Cider Recipe Suggestion?

[Chavi]

Hey. I am new to cider making and am ready to make one for the holidays. I have already purchased 5 gallons of Apple Juice (Greenwise) and about 5-6 pounds of sugar. My LHBS recommended Liquid California Ale Yeast and said to aim for an OG of about 1.085 and an FG somewhere in the teens. He said this will yield an alc cont of somewhere between 7-9% which is ideal. The guy also told me that generally 1 pound of sugar will yield an increase in gravity of about .07 so that I would need between 4-5 lbs of sugar. I intend of making 5 gal. Also I am shooting for a sweet cider and am planning on kegging it. As of now, the recipe seems pretty bland... maybe I am wrong. I really like woodchuck, but since this is my first cider, I just want a sweet and apple-e tasting cider with about 7% alc. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks and Happy Brewing.

 

[BillyBroas]

I've never made cider but a friend of mine did recently and wrote an in-depth blog post about it including the recipe. He was very happy with the result.

Here you go: http://barlowbrewing.com/2009/12/03/a-homebrewers-take-on-cider-making/

 

[Teromous]

If the yeast stops at about 9% you're looking at a FG around 1.016. There are additives that go pretty good with cider that your LHBS can provide. Cinnamon and vanilla bean are two that work well for a holiday cider. What holiday are you intending on making it for? You'll hear this preached on many threads, but it is true. Cider will get better with time, and is a brew that requires patience. If it tastes good, go for it. If not, you might want to store it for a while and drink it next year. Also, one thing to note is that some commercial ciders use flavoring which tastes different from a "natural" hard cider.

 

[smokinghole]

I am at the tail end of a fermentation with 5.5 gallons of cider with 4lbs of dark brown sugar in it. I was transferring to a clearing bottle yesterday and had a taste. It was good but very boozy. It needs to age a bit. I'll leave it in the 5gal better bottle a while longer hoping for some malolactic fermentation. Plus once this current batch of dark graff I'm doing is done I'll need more bottles. So the high ABV cider can continue to chill. I think it's going to be fantastic cider in a few months. My FG is coming in around 1.002ish so it's not totally dry and was still a bit sweet to taste. That could be some of non fermented sugars left behind in the dark brown sugar.

So here was my recipe. I did this in a 6 gallon ported better bottle.

5.5 gallons of fresh pressed cider (you're fine with AJ)
4lbs dark brown sugar
1.5lbs table sugar
a cup of chopped raisins
and WPL755 Cider Yeast (you could go with http://www.whitelabs.com/beer/strains_wlp720.html for a finished sweetness)