Cider virgin

[seansolo8]

Ready to try my first cider. Got the basics, pretty sure which avenue I'm going to travel. But, the guy at my local homebrew supply suggested something, and I'm curious to know if anyone here has tried it.
According to him (and he has not steered me wrong so far with beer recipes) the best locally-brewed cider he has tried used this method:
Peel & dice [about a pound] of apples. (he suggested Granny Smith for tartness, but I'm using Honeycrisp) Stick them in the freezer in a large ziploc bag. They will turn to mush (upon thawing I presume). After you've put your apple juice into the carboy, along with whatever other additives you choose, cut a hole in the corner of the bag and squeeze the mush into your primary before adding yeast.
Makes sense to me, but the cider recipes I looked at on here didn't mention using actual apples much less this specific method.
Thoughts?

 

[punkrawkgeek]

I was going to rack some of my fermented cider on to a couple apple in a secondary... See how that goes. See if it adds anything to it. If you do it that way, let us know how it goes. I'm interested.

 

[bernardsmith]

I have never tried this -but only because I buy my apples already juiced from a local orchard. The idea of maceration sounds very good. You will get all the additional complexities from the skins and cores that pressed juice doesn't. Grape wines make use of a similar technique as do wines from other fruits and flowers.
But that said, your LHBS is suggesting that you use a carboy as your primary. No problem, If you were to use a bucket then you could simply dump the crushed pulp in - AND you are in a better position to aerate the must several times a day for the first few days.

 

[ericbw]

Ready to try my first cider. Got the basics, pretty sure which avenue I'm going to travel. But, the guy at my local homebrew supply suggested something, and I'm curious to know if anyone here has tried it.
According to him (and he has not steered me wrong so far with beer recipes) the best locally-brewed cider he has tried used this method:
Peel & dice [about a pound] of apples. (he suggested Granny Smith for tartness, but I'm using Honeycrisp) Stick them in the freezer in a large ziploc bag. They will turn to mush (upon thawing I presume). After you've put your apple juice into the carboy, along with whatever other additives you choose, cut a hole in the corner of the bag and squeeze the mush into your primary before adding yeast.
Makes sense to me, but the cider recipes I looked at on here didn't mention using actual apples much less this specific method.
Thoughts?

A lot of cider is made from sweet apples, but hard cider traditionally uses some varieties with bitter, tart, or tannic aspects. so the Granny Smith would add done tartness. Honey crisp is pretty sweet and might be similar to what you already have in the cider.

I was thinking some crab apples might be interesting.

 

[seansolo8]

I peeled and cored the apples before adding them to primary. If I'd bought them from a local orchard & was sure they were wax and pesticide free, I may have done otherwise. I also boiled up about 6oz of water with a cinnamon stick, 3 whole cloves and a little bit of honey just for the heck of it.
If I don't intend to add anything else during fermentation, is there any reason other than clarity to rack to secondary? (And yes, my primary is a carboy)

 

[aellis]

This sounds like a great idea, I'd like to try it. I think by peeling the apples you might lose some of the apple skin tartness, but then maybe there wouldn't be that much from honeycrisp anyway.

 

[seansolo8]

I was just going by the advice from the shop when he said to core and peel them. He did suggest Granny Smith for more tartness, but the wife and I prefer Honeycrisp, and adding the actual apples is sort of an "extra" ingredient anyway. I also prefer a sweeter cider.
Going to transfer to secondary today & sneak a taste.

 

[seansolo8]

Ok, just racked to secondary. Tastes great, but upon taking a reading, I'm looking at less than 4% ABV. Fermentation is done, unless I decide to bottle condition it, right? Or should I add more yeast to the secondary?

 

[ericbw]

Ok, just racked to secondary. Tastes great, but upon taking a reading, I'm looking at less than 4% ABV. Fermentation is done, unless I decide to bottle condition it, right? Or should I add more yeast to the secondary?

How long in primary? What was the OG and FG?

 

[Hexadecimus]

4% sounds weak if it fermented to dry. Sounds right if you halted at 2/3 to 3/4 to keep some sweetness. Final SG will tell. Commercial apple juice and ciders are 5-6% potential alcohol from my experience and honeycrisp are on the sweet side.

I wouldn't use granny smith. Their characteristic flavor and tartness is from malic acid, which many homebrew ciders have plenty of. Unless you really like that tart bite.

 

[aellis]

i'm currently dehydrating some granny smiths that i'm going to then toss into some cider that finished a month or so ago. hopefully they'll add some tartness.

 

[seansolo8]

OG was 1.05, 1.025 before racking to secondary. I don't mind if it's a low ABV, makes for a more sessionable hot weather brew. Just thought it would be higher with the added sugars from the apple.

 

[seansolo8]

Oh, and 1 week in primary. Still in secondary, thinking 2 weeks before bottling.

 

[ericbw]

It should go lower than that. It will be pretty sweet if it stays at 1.025. Did you say what yeast and what temperature you're fermenting it?

 

[seansolo8]

It was an English dry yeast, not sure of the number (not very good at keeping notes yet). It's been fermenting at around 72-74. Took a reading before bottling and it's now at 1.02, about 3.9% abv. Tastes good though!