Fantastic Hard Cider Recipe with Instructions (and fall spice / cherry variations)

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Has anyone tried boiling some irish moss in a couple cups of water and then adding it directly to unboiled juice? Does it still have the same clarifying effect? I may try this tonight but would love to hear if anyone's given it a try already.

I don't think that would work. I believe it bonds during the boil process, but I could be wrong. Sorry you didn't get a reply sooner.

Recipe sounds great! Glad I found this thread.
 
My recipe included apple juice and cider from the store, 1/2 gallon Knudsons black cherry juice, some nutmeg and clove, Log Cabin Maple syrup and finally WLP 670 American Far house Ale yeast. I had it laying around and it was expired. I figured if it took the flavor would be great. If it was dead, I could add some dry yeast I have.

plan on racking to a secondary and then adding a gallon of apple juice to back sweeten and add potassium metabisulfite to kill the yeast. Then I will force carbonate.


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I'm thinking of following this as my first cider. Just wondering how close the fall spice or the cherry "recipes" are to McKenzie's? My wife loves their Autumn Reserve(i think that's the name) and Black Cherry, so if this comes close that would be excellent.
 
You should be able to find cider in the juice section and grocery stores or Walmart.

Juice is fine as long as it doesn't have preservatives. Absorbic Acid is fine it is just vitamin C. Pastuerized is okay also.
 
Most of the 100% pressed apple juice you see at the store is fine, just check the label for preservatives. Preservatives=yeast killers.


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I didn't hear anything about carbonating the apple juice after fermentation? No need to add dextrose in it? Or does it naturally come along with fermentation?

Thanks, and really nice guide!! I appreciate you give your marvelous recipes wonder's out for all to enjoy :)! 👍🍻
 
check the "First Time Cider Making Faq" thread, the "Stove top pasteurization" sticky and a few other backsweetening threads.

the most basic answer is - you add sugar back into the juice after fermentation to add carbonation in a bottle. there's all sorts of caveats and such. i've done it 3 times now, my first three batches. the first didn't turn out well (but no serious mishaps), the next two were/are simply delicious!
 
Does the 1 gallon of raw cider for back sweetening and carbonation have the added sugar and nutrient in it or is it just the raw cider?

Thanks
 
Cold crash, rack to a new container then backsweeten, that'll avoid rousing most of the yeast while you add the sweetening agent. You will still need to keep it cold or sorbated and sulphited to prevent it from refermenting.


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Those who keg, did you add anything to back sweeten and stabilize?
 
Those who keg, did you add anything to back sweeten and stabilize?


I have one it by vat pasteurizing the cider, then adding stabilized fresh cider. Some say it will oxidize that way. This year, I think I will add campden to the finished cider and let it sit 24-48 hours, then add to the keg, hoping it degasses along the way.

Definitely needs backsweetening. Not a fan of super dry cider.
 
Wow this is an epic thread. I learned a lot from it!

My first batch is in secondary now, it was pretty dry when I tasted it, I am thinking I will add some Xylitol for sweetening and then dextrose for carbonating.
 
My daughter tried this last weekend and loved it! She wants me to make 6 cases, about 15 gallons, for her fall themed wedding in sept 2014. I'd be happy too. But if I make it next year when Bergmans Orchards starts pressing, the hard cider won' be done in time. If I make it now, Nov 2013, will it keep in bottles that long? I'd hate to use anything but Bergmans because their cider is so good.

This was a big hit at my daughter's wedding 2 weeks ago. Not only did the hard cider last 11 months in the bottles, it got better as it aged. We offered several types of beer , wine and my hard cider at the reception. The 140 guests drank over 7 cases of the hard cider. I bottle pasteurized before it carbed. And had the servers shake bottles before pouring to mix the settled sediment. It was lightly cloudy as cider should look. I got numerous compliments. But the best compliment was in the amount they drank!

Thanks again for this excellent recipe!
 
Help!! I just transferred my cider into the secondary and I checked my gravity again and it dropped to 1.000 is this a good sign? I started out with 1.050
 
I'm bottling today and I checked my gravity it was 1.010...this was after the back sweetening...but it still doesn't seem like a 7 or 8 % cider...HELP!!
 
I'm bottling today and I checked my gravity it was 1.010...this was after the back sweetening...but it still doesn't seem like a 7 or 8 % cider...HELP!!

If I read right, you started with a gravity reading of 1.050 and ended at 1.000 which would say to me that you have a 6.5% abv.

Is that right?
 
This was my first time making hard cider. I followed the directions on this thread. I must say, "FRACKING AWESOME!!!!" It turned out great. OG was 1.064, FG was 0.999, then after adding 36oz of apple juice concentrate to sweeten it up, the new FG was 1.012. A nice ABV 6.83%. I bottled one sprite bottle and the rest in beer bottles. I opened the sprite bottle a short bit ago. It has just enough carbonation. Will be pasteurizing the bottles tomorrow. The taste is Mmmm Mmmm Good! Thank you for the good and clear directions.

Will be making another one tomorrow, because this will not make it to the holidays :-D

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I am planning on following the OP recipe this weekend with the caveat that I'm halving it. I have acquired 2 gallons of cider from a local orchard as well as a two quart jug for back sweetening and carbonation. Anyone see any problems with my adding some dextrose during the boil to raise the OG a few points? Also, since my cider is not pasteurized (I think it was UV treated), should I boil the two quarts that in adding at bottling?

Thanks. Never made cider before...


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This is going to be my first cider. Put 3 gal of Wegmans 100% Apple Juice, contained only Apple Juice and Ascobic Acid, into carboy with 1.5Tbsp of yeast nutrient, and pitched some washed Denny's Favorite, WY1450.

The OG was 1.045 so if the yeast attenuates between and 80%-85% like it has in most beers Iv'e used it in it will finish between 1.005 and 1.010. If it attenuates more like many yeast seem to in cider since this has a lot more simple sugars then I'm hoping it doesn't go below 1.000, just depends on how it tastes if it does go lower. I'm hoping some of WY1450's characteristics still apply for cider, particularly the smoother/fuller mouthfeel.

After 2-3 weeks I plan to add 1/3 gal of Apple juice to 1.5 gal and in the other 1.5 gal i'm going to put 25oz of Apple juice and 25oz of Black Cherry juice. Will bottle one of each kind in a plastic soda bottle and the rest in glass. Then check the plastic bottles about every 12 hours until they're pretty firm then I plan on dishwasher pasteurizing. My water runs at about 155 degrees and I have a "quick cycle" that runs for 45 minutes. From what I've looked up that temp for that period of time should kill the yeast.
 
Checked on mine yesterday and so far so good. Gravity is at .998 or 1.000, was hard to see for sure because of some bubbles. It's very clear at this point, I used Apple juice not cider so I'm pretty sure that's why it's cleared up. Not much apple in the aroma, it's there a little but far from normal juice which is expected. The taste is a little tart, in a good way, slight apple fruitiness. I think it's right where it needs to be before back sweetening.

As for the mouthfeel which I wondered if WY1450 would have any impact on, I think it does. For being at .998 or 1.000 it doesn't have that mouth drying feel to it, it's got some smoothness to it that I haven't experienced in other ciders.

I'm hoping to dry hop my "apple only" half with some Calypso, thinking its pear/apple qualities will play well in this. I've had a few dry hopped ciders and have liked them more than non hopped, just seems to add a little complexity to them. For the Cherry half I'm debating using some El Dorado for dry hopping, it has some cherry character to it and combined with the Dark Cherry juice it should work well, but I'm also thinking of just trying it with the juice this time to see how it turns out.
 
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