5 Day Sweet Country Cider

[revkev6]

from what i've read you cant make a carbonated cider with wine bottles, it will push out the cork or break the bottles with very little carbonation.


ok... I'm 3.5 days after I started my cider. I used pasteurized cider from a farm that had a SG of 1.045 and was fairly tart. I added enough brown sugar to bring it up to a sg of 1.072. used 1/4 package of nottingham yeast in a gallon batch. I started it tuesday night and checked it on saturday morning.. it measured at 1.025. I tasted it and it was SUPER tart. smelled very yeasty. very hard to get beyond the smell..

did I do something wrong?? I know it went longer than it should have but figured it would be better... I have it carbing up in bottles then will store in the fridge... if it doesn't taste better I think I will throw them back in the jug to ferment out fully.....

 

[Svenhook]

Do the boiled cinnamon sticks go in the fermenter?

 

[kingogames]

In the bottle now. One plastic. Started on Sunday 9/22. Down to just below 1030. Going to continually monitor pressure of plastic bottle, but probably pasteurize tomorrow.

One question: the whole point of this is quick turnaround and convenience. Because there is no long term aging involved. Oxidation shouldn't be a huge issue, so I just bottled out of the one gal. bottle I fermented in using a funnel. Got 8 bottles or so out of 1 gal. Does anyone think this is going to be a problem if I drink it up pretty quick? 2-3 weeks.

 

[kingogames]

Ok first batch of cider and I havent gotten my scale yet... anyone know how many cups of brown sugar you would add per gallon of cider?

Original recipe calls for 1.25 lb that's 20 oz (16+4) for 5 gal, so for 1 gal that would be 5 oz or about 1/3 cup.

 

[kingogames]

Mine carbed up in about 6 hrs. Pasteurizing now. One bottle just broke. Good thing i had the lid on!!! Drinking the plastic tester over ice. Very good. In fact, I had some Fireball here and added a shot since I didn't brew with cinnamon. VERY GOOD!!!!!

 

[kingogames]

Ok guys, good news. I just blew a cap off one bottle, so now I can drink it!!! Well, the two-thirds that are left! The rest are safely chilling in the fridge!

 

[Wheatmeister]

I made a batch of this last year and still have a case left, it's better and less tart with age. Just fyi. If you're going to make something to age, though, make some apflwein with cote de blucs yeast and some fresh cider from your local orchard. After 1 year it's amazing

 

[mike2026417]

Made a 2 gallon batch of this with s-04 yeast.had the OG at 1.072, and bottled last night at 1.018. Just checked a bottle, not a lot of carb but it tastes good ( one bottle and you feel it). by far the quickest easiest way to get a sweet cider. I can't wait to see how it tastes after sitting a week.

 

[kingogames]

After having done this method, now I'm rethinking my brewing process concerning stopping early, carbing and pasteurizing. Anyone try this with different recipes? How did it turn out?

 

[Nivek]

I loved this stuff so much last year that I’m making many more gallons this fall. I am however having issues trying to figure out how to get it in a keg and stop the fermentation. I can’t get a whole carboy in the fridge, and I just discovered stove top pasteurizing in gallon jugs is a little unreliable. Has anyone had any luck doing this?

 

[BennyBrewer]

From what I have read you could add preservatives but I thought when you kegged and carbed and kept it cold it would be fine

 

[Hello]

What about adding campden tablets and potassium together to kill yeast. Does that work?

 

[kingogames]

2nd Batch in the bottle. Used Peach-Apple cider this time. Took about a week to get down to 1030. Probably because it's been getting colder. I wanted to get it lower, around 1025, but i'm busy for the next few days so i didn't want it to get too dry!

 

[trebor678]

How long should you cold crash this for? I have just started a gallon and I'm going to cold crash it at about 1.030 (my OG was 1.068) and then pasteurise it with some carbonation

 

[Skyphoxx]

Any corn sugar needed at bottling time on this?

 

[K9de]

Any corn sugar needed at bottling time on this?

it depends on the amount of sugars still in the cider, if you crashed it at 1.03 then that should be plenty of sugars left to make carbonation; and you probably can still carb with lower gravity, I'd imagine anything over 1.005 would be fine, but I don't have a lot of experience, just info from what I've gathered from these forums.

 

[Hello]

MY OG was 1.065 and I tested it today and it hit 1.024 (1.025 using the conversion based on temp of cider). It wasn't terrible but I did use Trader Joe's spiced apple cider. I am cold crashing it now because it took on the color of yeast at the bottom of a bottle. I'm just curious to see if it clears at all.

It's about 5.38% ABV. I don't think I will give this one away unless it turns out more appealing color wise. Having to keep a gallon jug of cider isn't the worst thing that can happen to me today.

It's a great, easy, and fast recipe. Thanks to the OP for posting so many moons ago.

 

[JKessler147]

Ok, so I am going to give this a try. I am a regular brewer but this is only my second batch of cider. First batch is a dry English cider. Here is my plan, let me know if I am missing anything:

1. 5 gallons of local uv pasteurized cider (3/4 gallon heated up to incorporate 2-3 lbs of brown sugar and a few cinnamon sticks). I am trying to get an OG of about 1.080 (Do I need more sugar here?).
2. Ferment with Nottingham yeast.
3. I am looking to ferment for 3 days to get it to about 1.020 to reach ~6.5% ABV. I'll test to make sure. I don't know if I can cold crash this (the difficulties of apartment living).
4. I plan to bottle this with no additional corn sugar or DME, then monitor with a plastic bottle every 4 hours or so until the bottle is firm, then pasteurize.
5. Pasteurize on a stovetop by immersing the bottles just up to the cap in water heated over 150F for 10 minutes (like the sticky says).
6. Refrigerate, drink, and enjoy.

Does this sound right? Any other pieces of advice to a cider neophyte? Thanks.

-Jeff

 

[Soilworker]

Ok, so I am going to give this a try. I am a regular brewer but this is only my second batch of cider. First batch is a dry English cider. Here is my plan, let me know if I am missing anything:

1. 5 gallons of local uv pasteurized cider (3/4 gallon heated up to incorporate 2-3 lbs of brown sugar and a few cinnamon sticks). I am trying to get an OG of about 1.080 (Do I need more sugar here?).
2. Ferment with Nottingham yeast.
3. I am looking to ferment for 3 days to get it to about 1.020 to reach ~6.5% ABV. I'll test to make sure. I don't know if I can cold crash this (the difficulties of apartment living).
4. I plan to bottle this with no additional corn sugar or DME, then monitor with a plastic bottle every 4 hours or so until the bottle is firm, then pasteurize.
5. Pasteurize on a stovetop by immersing the bottles just up to the cap in water heated over 150F for 10 minutes (like the sticky says).
6. Refrigerate, drink, and enjoy.

Does this sound right? Any other pieces of advice to a cider neophyte? Thanks.

-Jeff

Almost exactly how I did mine...came out awesome, just make sure you keep your fermentation temps within reason. Also I'd make sure you go off taste and not just gravity alone, when it tastes good go ahead and bottle and pasteurize once the bottles are carbonated.

Mine took a bit longer than 5 days to reach the gravity but make sure you monitor it. If it goes too long you'll get a tart but relatively tasteless drink. Though if it goes too low just back sweeten with some apple juice concentrate, I've done this and it came out fine.

 

[BeantownBrawler]

Just tossed this in the bucket the other night and it was rolling away in no time. Only problem is that now on the second day of active bubbles in the airlock, I'm getting a sulfur smell- obviously hoping this is going to go away! Any thoughts? Thanks!

 

[jnesselrode]

Well, add me to the list of gazillions who think this recipe sounds great. I really like the possibility of a quick turnaround, retention of a lot of the apple flavor, and a slightly sweet cider. I won't mind the cloudiness, all by itself, but...

As I read through the entire thread last night, I saw several instances of people being disappointed by a strong, yeasty flavor. I can see how variances in ciders, yeasts, nutrients, temperatures, (inaccurate) SG readings, procedures and probably a lot of other things, could make the outcome vary a lot -- but that issue seemed to be repeated quite a bit. From experience, I know that yeast populations boom in the first few days. In this recipe you come in at what seems to be about the peak time , and you bottle it before it has time to sediment out so you're capturing a lot of yeast in the process.

I saw several references to cold crashing, but didn't notice a detailed discussion of that process and the pros or cons. It seems to make sense to me, and the weather is cooperating right now, so I wonder about that as a safety measure to get a lot of the yeast to settle out before bottling. I realize that changes the dynamic of the carbonation, but I think that may be a good thing by possibly slowing things down a little. Given the wide variances in carbonation times, and the potential for losing some cider or worse, I'd like to explore that idea.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[max384]

Well, add me to the list of gazillions who think this recipe sounds great. I really like the possibility of a quick turnaround, retention of a lot of the apple flavor, and a slightly sweet cider. I won't mind the cloudiness, all by itself, but...

As I read through the entire thread last night, I saw several instances of people being disappointed by a strong, yeasty flavor. I can see how variances in ciders, yeasts, nutrients, temperatures, (inaccurate) SG readings, procedures and probably a lot of other things, could make the outcome vary a lot -- but that issue seemed to be repeated quite a bit. From experience, I know that yeast populations boom in the first few days. In this recipe you come in at what seems to be about the peak time , and you bottle it before it has time to sediment out so you're capturing a lot of yeast in the process.

I saw several references to cold crashing, but didn't notice a detailed discussion of that process and the pros or cons. It seems to make sense to me, and the weather is cooperating right now, so I wonder about that as a safety measure to get a lot of the yeast to settle out before bottling. I realize that changes the dynamic of the carbonation, but I think that may be a good thing by possibly slowing things down a little. Given the wide variances in carbonation times, and the potential for losing some cider or worse, I'd like to explore that idea.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

I've done 15 gallons of this cider so far and haven't noticed a strong yeasty flavor. When I siphon, I leave probably a bit too much cider in the bottom, because I'm careful about not picking up a lot of lees. Maybe others aren't so careful with this step?

Cold crashing is pretty simple. Move your cider from room temp to refrigerator temp. The colder temperature will cause the yeast to go dormant (for the most part, there will still be a very small amount of yeast activity) and for the sediment (to include yeast) to drop to the bottom of the fermenter.

I've read that some people recommend to bottle the cider after cold crashing because the yeast will drop to the bottom and that there will be no further fermentation. That's crazy to me. I wouldn't trust that all the yeast has fallen out of suspension.

What I do is bottle after I get my desired alcohol/sweetness. Then I let it sit until my desired carbonation. Then I cold crash in bottles. I just keep them refrigerated until I drink them. They definitely clear up after being in the fridge for a few days. I've also tried pasteurizing before. It works great, but it's a pain in the ass to do.

 

[jnesselrode]

Thanks max384. That helps. I'm leaning toward a cold crash, then bottling, with a plastic indicator bottle, then a pasteurization. I know that's extra work, but I'm thinking I get a clearer end product, and a slowed down the carbonation. Some of the posts talking about a couple hours to a couple days to carb have me spooked. The slower carb is all theory at this point.

 

[BeantownBrawler]

Just finished batch number 2 of this recipe and it's even better than the last! Anyone getting creative with this? Adding favors or changing things up?

 

[zmanzorro]

Just finished batch number 2 of this recipe and it's even better than the last! Anyone getting creative with this? Adding favors or changing things up?

I'm about to try this recipe for the first time. Splitting the batch up and replacing the cinnamon sticks with blackberries, blood oranges, and pomegranate in different containers.

 

[danishd43]

I made a burnt honey batch that turned out really well. I boiled a few pounds of honey then added the juice and cinnamon before putting into primary. The honey flavor was pretty subtle but noticeable. You might try just back sweetening before bottling to keep more honey flavor.

 

[BeantownBrawler]

That sounds fantastic. Might be doing a cinnamon and ginger root version soon!

 

[zanmushi]

Finished first batch. Very tasty, will do again.
Decided to go with the dishwasher pasteurization route. Out of 36 bottles I had two explode in the dishwasher. Then placed all in fridge after they cooled to room temp — placed one in the basement, it's been there for a week and has not exploded, so it seems my washer got hot enough to stop fermentation.

Also, I had great carbonation using the soda bottle trick:
Buy two plastic 24oz bottles, leave one unopened and fill the other with cider. When they feel the same it's bottle time.

I'll be adding ginger next time.

Thanks to the OP for a great recipe!

 

[zmanzorro]

Mine turned out really well! I decided to ferment it completely dry, backsweeten it, and just serve it non-carbonated. It was a hit at my NYE party. I think the blackberry version turned out best of the flavored variations.

 

[jco0n]

Hi all, total n00b here...

So I am afraid that my 5 day cider will ferment way to dry. My OG was 1.050 after following the directions exactly. I assume this is due to my store bought cider being much less sweet then OP's. I was using the tapatalk app and OP' OG is no where to be found on the first page...so being a n00b I just went with it... @ the desired 5-6% I will need to get my FG down to 1.000ish and that will be very dry. I was hoping this would something that the SWMBO could enjoy but not im a bit worried.

Also, its been about 2.5 days in the primary and the gravity is only 1.30. I blame this on the entire first day being in the basement where it was colder and fermentation started very slow and now is about a day behind. I will let this go an extra day(3.5 total) hoping to get the FG down to 1.000.

Will this be to dry? If so, should I back sweeten like ZMANZORRO above? If so what are my options?

ZMANZORRO,

What did you use to backsweeten? Any reason that you did not also carb? I would like this to be carbed... Goal here is for SWMBO to enjoy...

Thanks for any input.