Cider beginner and want to know why you guys started brewing?

[yolandayuyuyu]

Hey guys,

I'm allergic to gluten so I normally drink cider.
Didn't have any home brewing experience before.
Just started researching on how to brew cider lately and found the process is quite challenging.

Wondering what's the cause for you guys to start homebrewing?
Ciders on the market not good enough? or just want to experiment more and create your own kind of cider?

Hope to learn more from your experiences!

 

[madscientist451]

Initially started with wine making. Why? Seemed like a fun thing to do I guess. A local orchard also had a small vineyard with some wine grapes, then used cider from the same orchard, then got a wine press, then an apple grinder. Since I had a bunch of carboys and buckets, bought a pot and started making beer.
Another reason for making my own is I'm somewhat dissatisfied with what I can get locally for a reasonable price. I can make decent wine for $10/gallon, Cider runs $3-10 gallon, but less if I use my own apples from my property. I can make a very nice oatmeal stout for about $.25-.50 a pint or less. Those costs of course are for the ingredients and don't count the equipment or my time.
On Christmas Eve I splurged an bought a six pack of Bell's Double Cream Stout. It cost me $14.25 with tax and was OK, but as I walked out of the store I was thinking about getting my brewing gear out.

 

[MarkKF]

I don't like sweet cider. Good cider is much more expensive. Plus it's hard to find it in 12 oz. cases. I can bottle 50 12 oz. cider for $25-$50.

 

[CKuhns]

Started brewing Cider due to the fact that most commercial U.S. ciders are too sweet for me. My family and I enjoy more of an off dry cider a bit like an English cider. I also have a passion for learning and after developing what i think is a very easy and good base recipe I have found Cider is nearly endlessly variable, allowing for me to experiment and "play" with my drink.

 

[stella_tigre]

+1 for not liking sweet cider. +2 if you count HWMO. We planted apple trees at our new house, still waiting on those, so in the meantime have made cider, cyser and apple wine using bottled juice, and our own fresh pressed from free apples. Country wine, wine kit, and beer also. Got a kegging setup to reduce bottling hassles, although we still bottle things that won't be consumed quickly.

We're retired, love to cook, and this hobby allows us to do something together every few weeks. And we get inexpensive, tasty beverages! We figured when the Zombie Apocalypse comes, we can make hard cider for trade

 

[Maylar]

My son gave me a basic beer kit for Christmas one year - bucket, siphon, hydrometer, etc. After researching what beer brewing is about I decided it was way too much work, and the equipment collected dust in a corner for a few years.

Then I started drinking commercial ciders like Angry Orchard and Woodchuck and when I looked into what cider making was like, it seemed very simple compared to beer. I followed an online recipe and got hooked.

It took more than a few gallons before I dialed in a process that works for me, but what I make now is IMO far better than the commercial stuff. I can't stand AO any more because it's just too sweet. Mine's better

I drink Blackstone Merlot with dinner most every day. I've thought about making wine, but at $9.99 a bottle I can't justify spending a couple years learning how to duplicate something that's already excellent.

 

[z-bob]

I don't have time to brew beer nearly as often as I like. Cider and wine are less time consuming and fill the gap. I like cider better than wine, and it's cheaper to make so win-win.

Commercial ciders are too sweet for my taste; I like some of them, but I like my stuff better. And if I make one that's too dry, I can mix it with Angry Orchard.

 

[bernardsmith]

Hi yolandayuyuyu - and welcome.

I got started because I like to make food from scratch - make my own bread, my own lacto fermented pickles, cheese, wine...(sometimes beer) and cider but wine making (including cider) is not really very challenging at all. Basically you introduce yeast to fruit (or fruit juice) and the yeast do all the work. The work the wine maker does (and wine making is not brewing! - we do not cook the fruit - no heat involved) is simply to ensure that the yeast have the conditions WE want for the end product they make - the cider or wine or mead - to delight us. So we help shape what the yeast do naturally.
Yeast will produce carbon dioxide and alcohol when they are in contact with simple sugars. But yeast will also produce other chemicals that are not so desirable , and other microbes and bacteria use sugar (and alcohol) to make yet other substances (vinegar, for example or lactic acid)... so there are good practices for making good cider and there are poor practices for making cider... but there is really no challenge. Humans learned to use yeasts (a fungus) to make alcohol almost as soon as we learned how to cook. We may not have understood the chemical processes involved until about 100 years ago but we were able to make wonderful wines (including ciders) from the dawn of time.

 

[GeneDaniels1963]

Hey guys,

I'm allergic to gluten so I normally drink cider.
Didn't have any home brewing experience before.
Just started researching on how to brew cider lately and found the process is quite challenging.

You can make a super simple, super good hard cider in 2 weeks or less. Several friends have tried mine and can't believe how good it is And you can make it as dry or sweet as you prefer. Below is the basic recipe:

Ingredients:

1/2 gal of apple juice
1 can apple juice concentrate
1 packet Nottingham Ale yeast
dark molasses (not absolutely necessary, but adds a nice flavor)

Instructions:

1) Pour out one large glass of apple juice; save
2) heat 1/2 can of concentrate in microwave I(in glass measuring cup)
3) add warned concentrate to apple juice, then add as much reserved juice as possible, leaving 2 inch space at top.
4) add 2-3 teaspoons molasses
5) seal and shake bottle for 1-2 min.
6) add 1/2 packet of nottingham yeast
7) place lid on bottle very loosely, add small weight on top (I tape 3 quarters on it)

Place in dark place (food pantry is good). You should see tiny bubbles forming at the top of the juice within 24-48 hours. Allow to ferment for 6 days. It will be about 7% abv, "still" and "dry" tasting. You can drink it like this, or for a sweeter, sparkling cider take the steps below:

8) place the bottle in a large plastic bowl (1 gal ice cream pail works nice).
9) place ice cubes all around the bottle and add water to the pail. leave sit for 4-5 hours.
10) find another 1/2 gal bottle (or 2 big coke bottles will work).
11) add some of the left over apple concentrate to the new bottle. (I use about 1/4 cup)
12) pour the ice-chilled cider into the bottle with the concentrate. Cap and leave on counter overnight ONLY. After this KEEP IN FRIDGE!
(This last step allows it to carbonate, but it then it must be kept cold or it can blow the new bottle)
13) let it sit for 2 days. It should be ready to

When you are finished pouring off the cider you will see a "cake" of yeast formed at the bottle of the original bottle. You can reuse this, just pour a new batch of juice over it. You can do this 3-4 times with no problem.

 

[Scrumpy!]

I had some old apple trees in the backyard. Every summer my labradors would eat the apples on the ground and by October they were as fat as two beer kegs. I figured if I was going to the trouble of picking fallen apples up every few days to keep those mutts from bursting at the seams I might as well turn the apples into hooch.

 

[Kyle05STi]

I started about 2 months ago - we (my wife and I) enjoy cider, the drier the better. While we like searching for new craft ciders to try, we also decided it would be fun to make our own (and less expensive in the long run). We've got one batch in secondary, just started another and plan to keep the ball rolling as time goes on.

 

[TandemTails]

Cider was the first alcoholic beverage I actually sought out and bought as a college student. I've always loved apples and apple juice and this was the next logical step for me after I turned 21.

I still remember the first time I had a hard cider. Back in 2003 I was at a brewpub and all of their meals came with a suggested drink pairing. The burger and cajun fries I ordered were recommended with a hard cider. Never having one before I thought I'd give it a shot. The cider wasn't anything fancy, just your normal woodchuck, but it tasted so good I was immediately hooked.

Whenever I went to parties or just wanted some alcohol for home, I'd buy woodchuck. A few years later I did my first trip to London and got to try a bunch of their ciders and it was really neat trying something different.

Fast forward to about a year and a half ago... I bought some used homebrewing equipment and decided brewing beer was too intimidating so I went back to my old favorite, cider, and fermented a gallon of it. Was it the best thing ever? No. It was a cool learning experience and since then I've done several gallons with fresh pressed juice, honey and fruit additions and right now i've got 6 gallons fermenting that I'll put in my keg after my current batch of fresh pressed cider runs out.

 

[Gavin C]

Cider is fun and simple to get going. Plenty of options to make things more fun and complex as your knowledge and skillset grows.

Here is a really dirt-simple way to make a small batch of simple cider.

Finishes crisp, and semidry. Great for hot days and is a nice base to experiment with.

It is possible to add things to like other juices at time of drinking. I mixed some with a sweet mead over the Xmas. Was enjoyable. It's good on its own too but I'm not very well versed in cider making/tasting.

 

[bernardsmith]

Gavin C, Hi. Apologies: I don't want to hijack this discussion but your pictorial suggests that you add pectic enzyme after you have added the yeast but alcohol denatures the enzyme so you lose almost all benefit of it. The best time to add the enzyme is about 4 -6 hours before you pitch the yeast...

 

[buMbLeB]

It all started the summer before this last one, when I bought some craft apple juice from an orchard store and left it sit out for maybe two days unrefrigerated. Supposedly it's UV pasteurized, but something got going and to this day that was the most delicious, very slightly petillant and probably alcoholic beverage I ever drank. When it didn't kill me, I realized how simple this all was.

Now it's all about the fact that I can reliably make a dry, natural cider far superior to anything I can buy commercially (that I know of) for maybe a quarter the price. And something about watching the airlock bloop is so gratifying.

 

[Gavin C]

Gavin C, Hi. Apologies: I don't want to hijack this discussion but your pictorial suggests that you add pectic enzyme after you have added the yeast but alcohol denatures the enzyme so you lose almost all benefit of it. The best time to add the enzyme is about 4 -6 hours before you pitch the yeast...

I'm not very well versed on cider making. I typically add it at the outset of fermentation (same time as adding the yeast) and have in the past added it after a few weeks of fermentation. I got the same results with both methods; clear cider.

I'm not disputing your point. I have no basis with which to do that. My minimal experience suggests that for my small batches of cider the timing of the pectic enzyme addition is perhaps not that important, but I would defer to your know-how.

I'll do it the way you suggest next time and see if it works better/faster. thanks very much for the pointer. It's very much appreciated.

 

[MindenMan]

I am forever telling people to make hard cider at home using the no muss, no fuss method; go to the local home brew store, buy a package of wine yeast, pour 1/2 cup off the top of their gallon of juice, add 1/2 tsp of the wine yeast and mix well. Do not screw the lid down airtight and put it somewhere dark and less than 70*F (if possible) and wait until it starts to clear on it's own. At that point put it in the fridge and chill well before drinking. An initial investment about equal to the cost of 6-pack of hard cider returning 10 bottles, not 6 bottles, and they still have yeast left over to make more hard cider will generally get them to make a second batch as well.

EDIT: I apparently missed the point of this thread, why did I start home brewing? I started home brewing after my wife bought me a kit and continued as home brew was a lot cheaper to drink than than the non-BMC beers I prefer.
As far as making cider goes, I guess it was the natural progression for me; I started making hard cider out of curiosity. My initial hard ciders were nothing to brag out and neither were my first home brew beers, but a change of styles of beverage was overdue. I now make very tasty ciders; most of which become applejack before bottling.