Cider ingredients - where to get?

[thatguy2120]

I am a beer guy but wife loves cider and wants to make it. Having trouble finding where can get quality ingrediants to make it short of in season pressing the apples.

Any help will keep wife happy.

 

[zmanzorro]

Central Market carries UV pasteurized unfermented apple cider. Everything else should be at your homebrew store.

I've only made a few ciders but that seems to work for me.

 

[pksublime]

I made a quite successful batch from preservative-free cider from Costco, and I'm told Whole Foods carries some too.

It's okay to be pasturized (has to be to be sold in the store), but MUST NOT have preservatives (look for chemical names in the ingredients list).

 

[The_General]

Actually, not all chemicals are a deal killer. Cider with ascorbic acid (aka vitamin C) will work.

 

[pksublime]

Actually, not all chemicals are a deal killer. Cider with ascorbic acid (aka vitamin C) will work.

True, basically if there's anything added look it up to find out what it does.

 

[BrewSRQ]

Yea, I use the sams club apple juice and it seems to be well received since I can't keep it around..

 

[Calder]

Yea, I use the sams club apple juice and it seems to be well received since I can't keep it around..

Some Sams apple juice has preservatives.


If you want it easy:

- Use clear juice. Some cloudy juices do not clear, one that doesn't clear is 365 juice from Whole Foods. You can get juice from almost anywhere. I see no reason to pay premium prices for apple juice for making simple cider. Need to add note that fresh juiced apples and maybe some juices are superior, but for quick and easy, anything (without preservatives) will do - even the frozen concentrates.

- Make sure there are no preservatives (sorbates). Ascorbic, citric, and malic acid are OK.

- Check gravity. Probably around 1.050, but could be anywhere from 1.040 to 1.060. Add table sugar to bring it up to 1.060. This will give you a about an 8.5% cider. A quarter lb of table sugar in 1 gallon will raise the gravity about 11 points.

- Do NOT boil the apple juice, or it will become cloudy and will not clear. It is pasteurized/sanitized from the bottle.

- Use an ale yeast. I actually like to use Belgians or Brett for Cider. I just take some of the slurry from a batch of beer.

- Aerate just like beer, airlock and wait. It will not have kraeusen like beer, but you will need a little space.

It will be done in a few weeks, but will benefit from 6 months in the bottle. FG should be around 0.996/0.998.

I usually bottle with apple juice. I use half a pint per gallon. This will give you around 3 volumes (Plus or minus some).

This will give you a dry cider. I like it dry. If you want it sweet, someone else will have to help you with sweeteners. You can use sugar (or apple juice) to sweeten it and pasteurize the bottles when it is carbonated. You monitor the carbonation, and when it is where you want it, you put the bottles in boiling water to kill the yeast - I've never done it; search in the cider forum if you want to go this route. If you keg, it is easy; add sorbate to kill the yeast, and add apple juice to sweeten.

Dry cider is very easy. Sweet takes a little more work.

 

[BrewSRQ]

The members mark juice here only has vitamin c (ascorbic acid). I start similarly to Calder, but I have tamed my ciders down to 6% after a particular evening of heavy drinking with guests. Let's just say it goes down easy. I use Nottingham and when it's done add some homemade caramel syrup and aj concentrate. I let it carb for a while and pastuerize when the plastic bottles are firm.