Phildo253
Well-Known Member
After much experimenting (drinking), I have decided that I really like the taste of scrumpy ciders. In the search to find the perfect cider for me, I have made everything from a 100% all-natural organic 11.9% Apfelwein that took 2 years before it actually started tasting halfway decent down to a 3% super young cider and blended different fruits, such as a 6.4% pineapple cider, which is great by the way.
I thought that I would pass along my favorite, super easy scrumpy cider recipe. I haven't upgraded to kegging yet, but I keep at least 2 cases of this recipe on hand all year long. Even people that i know that do not generally like cider love this recipe, especially the spiced version.
Sorry for the length of the recipe. I tend to make a ton of notes, so that I can exactly replicate my recipe. The only difference between my regular carbonated scrumpy cider and the spiced cider is the addition of the spices. Below is the recipe for the spiced cider. To make regular cider, just omit the spices from the recipe.
One thing to remember is that timing is the key. With beers, the fermentation seems a lot slower, but if you hold off on bottling or pasturing by a day or so, it can completely change the cider's taste/carbonation and not necessarily in a good way, depending on what you are looking for.
I hope that you enjoy it as much as I do.
Binary Brewing - Spiced and Carbonated Hard Cider
ingredients
1 oz Star-San Sanitizer
5 gal Organic Apple Juice (NO PRESERVATIVES (kills the yeast)
5 cups white granulated sugar
1 packet Lallemand Nottingham Ale Yeast
1 1/4 tsp Yeast Nutrient
3.7 oz. (weight) white granulated sugar (for priming bottles)
7 cinnamon sticks
2 tsp nutmeg
2 whole cloves
**Tastes semi-sweet. Slightly cloudy immediately, but clears out after a couple of weeks. Perfectly carbonated. It is good enough to drink right away, even better after a couple of weeks.
Day 1
Created yeast starter by adding 1 packet Lallemand Nottingham Ale Yeast and 1 1/4 tsp Yeast Nutrient (1/4 tsp/gal of cider) to 4oz (1/2 cup) 100 degree water in a beer bottle. Wrap the bottle mouth in cellophane or put in a sterile container with an airlock attached. Let it sit until it is time to pitch the yeast. Sanitized everything with Star-San sanitizer (1 oz/5 gal). Let it sit for 2 minutes. Added 4 gallons of Organic Apple Cider (NO PRESERVATIVES). measured 1.052 O.G. / 69°F.
Added 5 cups (1 cup/gal) white granulated sugar to warm pan of 1 gallon of apple cider to melt the sugar. Added the melted sugar/apple cider mixture to the main container of apple cider. measured 1.066 O.G. / 69°F.
Pitch the yeast. Seal the carboy and add an airlock. Place in a room that maintains 65-70 degrees F. Sporadically test the carboy until you have a 1.015 S.G.
About Day 7
Making a spiced scrumpy cider and bottle priming it, so that it becomes a semi-sweet, spiced, carbonated cider. Tested the alcohol content and it is currently at 1.015 S.G. / 69°F. That should make it come out to 6.8% abv.
Sanitized everything with the leftover Star-San Sanitizer that I was storing in a bucket (good for 1 month).
Melted 3.7 oz. (weight) in one cup of water. Steeped 2 tsp of nutmeg, 2 whole cloves (ground) and 7 cinnamon sticks (ground) into 1 cup of water in a separate pan. Cooled solutions to 70 degrees. This is the sugar that is needed for priming the bottles, to get the carbonation that I am looking for (2.25 vol.) Added sugar-water solution to bottling bucket. Strained the spiced water through a filter and then added to the bottling bucket.
Transferred cider from the fermentation bucket into the bottling bucket, leaving all of the lees in the fermentation bucket. Slowly stir the cider to ensure that the sugar-water solution is all mixed into the cider. Using the transfer hose with the bottling tip connected to the output spout of the bottling bucket, filled 55 bottles. Capped the bottles and placed them back into the boxes to carbonate.
Starting at 2 days and every 2 days after, test a bottle until you have the correct level of carbonation. This batch was perfectly carbonated at 7 days.
About Day 14
Tested a bottle and it was perfectly carbonated. Tested the ABV (1.014 F.G. / 69 degrees). This equals 6.9% ABV. I then pasteurized all of the bottles.
I did this by...
Place 7 bottles into a large pot and fill with enough water to just cover the mark at which the bottles are filled to. Remove the bottles and heat the pot to 190 degrees. Turn off the heat. Place a dish rag into the bottom of the pot. This keeps the base of the bottles off of the extremely hot base of the pot. Place 7 bottles into the pot and leave them there for 10 minutes. After ten minutes remove the bottles and place on the counter to cool. Heat the water back up to 190 degrees. Repeat the process until all bottles have been pasteurized.
Place all of the bottles back into the boxes and set aside for bottle aging (immediately up to 3 years).
Good to drink right away, but really hit their perfect taste after aging for at least 2 weeks.
I thought that I would pass along my favorite, super easy scrumpy cider recipe. I haven't upgraded to kegging yet, but I keep at least 2 cases of this recipe on hand all year long. Even people that i know that do not generally like cider love this recipe, especially the spiced version.
Sorry for the length of the recipe. I tend to make a ton of notes, so that I can exactly replicate my recipe. The only difference between my regular carbonated scrumpy cider and the spiced cider is the addition of the spices. Below is the recipe for the spiced cider. To make regular cider, just omit the spices from the recipe.
One thing to remember is that timing is the key. With beers, the fermentation seems a lot slower, but if you hold off on bottling or pasturing by a day or so, it can completely change the cider's taste/carbonation and not necessarily in a good way, depending on what you are looking for.
I hope that you enjoy it as much as I do.
Binary Brewing - Spiced and Carbonated Hard Cider
ingredients
1 oz Star-San Sanitizer
5 gal Organic Apple Juice (NO PRESERVATIVES (kills the yeast)
5 cups white granulated sugar
1 packet Lallemand Nottingham Ale Yeast
1 1/4 tsp Yeast Nutrient
3.7 oz. (weight) white granulated sugar (for priming bottles)
7 cinnamon sticks
2 tsp nutmeg
2 whole cloves
**Tastes semi-sweet. Slightly cloudy immediately, but clears out after a couple of weeks. Perfectly carbonated. It is good enough to drink right away, even better after a couple of weeks.
Day 1
Created yeast starter by adding 1 packet Lallemand Nottingham Ale Yeast and 1 1/4 tsp Yeast Nutrient (1/4 tsp/gal of cider) to 4oz (1/2 cup) 100 degree water in a beer bottle. Wrap the bottle mouth in cellophane or put in a sterile container with an airlock attached. Let it sit until it is time to pitch the yeast. Sanitized everything with Star-San sanitizer (1 oz/5 gal). Let it sit for 2 minutes. Added 4 gallons of Organic Apple Cider (NO PRESERVATIVES). measured 1.052 O.G. / 69°F.
Added 5 cups (1 cup/gal) white granulated sugar to warm pan of 1 gallon of apple cider to melt the sugar. Added the melted sugar/apple cider mixture to the main container of apple cider. measured 1.066 O.G. / 69°F.
Pitch the yeast. Seal the carboy and add an airlock. Place in a room that maintains 65-70 degrees F. Sporadically test the carboy until you have a 1.015 S.G.
About Day 7
Making a spiced scrumpy cider and bottle priming it, so that it becomes a semi-sweet, spiced, carbonated cider. Tested the alcohol content and it is currently at 1.015 S.G. / 69°F. That should make it come out to 6.8% abv.
Sanitized everything with the leftover Star-San Sanitizer that I was storing in a bucket (good for 1 month).
Melted 3.7 oz. (weight) in one cup of water. Steeped 2 tsp of nutmeg, 2 whole cloves (ground) and 7 cinnamon sticks (ground) into 1 cup of water in a separate pan. Cooled solutions to 70 degrees. This is the sugar that is needed for priming the bottles, to get the carbonation that I am looking for (2.25 vol.) Added sugar-water solution to bottling bucket. Strained the spiced water through a filter and then added to the bottling bucket.
Transferred cider from the fermentation bucket into the bottling bucket, leaving all of the lees in the fermentation bucket. Slowly stir the cider to ensure that the sugar-water solution is all mixed into the cider. Using the transfer hose with the bottling tip connected to the output spout of the bottling bucket, filled 55 bottles. Capped the bottles and placed them back into the boxes to carbonate.
Starting at 2 days and every 2 days after, test a bottle until you have the correct level of carbonation. This batch was perfectly carbonated at 7 days.
About Day 14
Tested a bottle and it was perfectly carbonated. Tested the ABV (1.014 F.G. / 69 degrees). This equals 6.9% ABV. I then pasteurized all of the bottles.
I did this by...
Place 7 bottles into a large pot and fill with enough water to just cover the mark at which the bottles are filled to. Remove the bottles and heat the pot to 190 degrees. Turn off the heat. Place a dish rag into the bottom of the pot. This keeps the base of the bottles off of the extremely hot base of the pot. Place 7 bottles into the pot and leave them there for 10 minutes. After ten minutes remove the bottles and place on the counter to cool. Heat the water back up to 190 degrees. Repeat the process until all bottles have been pasteurized.
Place all of the bottles back into the boxes and set aside for bottle aging (immediately up to 3 years).
Good to drink right away, but really hit their perfect taste after aging for at least 2 weeks.
