Cider from a kit?

[stoutman78]

Hi all, been doing home brewing for about six months now (beer only) and my wife wanted to know if I could make a cider for her. I said sure no prob...I'll just grab a kit next time I order from morebeer. BUT, upon checking it doesn't look like they have such a thing.

My question is: a) does any place have cider kits (I'm thinking of an extract-type kit, maybe with pre-pressed juice, etc)? and b) if there is such a thing, any recommendations? are they any good? and c) if they don't exist, what's a good place to get started with researching the process?

Thanks for the help and happy brewing!

 

[stoutman78]

OK - newbie to this site just saw the wiki up top and got a quick and dirty overview of cider brewing...seems easy enough even if I wanted to go the cheap store-bought apple juice way.

So a follow up would be - is it worth it to go the easy store-bought juice way? Any tricks to get it tasting better without having to press a bunch of fruit?

 

[fendermallot]

just go with EdWort's Apfelwein recipe. You can't go wrong.

 

[Chad]

EdWort's Apflewine is very tart and dry if you are expecting cider.

If you live in an apple growing region you can usually get cider (unfiltered juice) at a big farmer's market. Just make sure that it hasn't been treated with sorbate, which will keep it from fermenting. If that's not an option, try a big grocery store, especially one that stocks so-called organic products (most aren't but that's another argument). The R.W. Knudsen brand of apple juice comes in handy 1 gallon jugs, doesn't have additives or preservatives, which is how you'll sometimes see sorbates listed, and ferments quite well. It gets a bit pricey, though.

If all else fails there is indeed a juice concentrate kit for making cider from Northern Brewer.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Unless you can get juice from real cider apples, which seems to be next to impossible, your best bet is to just buy the juice from the store or your lcl orchard & go from there.
As mentioned above, Ed's Apfelwein is about as simple & easy as it gets.

I like Graff a lot better. It's not quite as simple, but it's still pretty easy & it tastes great. It's also a very forgiving recipe that you can tinker with & tweak till your heart's content. Here's Ed's apfelwein: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f25/man-i-love-apfelwein-14860/ Many have discovered that ale yeast is better than the montrachet yeast for apfelwein.

Here's Brandon O's graff: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f81/graff-malty-slightly-hopped-cider-117117/
Both recipes have their virtues & can be tweaked to taste. Of course you can always make a batch of each & compare them side by side to see which you like better.
Regards, GF.

 

[Calder]

For a simple tasty cider:

1) Any clear 100% juice from Supermarket (no preservatives or it will not ferment, ascorbic acid is OK, juice from concentrate is OK).
2) Any ale Yeast
3) Aerate and stick on an airlock and leave for 3 months.
4) Bottle as you would beer. I like to use 1 cup of juice per gallon for priming.

This will give you a dry 6% abv cider (just how I like it).

You can get more complicated:

- Use fresh pressed juice. Probably more flavor, but you have to take extra steps to clear it and it may take longer. I have some 365 Organic juice naturally clearing, and it's still cloudy after 5 months.

- Add 4 ozs table sugar per gallon to get up to about 8% abv.

- Back-sweeten with a non-fermentable sugar when fermentation is finished.

- Stop fermentation early and pasteurize to keep it sweet.

 

[sashurlow]

Mr Beer has kits. They only make 2 gallons though. I never tried them, I just know they are there.
http://www.mrbeer.com/category-exec/category_id/85

 

[stoutman78]

Cool! Thanks for all the helpful feedback. I'll have to check out the recipes but I think I'll end up trying multiple ones...just gotta figure out where to start :cross:

BTW @Calder, what is a good non-fermentable sugar to use for back-sweetening? I've only used lactose....would that work?

 

[Calder]

BTW @Calder, what is a good non-fermentable sugar to use for back-sweetening? I've only used lactose....would that work?

Never used any. I like it dry. Some people have used Splenda or Stevia.

 

[mudcrickbrewer]

hmm, if you have an orchard nearby, have them fill your carboy straight out of the press. The naturally occuring yeast in the apples will provide adequet fermentations, albeit inconsistant between years brewed, and even days you fill your containers. What I do is have my carboys filled, then put them in my root cellar for about 2-3 weeks or whenever the original "violent" period takes place. After that, I personally(along with 1 friend who does this) add 1lb sugar to each gallon, this afterall is completely up to you. I do not have a hydrometer, but I just bottled one carboy last night after sitting in there since October 15th. I waited till I have 1.5-2 minutes between bubbles in the airlock, This also is up to you somewhat. My second carboy I plan on letting sit alot longer, and going to see what happens. I am fortunate enough to have an abundance of apple orchards around me, but if you dont, Edworts recipe looks tasty, and Im sure will be much more consistant, and probably more of a true apflewein.

 

[Gordzilla]

i went to walmart last week to get stuff for edworts receipe. They had motts 100%apple juice on sale and i picked up a 2lb bag of light brown sugar

5-gal of juice and 2lbs sugar under 18bucks...cant go wrong

 

[yummybeer]

Mr Beer has kits. They only make 2 gallons though. I never tried them, I just know they are there.
http://www.mrbeer.com/category-exec/category_id/85

i was about to mention the same thing. the thing i'd like to know is if anybody has tried them and how good they are?

 

[Flordan]

Long time reader, first time posting a comment.
I have made the Mr. Beer Cider kits on a number of occasions. They are not bad as far as a kit goes, but using a decent store bought apple juice or fresh pressed will get you a much better cider in the end.

The Mr. Beer kit makes a cider with strong beer overtones, which is actually pretty good, just not the cider I was looking for.

The best I made out of these kits was to use two cans of concentrate to make a 3 gallon batch instead of 4 gallons like the recipe calls for.

And after reading on this site for some time now, I believe that there is much room to experiment with this kit along with some of the different ingredients listed among the various recipes.

I don't know what yeast comes with the kits as they are only labeled "Cider Yeast". I suspect that it was an ale yeast though based on its flavor.

 

[Calder]

I just looked up Mr.Beer. For what I suspect is a 2 gallon kit of 4.0% abv, they want $18.44. Looks like a real rip-off to me.

2 gallons of expensive store juice will run you about $8.00, and a pack of Nottingham an additional $2.00. This will give you 6% abv, probably be tastier, and probably easier to make.

I just made 6 gallons; cost me $15 for the juice, $1 for the sugar (about 1.5 lbs), and the yeast was free (slurry from a beer), and will get about 8% abv.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

+1, It costs me about $15 to do a 5 gal batch of cider/apfelwein; about $22 for a batch of graf. No need for an over priced "kit." Regards, GF.

 

[stoutman78]

Thanks for all the helpful advice all! I am going to order the dextrose needed for Ed's apfelwein and get that going as soon as my pumpkin spice is in bottles (I'm boiling the wort as I type I'll post again as soon as it's done! see ya in a couple of months on this!!

 

[Calder]

Why not use regular table sugar? I've quit using corn sugar in beer and cider since it doesn't seem to make any difference, and costs a lot more.

 

[Pappers_]

Hi. I advise new cider makers to consider making a simple cider first, then build from that experience to higher abv apple wines if they want. Also, this website gives a great step-by-step approach for the new cider maker www.makinghardcider.com

 

[stoutman78]

OK finally got a fermenting bucket free to do this thing! Gonna try Ed's apfelwein and see how she goes! I'll be back in a month or so to post an update. Cheers and happy brewing all!

 

[mach9]

I've got two 5 gallon batches I did a couple days ago and stuck them in the closet. Be ready for some pretty nasty smells (of which I'm experiencing now) and from what I gather lasts about 5-7 days. I used corn sugar as well, however, one is using a true cider, and the other is simply tree top apple juice. We shall see how it goes.

 

[mach9]

Ok I just now realized your in Stockton as well....small world I guess.

 

[mach9]

Ok, the smell has calmed down significantly after the first 3 days. My roommate was not pleased by the smell in the house so that's a huge positive. You'll have to let me know how yours turns out when done.

 

[stoutman78]

Hey mach9 small world indeed! I just checked the gravity yesterday (2 weeks into fermentation) and it was at 1.005. I started at 1.062 so this is telling me it's at about 7.5% right now. I have no idea if that's as good as I'll get. It tasted pretty smooth! I was wondering how low the gravity can go on something like this....can it get to below 1.0? What have others ended up at using ed's apfelwein recipe?
Btw I never really noticed any smells during fermentation...maybe I'm immune now hehe.

 

[mach9]

I got lazy and didn't take an initial gravity reading because I was in a hurry. I have yet to take a current one as the airlocks are still both bubbling occasionally. Seems .996 - 1 is pretty common, at least from what I have read.

 

[stoutman78]

I'll have to let it sit for a but more then. I just get impatient with new things

 

[mach9]

I'll have to let it sit for a but more then. I just get impatient with new things

I can relate to that, but, more importantly I want to get these into kegs for more aging so I can have my bottles back

 

[stoutman78]

I just accomplished that! Yay! Well partially anyway. I bottled a case and kegged the rest.
here's how it all went down:
Original gravity 1.062
Final gravity 1.005
time in primary: 23 days
No secondary
Final ABV 7.47%

When I added the bottling sugar to the bucket it fizzed up a bit...hopefully the bottles don't burst...
Anyway I'll let you know in a week or two how it turned out!
Cheers!

 

[mach9]

I hope the bottles survive too, I generally force carb everything. The cider I'm sure is ready to be kegged was just waiting on a stout, think they're all ready...probably keg tomorrow

 

[stoutman78]

Well my wife convinced me to hook up the cider to the co2 and fast carb it....so we got to try some semi carbonated, semi cold last night....it was very good will def have to keep this in my rotation!

 

[mach9]

Awesome, I postponed kegging as every time I look it is clearing more...looking at wed

 

[mach9]

Well, two batches officially kegged. Final gravs at 1.000 and .0980. Makes me wish I took an initial reading. Oh well, they both taste pretty good even flat and warm.

 

[stoutman78]

Good to hear! We thought the same thing too . If you used the treetop recipe, which is what I did, the startin gravity should have been pretty close, so you could estimmte based on that....somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.06-1.062. So they're probably in the upper seven to eight percent range.