5 Day Sweet Country Cider

[MBrew]

I am planning on taking a swing at this recipe this weekend. I have one question, I am using a 6.5 g carboy as my primary and wonndered how much head space I will need for all the lively yeast activity. To be more specific if I were to make this a 6 gallon batch would the .5 gallon head space be enough? or if I make the 4 gallon batch is 2.5 g too much head space, does it matter?

Thanks for the replies.

 

[dayflyer55]

With its spending only a few days in primary, i don't think too much space should be a problem half a gallon should be enough space for krausen in my experience with this recipe, but even if you get spillover it isnt the end of the world of course

 

[nukinfuts29]

I made a 5 gallon batch in a 5 gallon better bottle. It has maybe 4 inches tops of space and its jamming big time with 0 issues

Sent from my Galaxy S 4G using Home Brew Talk for Android

 

[MBrew]

Well I started this one last night with the addition of .5 lb brown and 1 lb white sugar. Started with a gravity of 1.078, going to try and get it to 40 or so and crash it. Then bottle and pasteurize just in time for the weekend. Yay and thanks for fast cider recipe!

 

[LTownLiquorPig]

I've let the bottles sit for a couple weeks, and am really impressed with it now. 4 bottles in this afternoon and I'm happy as a clam. Plotting my next crack at it.

 

[Mat2343]

Going to try this out tonight. I'm trying to follow the original recipe as much as possible, only difference is once I get the gravity where I want it i'm going to cold crash and keg. Anyone have success doing this?

 

[dayflyer55]

Cold crashing won't kill fermentation. Once it gets back to room temp, fermentation will continue. Chemicals may be able to get the job done after a cold crash and rack, but I'm pretty sure heat is the only way to kill this type of fermentation.

 

[nukinfuts29]

I've let the bottles sit for a couple weeks, and am really impressed with it now. 4 bottles in this afternoon and I'm happy as a clam. Plotting my next crack at it.

Mine is still going. Will probably let it ride in the primary for another week (2.5 total) then bottle it.

 

[Mat2343]

Cold crashing won't kill fermentation. Once it gets back to room temp, fermentation will continue. Chemicals may be able to get the job done after a cold crash and rack, but I'm pretty sure heat is the only way to kill this type of fermentation.

Once I rack it into my keg, it will never get back up above 40 degrees. it shouldnt ferment anymore should it?

 

[MBrew]

Well I only let mine get to about 44 or so. At that point I was a little pressed for time and I knew I wouldn't be given any quarter by this stuff. Bottled at 44 with full fermentation going and was petrified for the next three hours. I am not sure who posted the hint but definitely put you first bottle in a plastic soda bottle so you can have easily available pressure knowledge or an idea of how high the pressure is getting; this is key and is genius. Also be aware your time frame, you have to bottle and pasteurize same day in most cases so be prepared for a 4 to 5 hour adventure. While stove top pasteurizing is easy it is also time consuming.

Lots of people say overnight or 5 to 6 hours but mine were begging to explode at 2 hrs. This is due to stopping early with 2 packets of yeast and room temp but still it was unexpectedly fast. Holding a bottle up I could notice steady co2 bubbles.

I know it was early and I could have waited for a lower FG but this brings me to a very important point. To all you noobs and beginners; plan this out so you have 1 or 2 days on a weekend to catch it at the right point and bottle. That means start on a tuesday or a Wednesday to be sure you have two available days to "catch" this brew at the correct gravity. Otherwise you will have an upset cider or wife or both.

All in all great recipe and great results. I now see my errors and will be prepared when I next make cider.

 

[Jukas]

1) Pour 3 1/2 gallons of juice into fermenter
2) Heat remaining half gallon with cinnamon sticks and brown sugar until sugar dissolves properly. Let cool to room temp.
3)Combine mixtures and mix vigorously to oxidize.
4)Hydrate and Pitch yeast.

This may be a very n00b question, but I'm assuming you discard the cinnamon sticks prior to combining the mixtures and you don't ferment in the primary with them?

Also, since this gets pasteurized, I know it won't age like an Apfelwein, but how long could you store it bottled without any negative effect to the taste/carb?

I'm planning on making this for my works annual gathering in February and want to make sure I make it far enough in advance that if I screw up I have time for a redo.

 

[Inflames]

I've done this recipe 6 times now each 5 gallon batches and every batch has come out excellent! My only complaint is that each batch comes out differently. Its been very hard to get a consistent taste.

 

[nukinfuts29]

This may be a very n00b question, but I'm assuming you discard the cinnamon sticks prior to combining the mixtures and you don't ferment in the primary with them?

Also, since this gets pasteurized, I know it won't age like an Apfelwein, but how long could you store it bottled without any negative effect to the taste/carb?

I'm planning on making this for my works annual gathering in February and want to make sure I make it far enough in advance that if I screw up I have time for a redo.

You can keep the sticks in or take them out, has little difference between the two.

I've done this recipe 6 times now each 5 gallon batches and every batch has come out excellent! My only complaint is that each batch comes out differently. Its been very hard to get a consistent taste.

Same juice and everything? Every time I do it, it is the same

 

[Jukas]

If I was going to scale the batch down to 2 or 3 gallons, I'm assuming you'd want to scale the yeast pitch accordingly correct?

Once bottled and pasteurized how long could this keep in the fridge? If it's only 1-2 months I'm not sure I could drink up a full 4 gallon batch in that time.

 

[PortlandPatrick]

If I was going to scale the batch down to 2 or 3 gallons, I'm assuming you'd want to scale the yeast pitch accordingly correct?

Once bottled and pasteurized how long could this keep in the fridge? If it's only 1-2 months I'm not sure I could drink up a full 4 gallon batch in that time.

There's absolutely no harm in using the full amount of yeast for a smaller batch.

 

[KDee]

This will be my first brewing/fermenting run...started it last night. I bought Central Market Organic Apple Juice from the HEB added brown sugar and the Nottingham yeast. I am using cheese cloth to cover the gallon jug, folded it into quarters and tied it on with chef's twine. This apple juice is very rustic looking, not clear, and with the floaties on the bottom. I didn't get an air lock 'cause the brew store near us was closed. Shoulda bought one when I got the yeast.

This morning it is fizzing really well. I plan on cold crashing it Saturday morning and drinking some when it's cold. This is fun!

 

[Jukas]

Does this ferment with low Krausen? I did a 2gal batch in a 3 gal carboy expecting a lot of Krausen and pitched an entire pack of Nottingham. 24hrs later and it's fermenting, I can see tons of bubbles in the cider and in the airlock but there's almost no Krausen.

This normal?

 

[nukinfuts29]

it will show

 

[jc587491]

I just tried a scaled down 1 gal batch just to try it out. I added some sweet orange Peel and used a French Saison yeast because I had some leftover from another test batch. It turned out great, I mean it it's delicious! Thanks for the recipe, it tastes just like cider.
Thanks Again,
Joe

 

[KDee]

I went ahead and let this go 4 days. Great recipe. Muchas gracias!

 

[nukinfuts29]

Has anybody followed this recipe completely and actually hit the quoted OG?

I have, many times now

 

[Jukas]

I made a 2 gallon batch of this on 1/4 with an OG of 1.071 but cut myself way short on time and ended up pitching the yeast dry.

Thieved a sample tonight at the three day mark and I'm at 1.051 corrected at 70*.

I'm guessing the slow ferment is due to either dry pitching the yeast, or two much headroom as I did 2g in a 3g carboy. I'll pull a sample again in 2 days and shoot to stop it at 1.03 to hit the 5% mark.

 

[nukinfuts29]

What kind of yeast? I never make a starter for cider.

 

[Jukas]

I used Nottingham as I wanted to follow the OP recipe to get a good baseline example.

I didn't think this cider was high enough OG to require a starter, but it does call for the yeast to be hydrated prior to pitching. That's the part I skipped as I was pressed for time so I simply pitched the notty dry, washed it down with a quarter gallon I held back and then gave it a gentle swirl and put it in the pantry.

I'm not really worried about it as it's fermenting and I expect to be able to get it down to 1.030 or so easily. I was just curious about the possible causes of he slower ferment

 

[nukinfuts29]

I always pitch notty dry, even in hard lemonade (usually).

Dry yeast is not intended to require a starter, and re hydration is not mandatory.

 

[Jukas]

This is really odd. Waited two days since last reading. Thieved a sample tonight and I'm still at 1.050 @ 67F. What's weird is I'm seeing 5-6 bubbles in the airlock per minute.

Should I repitch a fresh pack of notty or let it go another couple of days and see if it finishes on its own?

 

[nukinfuts29]

Give it a day or two

 

[Jukas]

My batch went from 1.077 down to 1.051 and then stalled out not dropping more than .005 over the next four days On 1/11 I added 2g of yeast nutrient and recapped the carboy. I checked it tonight as I wasn't home last night, it was down to 1.024 so I threw it in the beer fridge to cold crash.

This is a fair bit lower than I wanted to go, as I was shooting for about 1.035 to 1.040 to get between 5-5.5% ABV. At 1.024 I'm at 6.9% and while very tasty it's a bit dryer and tarter than I had hoped.

I'll likely start another batch this weekend and check daily to get make sure I stop prior to going below 1.040 so I can compare a sweeter version.

 

[nukinfuts29]

Thats really odd that Notty stalled out like that, I have made a ton of this stuff with Notty without issue.

 

[JoshuaW]

My batch went from 1.077 down to 1.051 and then stalled out not dropping more than .005 over the next four days On 1/11 I added 2g of yeast nutrient and recapped the carboy. I checked it tonight as I wasn't home last night, it was down to 1.024 so I threw it in the beer fridge to cold crash.

This is a fair bit lower than I wanted to go, as I was shooting for about 1.035 to 1.040 to get between 5-5.5% ABV. At 1.024 I'm at 6.9% and while very tasty it's a bit dryer and tarter than I had hoped.

I'll likely start another batch this weekend and check daily to get make sure I stop prior to going below 1.040 so I can compare a sweeter version.

How did you get the OG up to 1.077? Mine is always like 1.055-1.06, and that is with some sugar.

Dilute it down with some juice, you should be fine. You can also bring up the sweetness with some juice concentrate. I have batch that took off like mad, and I didnt check on it for a few days longer than I normally would, and it wound up at 1.010. I like it that dry, but SWMBO doesnt. Just dilute it, and it tastes fine, plus your yield is up then!