5 Day Sweet Country Cider

[TrustyOlJohnson]

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.

I havnt made this recipe, but I have made the Caramel Apple Hard Cider recipe on here several times and FWIW, I backsweeten a 5 gallon batch with 5 cans frozen apple juice concentrate as well as add some spices and bottle it following the recommendations on that recipe. Monitor it for a few days, sampling a bottle every 12 hours by the time 48 hours has past since bottling. When the carb is right, I lut it in the fridge to make the yeast go dormant and its great!!

 

[zmanzorro]

To back sweeten it, I just added more brown sugar dissolved in hot water. I also used some potassium sorbate to kill of the yeast before sweetening. I didn't carbonate it because I was a little wary of having bottle bombs in case I didn't kill all of the yeast. I might wait to get force carbonation equipment before carbonating it later.

Since it was uncarbonated, I was able to serve some of it hot, which was pretty cool.

 

[jco0n]

Thanks so much for the responses johnpcook and zmanzorro! Considering both techniques. Cider still fermenting, reading this morning was 1.010 @ about 5.5 days. Gonna let it go till tomorrow afternoon then bottle.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[jco0n]

So I decided to let this cider ferment completely dry... still bubbling away(1 bub every 5-6 seconds) day 11 @ 65-68f. I want to wait till it clears, then back sweeten and bottle.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[jco0n]

Backsweetend with 2 cans AJFC, and 3/4 lb dark Brown sugar. Waited a day and half for carb and then dishwasher pasteurized... stuff tastes great!!!

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[malachiuri]

My wife and I spent 6 weeks in Brittany France and fell in love with the Breton Doux cidre. A traditional way of drinking it is with a small shot of Creme de Cassis in the glass before pouring in the cidre.

Would it be possible to back sweeten this recipe with Creme de Cassis? If my math is correct, it would mean adding 26.5oz of the liquor per 5 gallon batch. (its 15%avb if thta matters at all)

Thanks all.

 

[jco0n]

Took 10 bottles to SB party and it was an absolute hit! Gone in minutes! Will try again with 100% apple juice and either make sure the OG is high enough this time, or backsweeten the same way above.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[malachiuri]

My first batch was made with Costco apple juice as only variant to OP recipe. The OG was 1.06ish and I bottled at 1.03ish. Let it bottle carb for a few hours and then pasteurized using stovetop method.

I used the plastic bottle method to judge bottle carb and probably should have let it go a bit further. Ah well.

We ended up with 2 cases of a damn fine cider. Im terrifically happy with the first results. As an experimental answer to my own post a few days ago, I added Creme de Cassis (.5oz) per 24 oz bottle and capped. Not sure how it is yet, we will let that sit for a week and try.

Thanks again to the OP, as someone who fell in love with Breton style Doux cidre, its a hell of a thing to be able to make it ourselves.

M

 

[kingfuhippy]

I just had my first cold bottle of this. I used 4 gallons Costco apple cider with 2lb of brown sugar and a cinnamon stick. I pitched into a hefeweizen cake left over from a previous brew. Bottles at 1.03.

Fantastic. Tastes of mango and pineapple. Only lightly carbed (initially over carbed, I had to uncap and recap before bottle pasteurizing). I am surprised to have cider this good this quickly. And I want to experiment with other yeasts, see how saison yeast works for this.





Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[punkrawkgeek]

Put on my first batch of this... just a one gallon. Grated a little bit of ginger and threw it in as well. Within about an hour or two, I had activity in the airlock. Looking forward to this one. OG of about 1.075 Thanks!

 

[punkrawkgeek]

I must had a fast fermentation... 4 days later and it's at 1.010... Wow. Tastes pretty nice.

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Home Brew mobile app

 

[bberg]

I brewed a 5 gallon batch on Tuesday night and hit an og of 1.063.

Unfortunately, i had to leave town and won't be back until the 3rd. That'll be about 7 days since it started fermenting.... What do you guys suggest I do?

 

[jco0n]

I brewed a 5 gallon batch on Tuesday night and hit an og of 1.063.

Unfortunately, i had to leave town and won't be back until the 3rd. That'll be about 7 days since it started fermenting.... What do you guys suggest I do?

Taste test, if good bottle, pasteurize... if dry, ferment completely dry, backsweeten, bottle, pasteurize...

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[danishd43]

If you have someone put it in a cold place. That will make the yeast go dormant and should pause the fermentation until you get back to test it.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[bberg]

Sorry for the delay.. More bad news for RL.

I put the fermenter in the garage last night. Was just over 7 days... Took an fg today and got ~1.01. Tastes pretty good to me (flavor and sweetness), but I will see what my roommates think before I make any decisions.


Thanks for all of the help gents.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[bberg]

Okay - I placed my primary in the garage 2 days ago. The temperature of the garage is anywhere form ~46 to 54 deg. F.

Will that be cold enough to keep the cider from fermenting? I took a spec. gravity last night and will check again in a day or two.. but i wanted to see if you guys had any tips.

The reason why i'm not keeping in in the house (~64 - 66) is to limit the fermentation/cold shock is so i can keg/bottle when I have the time and supplies.

 

[danishd43]

It wont stop it but it will drastically slow it down. I don't know how much and I'm curious to hear your feedback on the rate of fermentation since you put it out there. Keeping it cold is a stop gap but not a long term solution so get it bottled as soon as you can. What's your ABV right now?

 

[bberg]

hmm - maybe ill try to gather some bottles/another keg. Only issue is my kegerator is set up for one corny and one commercial and currently is full

i only have 300oz of bottles and can't drink atm (concussion).... i don't want to buy bottles at my LHBS. Shucks.

and if I recall correctly, ~6-7% ABV.

 

[ong]

Just made this again for the first time since I started kegging -- much easier without the nerve wracking stovetop pasteurization step! And, after 50 batches, it's the first thing I've ever brewed that my girlfriend actually wants to drink!


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[ong]

Oh, but one note -- this time I used a packet of Mangrove Jack cider yeast, and fermented around 59-60 degrees in the basement for 8-9 days. The wine yeasts always gave me a lot of sulfur, and this stuff is much cleaner. Some nice fruity esters, but none of that "green," sulfur aroma. Also I threw in a scant cup of very strong black tea for tannins (was using a very sweet unfiltered honeycrisp cider). Very tasty, if still pretty rustic and simple.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[jcroucher]

Having a hard time finding cider this time of year. The only cider I can find at Walmart has Ascorbic Acid (Vit. C) in it. Is this safe to use for this one, or should I shy away?

 

[Sudsyone]

Doing a test batch with one cinnamon stick and about a 1/4 lb brown sugar with store bought pasteurized apple cider. What is the typical OG for this recipe. Shook my one gallon vigorously and ended up with 1.060. If I only let it ferment down to 1.040, my calculated abv will only be 2.6%. Are others getting close to 1.080??


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[ong]

Think my last one was around 1.090 or so?

 

[jbrown76]

I just closed up a batch. I used, 100% juice, two vanilla beans, and a pound and a half of brown sugar... I'll keep you posted.

 

[jbrown76]

Also the gravity is 1.070.

 

[masonsjax]

Ascorbic acid is fine.

 

[Sudsyone]

Well, my 5 day cider is going to be more like 10 day. I have never used an S shaped airlock before with a cap bung for a one gallon. Just ckd gravity after 5 days and only read 1.050 when starting was 1.060! I never had any bubbles out of the airlock but only the alcohol slowly moving towards top then back down. I then noticed the tube was barely stuck in the bung and almost fell out while removing. Think my 1 year old got to it. Repitched yeast and snugged up airlock this time and right away, airlock bubbling like crazy! So since my airlock wasn't tight, could this be the reasoning for the stuck fermentation?

Could this also be the case that it's a slow starter since I didn't prep a starter yeast, but did use a teaspoon of nutrient...

Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[Sudsyone]

^^^^^^^^ nevermind guys, just ckd the cider I used and said it contained potassium sorbate. I'm gonna let it go for another week to see what it does, you never know....


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[bberg]

^^^^^^^^ nevermind guys, just ckd the cider I used and said it contained potassium sorbate. I'm gonna let it go for another week to see what it does, you never know....


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

woops! What brand/kind did you use?

 

[Sudsyone]

I'll ck when I get home, got it from a grocery store


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew