Cider

[benzy4010]

My girl likes cider, are there any simple cider recipies?

 

[JonM]

EdWort's Apfelwein!

 

[benzy4010]

Where do you find it? Is it on the recipe page?

 

[Calder]

Buy apple juice with no preservatives (ascorbic acid is OK, citric and malic are also OK, anything else is bad and will prevent the yeast from reproducing).

Aerate, and add yeast and add an airlock.

A few finer points:

- Use clear juice unless you want cloudy cider, or are willing to wait (up to a year) for it to clear.

- I usually like to add about 4 ozs table sugar to each gallon to get the OG around 1.060. If you add more, it can kill the yeast, result in hot alcohols that take a long time to mellow.

- Using ale yeast (any type, I've used English, American, Belgian, and Brett), seems to leave a little more apple flavor than wine yeast. I usually just pitch some of my latest slurry from a beer.

- It does take longer than beer. It will be done in a few weeks, but will be better if left at least 3 months ..... even a year. But as I said, you can drink it within a month of pitching yeast.

- This will give you a dry cider. I like it that way. I recommend you try it dry before you start trying to sweeten it.

Check out the cider forum for lots more information.

Good luck.

 

[JonM]

Here ya go. 15 minutes of effort and then some waiting.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f81/edworts-apfelwein-33986/

Do note the caution about "gets you drunk at warp speed." This stuff is very tasty, very easy drinking, and very strong. But HBT members have made about 22,000 gallons of the stuff so they can't all be wrong!

Seriously - 22,000 or so gallons. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f25/how-many-gallons-edworts-apfelwein-have-been-made-20383/

 

[The_General]

I've made a few batches with apple cider that was pasteurized (no preservatives) and Champagne yeast. Something that scared me about that was the unexpected lack of Krausen.

Without backsweetening, it did finish VERY dry. If I remember correctly, my first one started at 1.050-ish and finished below 1. I have back sweetened with Splenda (bad idea) and lactose. One pound per 5 gallons worked pretty well.

By the way, the cloudy brown cider became clear and pale yellow after fermentation. It was very strange.

 

[DarkPhyre]

I really want to make cider. I just have no funds to do it.

 

[Polboy]

I really want to make cider. I just have no funds to do it.

Now its a good time to look for sales on apple juice or soft cider, i got motts juice for like $2.60 per gallon from costco, 6gal of cider is bubbling away in my basement for like $17

 

[cwi]

Forget about the apfelwein, it takes too long before it is drinkable.
Follow the advice of Calder and try an ale or even Hefe yeast, not wine or champagne. You will need to stop the ferm early to preserve some apple flavor. If the yeast are allowed to go to completion, you end up with cheap white wine with no apple taste. How early you stop it determines how sweet it is. The ferm goes quickly, as short as 4 days, and a day makes a big difference. Kegging (or bottle pasteurizing) is the only way you can reliably have a carb'd cider. Check out the cider forums, and especially CvilleKevin and his yeast thread, or freezeblade and his Graham's English Cider recipe.

 

[Yooper]

I really want to make cider. I just have no funds to do it.

Yeah, apple juice is terribly expensive. I've even seen the frozen concentrate for $1.50/can.

Good cider can be expensive, but I've never seen it more than about $5 a gallon.

 

[Calder]

You will need to stop the ferm early to preserve some apple flavor. If the yeast are allowed to go to completion, you end up with cheap white wine with no apple taste. How early you stop it determines how sweet it is. The ferm goes quickly, as short as 4 days, and a day makes a big difference. Kegging (or bottle pasteurizing) is the only way you can reliably have a carb'd cider. Check out the cider forums, and especially CvilleKevin and his yeast thread, or freezeblade and his Graham's English Cider recipe.

It's all a matter of taste. I ferment it to completion (around 0.996), carb it like beer, and I like it that way. Any sweeter and I would not like it.

 

[autoferret]

They had motts on sale 3 for $6 so I made some of Edworts apfelwein!

 

[cwi]

It's all a matter of taste. I ferment it to completion (around 0.996), carb it like beer, and I like it that way. Any sweeter and I would not like it.

If you recall:

My girl likes cider, are there any simple cider recipies?

This is for his chick, so I doubt the cider referred to is a fine imported dry cider.

I never said anything about whether sweet or dry was better, just that the earlier the ferm was stopped, the sweeter it was. I personally like dry cider as well, but with some apple taste. I will stand my ground that, especially with store bought apple juice/cider, those last few points seem to be the difference between a nice dry apple cider, and cheap flavorless white wine. This is from my limited experience with ~7 batches, but there is more than enough corroborating evidence in the cider forum.

The yeast eat, or somehow get rid of, flavor compounds as well as sugar. I have heard some is metabolized, and others get fixed to the yeast as they flocculate and settle out. Whatever the cause, it seems that when sugar starts to run low, the apple flavor disappears. This is true for many flavors added prior to ferment.

If you have the luxury of access to true high acid heirloom cider apples, maybe going to completion would still leave some apple taste. With store bought stuff, it doesn't. It is tricky to catch it just right for a dry cider, but still retain some apple taste. Many of the fancy dry cider makers, if not most of them, ferment to completion, and then add back in some fresh cider or concentrate to give it some apple taste. This "backsweetening" is also popular with homebrewers to avoid having to monitor the ferm, but still have some apple flavor and, if desired, sweetness. These methods, along with their pros and cons, are discussed thoroughly in both of the threads I referenced.

As for Woodchuck and the like, all I taste is Jolly Rancher and sugar. I suspect there is some "apple flavor" as well as plain sugar backsweetening going on.

 

[jpoke]

Hmm yes apple juice does seem to be expensive compared to other juices but if you can make 6 gallons of cider for under 20$ then its a really great deal... also apple cider is one of my favorites so it really is not that expensive to me...

I think I will try to do this myself as well (first time for me brewing anything)... Hopefully it goes well... =)

 

[henryred]

My cider(semi dry). Apple juice/cider. Ale yeast. 1 week ferment-1.010. Put in fridge for week. Pull out. Add bottleing sugar. Bottle. Sit for 1 week pasturize bottle-190 degree water 10 min. Let cool. Fridge for 1 week. Drin”

 

[gratus fermentatio]

I really want to make cider. I just have no funds to do it.

Get your juice at Walmart, last time I bought it there it was $1 for 3 quarts.
.75 gallons x 8 = 6 gallons of apple juice for $8.
The corn sugar will cost you more than ordinary white table sugar, but you can use the table sugar with no problems. So it's something like an added $1 for the 2lbs sugar. Add the $4 for a packet of Nottingham ale yeast (much better for cider than wine yeast) & you have a grand total of $13 for 6 gallons of apfelwein / hard apple cider. Regards, GF.

 

[DarkPhyre]

I hit the savings account and got my cider.
Got fresh pressed cold pasteurized cider. however I paid 5.5a gal.

I made a thread, if I could get some help I would appreciate it (Don't want to hijack this thread) https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/5-gallons-need-help-277636/