Cider Recipe Needed- 1 gallon with hint of sweet and apple

[robdenver]

Hey there,

My first post so be gentle! Also new to brewing stuff.

I searched the recipes and am looking for a (if it exists) 1 gallon hard cider recipe that has a hint of apple and sweetness. I see many recipes (and some look very good) but:

1. Can you easily scale down a 5 gal recipe and have things turn out?

2. What about yeast types. Some of the 5 gal recipes use White Lab and from the looks of it, they come in a tube. I dunno how one would downsize it (unless weighing it is OK and I assume you throw the rest out?).

3. Any advice on a tried but true would be great. I was going to use an organic unfiltered juice this time until cider making season.

Thanks!

 

[CandleWineProject]

Easy. One gallon apple juice (fresh or concentrate) and about any wine yeast. Maybe throw in some sulfites if you handled the juice at all, and some pectic enzyme to help clear it. Follow the directions on all of the packages. Don't add sugar as it will increase the alcohol and mask the apple.

Make sure to take a hydrometer reading. Cider will go to 1.000 or lower. Stabilize it then, and add more juice or sugar to sweeten it back up. Bottle carbing a sweet cider is asking for bottle bombs, so don't try it. Dry and carbed is easy.

 

[bob1852]

Lavlin D47 yeast tends to retain a little more apple flavor than Montrachet. At least for me.

 

[vespa2t]

Here is what I recommend for the first time

1) I 100% recommend doing small batches, like 1 gal. You are on the right track by wanting to start there. That way you can experiment without blowing a pile of money for something that is just 'ok'.

2) Juice: A cider can be as simple as apple juice and yeast. Most juice in a bottle has an SG of 1.045-ish. If fermented to 1.010, which is a sweet cider, you would have 4.5% ABV. Use juice that does not have any sorbate in it. Ascorbic acid is ok.

3) A good yeast is actually Safale S04. It ferments clean and settles out very nicely. I ferment using S04 at 50deg. I also add 1/2lb DME per gallon to give it some more body. With that level of DME, you get an OG of 1.060. I like mine sweeter than most, so I cold crash at 1.020.

4) Carbonating is much trickier than with beer. It can be done, but is risky (from a bottle bomb perspective). There are other threads on here that talk about this.

 

[robdenver]

Thank you for your responses. I will do some research now that I have a way to proceed. I ordered some D47 to make my first mead (well second as a JAOM was put together yesterday). The Safale S04 looks interesting too so I need to look it up.

Thanks again.

 

[LambChop4Prez]

Homebrew cider is actually how I started into homebrewing (I am still a n00b, but have a little experience). Cider is the easiest thing to make. In the fall, I found a place that sells fresh apple cider by the gallon, added some sugar for sweetness and alcohol, pitched the yeast and two weeks later I had some delicious cider!
I actually used champagne yeast and found that it had a slight carbonation very similar to champagne.

 

[CandleWineProject]

Homebrew cider is actually how I started into homebrewing (I am still a n00b, but have a little experience). Cider is the easiest thing to make. In the fall, I found a place that sells fresh apple cider by the gallon, added some sugar for sweetness and alcohol, pitched the yeast and two weeks later I had some delicious cider!
I actually used champagne yeast and found that it had a slight carbonation very similar to champagne.

Adding sugar doesn't increase the sweetness if added before/during fermentation. It only increases the alcohol. Adding sugar after it has fermented and stablized does increase sweetness.

 

[robdenver]

So here is a dumb question....I started Grahams English Cider yesterday and it is plugging along nicely. I made a 1 gallon batch.

However, I put in the whole packet of S-04. Other yeasts state for 1-5 gallons but S-04 says something like 15.9 g for 20-30 liters.

My thought, based on reading other posts, is that the yeast will do what it needs to do and then stop and the extra yeast will not impact flavor? True? False?

 

[Fletch78]

True, it will settle on the bottom. If you leave it there for extended periods (months, years) without transferring/bottling, some say it will produce off-flavors as the yeast begins to eat itself when the sugar runs out. They call this "autolysis"

The yeast reproduces exponentially when you pitch it. Whether you add 1 packet to a gallon or 5 gallons, the number of total yeast that will eventually be in your liquid is going to be a product of the amount of nutrient in your cider/etc because it will reproduce until it consumes all the nutrients, regardless of how much yeast you started with.

There is such a thing as overpitching and underpitching, but for general homebrewing quantities and storebought products, it's not that much of a concern. For higher alcohol products, the nutrients you add are much more important than how much yeast you add.

 

[Fletch78]

Check out this topic. Even though I only added a sprinkle of the yeast, I guarantee by the end of the week I'll have the same amount of lees (yeast fallen to the bottom) as if I had added the whole pack.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/red-star-p-cuvee-171477/

 

[robdenver]

Thanks for taking the time to ease my mind! I sometimes over analyze stuff....sometimes that is good...and sometimes it isn't!

 

[robdenver]

Ok...I was really trying to be a person who did not babysit and jump to conclusions over my brewing but I cannot help it. Here is the recipe downsized:

Graham's English Cider
1 gallon Treetop Apple Juice
1 black teabag (English or Irish Breakfast)
1 small lime
1 pack s-04 yeast
(added energizer and nutrient for 1 gallon)

The first 1.5 days, it bubbled rapidly (like almost 2 bubbles a second). Last night when I went to check on it....maybe once every 7 seconds. Is this normal for cider? I keep telling myself to adopt a wait and see approach.....

 

[CandleWineProject]

The first 1.5 days, it bubbled rapidly (like almost 2 bubbles a second). Last night when I went to check on it....maybe once every 7 seconds. Is this normal for cider? I keep telling myself to adopt a wait and see approach.....

Yes, it is normal. With a small batch like one gallon, rack it after 2-3 weeks into secondary, and then let it sit for at least a month or longer before bottling. Drink after another 3 months or longer.