Favorite cider recipes

[David Farmer]

I've got a batch of Grahams cider (from this site) finishing in a few days about the time my new Fermonster will be arriving. Well arriving again. First was lost by USPS and then finally delivered mostly destroyed.
Anyways....I will be starting 2 6 gallon batches soon and looking for ideas. Normally I use store bought juice. Hard to find anything else. Also I have M02, D47, and S04 yeasts available. I have some Cotes de Blanc too but have yet to make anything id say was good with it. Burns out any flavor. Generally I stick to 5.5 to 6% abv.
Also may be experimenting with lactose as a sweetener if anyone has thoughts / experience with that.
Thanks all!

 

[fluketamer]

oooh grahams my favorite cider.

kegging or bottling. thats important because ciders gerneally always ferment dry and need to be backsweetened (not a real term).

like you, i cant really get anything other than store bought but fear not you will make very good cider. i agree cotes strips out all flavor. grahams i think comes out to about 4.8 or something a little less than 5. i usually add a little sugar to bring it to 6 but not more. so4 and so5 are my favorite for cider really so5 . with the lactose question it sounds like you are bottling. i havent had great luck with consistantly bottling non dry ciders. pasteurizing didint really work for me. artificial sweeteners also dont work for me. i keg and keep cold . lactose also left a wierd mouthfeel in my ciders.

1 cup of table sugar in 300-400 ml of water to make a simple syrup in 5 gallons will make the cider very sweet like the store bought macro ciders liek angry orchard, 1/2 cup makes it sweet for the ladies. 1/4 cup keeps it a little bit dry but smooths it out perfectly and brings back some of the apple flavor lost in fermentation.

did you follow grahams exactly. i find the tea tannins , acid from lime juice and yeast nutrient as well as ale yeast are essential to really make this stuff good and better than edworts or just putting yeast in juice.

this is the perfect base cider to add flavors to. adding juices and fruits prior to fermentation is harder IMO than post fermentation. due to yeast stripping and changing flavors.
by far the best way is post fermentation at packaging with concentrated fruit flavored syrups. for example.

i have done 1/4 cup of sugar dissolved in 1 liter of pure cherry juice. (or 50 /50 cherry and sour cherry)
1/4 cup sugar in blueberry juice, peach , blood orange nectar, black cherry (too much like cough syrup),
i have also done tincture with crushed fresh fruit and everclear and sugar
i have also done monin apple syrup
also grenadine works great. 1/2 cup of grenadine in a keg of grahams cider makes it perfectly sweet for my tastes and the color is amazing.

good luck

 

[David Farmer]

oooh grahams my favorite cider.

kegging or bottling. thats important because ciders gerneally always ferment dry and need to be backsweetened (not a real term).

like you, i cant really get anything other than store bought but fear not you will make very good cider. i agree cotes strips out all flavor. grahams i think comes out to about 4.8 or something a little less than 5. i usually add a little sugar to bring it to 6 but not more. so4 and so5 are my favorite for cider really so5 . with the lactose question it sounds like you are bottling. i havent had great luck with consistantly bottling non dry ciders. pasteurizing didint really work for me. artificial sweeteners also dont work for me. i keg and keep cold . lactose also left a wierd mouthfeel in my ciders.

1 cup of table sugar in 300-400 ml of water to make a simple syrup in 5 gallons will make the cider very sweet like the store bought macro ciders liek angry orchard, 1/2 cup makes it sweet for the ladies. 1/4 cup keeps it a little bit dry but smooths it out perfectly and brings back some of the apple flavor lost in fermentation.

did you follow grahams exactly. i find the tea tannins , acid from lime juice and yeast nutrient as well as ale yeast are essential to really make this stuff good and better than edworts or just putting yeast in juice.

this is the perfect base cider to add flavors to. adding juices and fruits prior to fermentation is harder IMO than post fermentation. due to yeast stripping and changing flavors.
by far the best way is post fermentation at packaging with concentrated fruit flavored syrups. for example.

i have done 1/4 cup of sugar dissolved in 1 liter of pure cherry juice. (or 50 /50 cherry and sour cherry)
1/4 cup sugar in blueberry juice, peach , blood orange nectar, black cherry (too much like cough syrup),
i have also done tincture with crushed fresh fruit and everclear and sugar
i have also done monin apple syrup
also grenadine works great. 1/2 cup of grenadine in a keg of grahams cider makes it perfectly sweet for my tastes and the color is amazing.

good luck

Yeah definitely bottling. I plan on going the keg route eventually. Haven't got there yet. And yup followed the recioe as close as I could. Finding a key lime in Illinois in the winter is basically impossible so went with normal limes. Hoping with the S04 it'll come out slightly sweet. Probably gonna transfer to secondary this afternoon and swipe a bottle to see. Turns out good I'll definitely plan on using it as a base.
How would you describe the mouthfeel that lactose leaves? Read that many times but nobody really explained it past that. I'm sure I'll try it anyways. Keep the amounts low (1 to 1.5 ounces per gallon) as a start and go from there. No need for sweet. Just pull it a hair past dry. I can't do the artificial and pasteurizing in the house makes my wife nervous. Lol
Wife loves the grenadine idea. Now she wants me to try it with a big jar of maraschino cherry's and the pomegranate juice. Worth a shot.
Thanks!

 

[fluketamer]

dont transfer to secondary there is no need and it only introduces oxygen.

lactose felt a little slimy like diet soda.

yes i have done the marachinos also but its mostly sweet and mostly artifical . not cherry tasting enough for me.

you can always just bottle it dry and add sugar / grenadine/ or other syrups to the glass for taste and color that works just as well and is much easier than any other bottle method.

pasteruizing isnt all that bad. procedurally
. but it changes the taste too much for me.



this is easy safe pasteurizing with a sous vide i have also done it in a big cooler for increased safety but i am not too fond of the end product.

the biggest problem for me with kegging and i suppose anyone is the dedicated fridge needed . without a dedicated fridge space you cant keg unless you minikeg. i would highly recommend looking into minikegging in the fridge. it will change your game.

 

[Chalkyt]

Yep, Fluketamer has covered most of the ground. Somewhere on the forum is a discussion about yeast where it concludes that yeast type has only a 5%-10% influence on the outcome. i.e. apple blend etc is more important. Having said that I have used the yeasts you mention and achieved good results, but without a significant difference between them. My go-to is S04 which I find is predictable, reliable, etc, etc, and find that for a quick "quaffer" single variety Pink Lady (Crisps Pink) is very good, rather than an unknown supermarket blend.

As far as heat pasteurising is concerned, I use it to produce a slightly sweet, carbonated cider. i.e. bottle at something like SG1.010 and pasteurise at 1.005 (about 9g/L of sugar or a bit over 1/2 teaspoon in a 330ml/12oz bottle). I monitor bottle pressure with a test bottle fitted with a pressure gauge, or sometimes just rely on a plastic bottle and "squeeze test" to know when to pasteurise. Five gravity points of fermentation equates to about 2.5 volumes of CO2 (normal carbonation), or vice versa.

I find that low temperature pasteurising (65C or below) avoids any adverse flavour effects and bottle bomb pressure buildup. There is some research that indicates effective pasteurising to stop fermentation can take place in a very short time (see a post by Jaypkk 4 Dec 2020)

I have attached something that I posted some time ago that goes into lots of stuff on Heat Pasteurising if you are thinking of going down that path.

 

[beren]

dont transfer to secondary there is no need and it only introduces oxygen.

lactose felt a little slimy like diet soda.

yes i have done the marachinos also but its mostly sweet and mostly artifical . not cherry tasting enough for me.

you can always just bottle it dry and add sugar / grenadine/ or other syrups to the glass for taste and color that works just as well and is much easier than any other bottle method.

pasteruizing isnt all that bad. procedurally
. but it changes the taste too much for me.



this is easy safe pasteurizing with a sous vide i have also done it in a big cooler for increased safety but i am not too fond of the end product.

the biggest problem for me with kegging and i suppose anyone is the dedicated fridge needed . without a dedicated fridge space you cant keg unless you minikeg. i would highly recommend looking into minikegging in the fridge. it will change your game.

The mini legs and co2 carts get expensive quick though. I gotta decent used kegerator for $100 it just takes time to look for a deal

 

[fluketamer]

The mini legs and co2 carts get expensive quick though. I gotta decent used kegerator for $100 it just takes time to look for a deal

yes dont use the carts. sodastream works tho. is much more available than co2 shops and has a very small footprint.

its def more expensive tho.

 

[beren]

Sure but even the mini kegs cost around $100/gal. A soda keg is about $40 for 5. A 5-15gal sankey keg from a closed/very far brewery is between free to the liquor store deposit. A sankey from a scrap yard is like $10.

 

[bwible]

What store apple juice are people finding that doesn’t have preservatives?

 

[Raptor99]

What store apple juice are people finding that doesn’t have preservatives?

Treetop

 

[fluketamer]

if you have the space definitely cornies are much cheaper. especially used. i dont think you are supposed to keep the keg when you buy full at liquor store. but i guess you can .

What store apple juice are people finding that doesn’t have preservatives?

motts

 

[Rish]

What store apple juice are people finding that doesn’t have preservatives?

Aldi (just ascorbic acid so not a problem).

 

[David Farmer]

What store apple juice are people finding that doesn’t have preservatives?

A large percentage of them don't. Even a few actual ciders but they're generally expensive. And getting hard to find for some reason.

 

[Chalkyt]

Finding the right "bought" juice can be difficult. As mentioned above, I made a trial batch a while ago using straight Pink Lady (Crisps Pink) from the local supermarket and it turned out quite good without the need for any added acid or tannin. But of course, it is twice as expensive as common garden variety supermarket juice. "What you pays for is what you gets".

A bit of google research might find orchards in your region who also produce juice. In my case when frosts and wind took out all my developing apples a couple of years ago, I found Belleview Orchards a few hundred miles away, who sell and deliver single variety juice with no preservatives at about $50 for 12 litres (3 gallons)... expensive but worth it and not much more than buying apples, grinding, pressing, etc.

They have Pink Lady, Royal Gala, Fuji, Granny Smith, Golden Delicious as well as some blends (probably a good way to get rid of end of season apples). You can get a reasonable blend with good acid and tannin using these varieties. It is likely that you will find someone similar (possibly with more cider friendly apples), particularly in apple growing areas. Batlow on the other side of our mountain range is developing as a cider "hot spot" and orchards there do sell juice.

Good luck!