Cider recipe,

[Jeff20578]

Will this recipe work?

5 gal carboy
4.5 gal organic cider (non pasteurized)
6 cinnamon sticks
Package Nottingham

ferment first about 14 days and keg. I’ll probably want to add organic cane sugar to the keg to sweeten it up.

 

[Yooper]

Sure. If it's preservative free, it'll ferment. I don't see unpasteurized cider without preservatives for sale in my area, but I do make my own.

I might be inclined to add a campden tablet (one per gallon) 24 hours before pitching yeast, if it's not been pasteurized to kill undesired yeast and other microbes.

 

[Jeff20578]

Can I just at a tablet to each gallon of cider the day before I brew?

QUOTE="Yooper, post: 8976310, member: 4189"]
Sure. If it's preservative free, it'll ferment. I don't see unpasteurized cider without preservatives for sale in my area, but I do make my own.

I might be inclined to add a campden tablet (one per gallon) 24 hours before pitching yeast, if it's not been pasteurized to kill undesired yeast and other microbes.
[/QUOTE]

 

[Yooper]

Can I just at a tablet to each gallon of cider the day before I brew?

Yes, that's what I do. Crush the tablets and dissolve in some of the cider or a little water, and add that to the cider a day before adding yeast.

 

[Jeff20578]

perfect!
If I’m looking to add the sugar, can I just put the sugar right in the keg and then fill the keg with the primary? I’m just wondering if the sugar is going to activate the yeast again?

Yes, that's what I do. Crush the tablets and dissolve in some of the cider or a little water, and add that to the cider a day before adding yeast.

 

[dawn_kiebawls]

I’m just wondering if the sugar is going to activate the yeast again?

Yes, the yeast will start eating the sugar you put in the keg as if you were bottling it. Since you are kegging though it makes your life a lot easier since you're looking for a sweeter cider. You will need to stabilize the cider when it's done fermenting. Follow the instructions in this thread and you should be good to go. Also, I haven't used it yet but many people report that using S-04 to ferment with usually leaves a little bit of sweetness on its own and there's no real need to sweeten. Cheers!

 

[Jeff20578]

Is there a full of thumb on rough increments added of sugar to the keg? I’m sure it’s a bit subjective, but I’m not looking for a dry batch. A cup at a time?

 

[Yooper]

Is there a full of thumb on rough increments added of sugar to the keg? I’m sure it’s a bit subjective, but I’m not looking for a dry batch. A cup at a time?

If you're keeping the keg cold through its entire life, I wouldn't bother stabilizing it. It may still ferment a little, slowly, but it may not.

The thing with sweetening is it's 100% personal taste. I don't have a sweet tooth at all, and I hate anything sweet. I maybe could tolerate off-dry and carbonated, but that's about it.

What I have done is to pull a large sample, and added some simple syrup to each one. Taste them, and decide which one you like best, recognizing that carbonation brings a bit of carbonic acid 'bite' to it later. Then, take the SG of that one you like. Sweeten the whole batch to that SG, and you'll be all set.

 

[Jeff20578]

Can I only fill up my 5 gallon carboy 1/2 way and still be ok? Will there be too much head space? I’m considering only doing 2-3 gallons to see how it turns out. 5 gallons seams a bit much for my 1st batch.

 

[Cooknhogz]

I’d also add yeast nutrient, yeast energizer and pectic enzyme to the recipe

 

[Orerockon]

My first cider was done with a very basic procedure, just like beer with champagne yeast and really no additives (I might have thrown a little CS into it). This was in the wayback when the interwebs were devoid of any solid information on anything except beer brewing. It turned out great. I had one batch go sour on me (out of about 3 batches at the time) so I started paying attention to what was available on the net. I got PO'ed at it and left it in the carboy for a year or so in the corner of my garage. I needed the carboy so I dragged it out of hiding and it was covered with a cake of mold. I started to drain it and smelled something good. It made the best apple cider vinegar I have ever tasted and it just kept getting better after a few years, almost 20 years old now and I'm down to less than a gallon These days if I overshoot the apples I keep whatever is left in a plastic gallon jug and forget about it for a couple years.

 

[Jeff20578]

My first cider was done with a very basic procedure, just like beer with champagne yeast and really no additives (I might have thrown a little CS into it). This was in the wayback when the interwebs were devoid of any solid information on anything except beer brewing. It turned out great. I had one batch go sour on me (out of about 3 batches at the time) so I started paying attention to what was available on the net. I got PO'ed at it and left it in the carboy for a year or so in the corner of my garage. I needed the carboy so I dragged it out of hiding and it was covered with a cake of mold. I started to drain it and smelled something good. It made the best apple cider vinegar I have ever tasted and it just kept getting better after a few years, almost 20 years old now and I'm down to less than a gallon These days if I overshoot the apples I keep whatever is left in a plastic gallon jug and forget about it for a couple years.

Mmm- cider vinegar sounds awesome!!
Been 3 weeks in primary this weekend. I’d like to keg it on Sunday. Should I keg gas it to 30psi for a couple days and then drop it to 10ish for another few days? I’m not necessarily looking for a real fizzy end result.

 

[Orerockon]

Out of curiosity how much yeast nutrient & energizer do you add? I've been using 1/2 tsp. per gallon of Fermax but I really don't know if it does anything. My ferment goes really fast (I lew the top off of one bucket but that was out of 40 or so over the centuries). If it helps I use a little GoFerm in my starter.

 

[Orerockon]

I have no idea about gassing, I add 1/2 c. CS & whatever yeast I used to 5 gal. at bottling. Mostly fizzy but seems to vary by the bottle. I rehydrate first but I don't think I stir it enough at bottling to get even carbonation. I don't like soda carbonation anyway but I really miss it if the cider is totally flat.

 

[Jeff20578]

All I used was 4 gallons cider
Packet Nottingham
2 cinnamon sticks
4 campden tablets to start it day before.

It’s my first cider and just trying to keep it simple with a quick turnaround.

 

[Orerockon]

Quick as in 3 months to drinking? I let it sit a month after fermentation is over and it's clear. That's pretty short according to the afficionados but I'm impatient and I think it tastes just fine by then. I let it sit for a month after racking off and then bottle. So about 6 weeks total. I'll check one (AKA I'm very impatient) every week or so after bottling and allowing for carbonation. I'm like the guy in the 90s Mervyn's black Friday commercial (if you had one around back then) chanting "open open open"

 

[Jeff20578]

Can I put apple juice concentrate in the keg prior to racking? Will this help with getting more of an apple flavor? How much would be recommended for 4 gallons?

 

[Cooknhogz]

It all depends on your taste. I don’t like to sweet and I will add 3 -3 1/2 cans FJAC to a 5 gallon batch of cider that fermented down to .996-.998