pressed juice that is sorbate free & sold refrigerated. You might not even need to add yeast!

Problem is finding that in some places of the world, like here in SA. Juice makers refuse to sell raw juice, for some reason, and some companies are profiting on this, selling raw juice as some sort of elixir of life, with the same kind of price tag.