AidanSavage
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I've been reading these forums for a while now, and with christmas coming up, I decided that I'd give making hard cider a try. I also realize I should have posted this before I went ahead and started the first batch I've done, so I'll just preface this thread with "It's actively fermenting at this stage."
As for specifics, here's what I used:
*Enough water to bring the 1 gallon glass carboy up to the 1 gallon point.
What I did first was, after sanitizing the carboy, funnel, and my arms, I mixed each can of the concentrate with 1 can of hot water (2 cans concentrate, 2 cans water) then poured into the carboy. I added 4 more cans of water, which would bring it up to ~.75 gallons. With the remaining 32 oz that would bring it up to a full gallon, 16 oz was used to dissolve the sugar and honey on the stove, then added to the carboy.
The remaining 16 oz was put into the same pot I used for the honey and sugar. To it I added the diced apples (skin included) and heated until simmering. Ran this concoction through the blender until it was the consistency of thick applesauce. Poured into a fine mesh sieve resting on the pot, then pressed for the juice. Juice, along with some finely crushed "sauce" that made it through the sieve, was then poured into the carboy.
Capping the carboy with the stopper, thumbed the whole (instead of airlock), swirled the stuff around to get a reasonably even mixture. Since I was using the Nottingham yeast, which calls for 100 mL/4 oz per .5-1 gram of yeast to hydrate, I poured off 16 ounces of the juice into a sanitized cup and added the yeast. After 10 minutes, the yeast was clearly working as the cup of juice was starting to ferment. Pitched the contents back into the carboy, capped with the stopper and airlock, swirled to mix as best as possible and set it in the morning room's only shaded corner. Time of locking: 00:15 this morning (11/27/2014).
Roughly an hour later the fermentation wasnt vigorous, but clearly taking place. ~9 hours in (which was when I woke up after passing out in the spare bedroom at my parents' house), vigorous fermentation was clearly present and taking place as the apple bits that made it through were further up the neck of the carboy (krausen?) instead of suspended at the surface. Sniffing at the airlock gave a yeasty smell with a small hint of apple.
15-16 hours in, fermentation still going at the same rate, but the "sniff test" was now giving a stronger apple scent. Unsure if that's from the apple bits in the neck or not, but I'll be optimistic.
Now then, for the questions~
1) First, because I could not purchase a hydrometer, mostly because I didnt think to ask about it and/or could not afford one if I did, I have no way of taking hard measurements. Because of this, if I let it run until fermentation falls off, would adding an undiluted can of concentrated AJ (12 oz) be a good method to reintroduce any flavors that may have been lost? I understand the other things that will occur if I do this, but these will be addressed in other questions.
2) (this one's a double) I do plan on bottling after primary, and intend on bottle conditioning (I know of and will do the soda bottle control). Would it be recommended to add a 1/4 cup of sugar (total batch is only a gallon instead of 5) as a primer in addition to the can of concentrate to lessen the impact on the flavors I'm trying to reintroduce? (As an alternative for a more visual presentation, what do you think about using an apple wedge [1/8th or smaller of a small apple) per bottle to provide the priming and a visual impact?) For the second part, because of the potential for the batch finishing fermentation before I'm able obtain bottles (whether purchase, f&f, or scavenging), is it reasonable to cool it down to ~35 degrees via storage inside a garage? Not sure if it'd be considered cold crashing or not, but I'll readily admit I jumped without thinking it through entirely. So I'd like to know if this would be suitable for storing it in a controlled fashion until bottles are available.
3) Finally, last question for now, if I allow it to ferment to the end, regardless of storing at low temp or not, would it still bottle condition if I transferred it from primary to a bottling solution (at the moment this'll likely be using a 1 gallon pitcher and a funnel to bottle)? Or would I need to agitate the carboy a bit to return a bit of yeast to suspension in order to bottle condition?
Last but not least, here's an imgur album with a couple pictures: https://imgur.com/a/swNSw 1: purchased supplies; carboy/lock ~$6, notty ~$4, juice concentrate ~$2.5. 2: carboy at ~9 hours in. 3: closer picture of fermentation at ~9 hours.
Oh, one last question, regarding picture 2, I'm under the assumption that the light-cream colored layer is going to be what ends up as the yeast cake. Would it be worth trying to wash/preserve some of that after going to bottle even if I still have roughly 3/4ths of the notty package left (just in case of viability problems)?
As for specifics, here's what I used:
- 2 cans of Kroger store brand frozen conc juice (vit c only)
- 1 large green apple (was nearing end of shelf life and the 2 cans of frozen werent quite a gallon)
- 1 small red del. apple (fairly fresh, but for same reason as above)
- 1 tablespoon of clover honey
- 1/4 cup of regular white sugar
- 3.0 to 3.8 grams of Nottingham yeast (scale I had to hand did not have decimal ability)
- Water*
*Enough water to bring the 1 gallon glass carboy up to the 1 gallon point.
What I did first was, after sanitizing the carboy, funnel, and my arms, I mixed each can of the concentrate with 1 can of hot water (2 cans concentrate, 2 cans water) then poured into the carboy. I added 4 more cans of water, which would bring it up to ~.75 gallons. With the remaining 32 oz that would bring it up to a full gallon, 16 oz was used to dissolve the sugar and honey on the stove, then added to the carboy.
The remaining 16 oz was put into the same pot I used for the honey and sugar. To it I added the diced apples (skin included) and heated until simmering. Ran this concoction through the blender until it was the consistency of thick applesauce. Poured into a fine mesh sieve resting on the pot, then pressed for the juice. Juice, along with some finely crushed "sauce" that made it through the sieve, was then poured into the carboy.
Capping the carboy with the stopper, thumbed the whole (instead of airlock), swirled the stuff around to get a reasonably even mixture. Since I was using the Nottingham yeast, which calls for 100 mL/4 oz per .5-1 gram of yeast to hydrate, I poured off 16 ounces of the juice into a sanitized cup and added the yeast. After 10 minutes, the yeast was clearly working as the cup of juice was starting to ferment. Pitched the contents back into the carboy, capped with the stopper and airlock, swirled to mix as best as possible and set it in the morning room's only shaded corner. Time of locking: 00:15 this morning (11/27/2014).
Roughly an hour later the fermentation wasnt vigorous, but clearly taking place. ~9 hours in (which was when I woke up after passing out in the spare bedroom at my parents' house), vigorous fermentation was clearly present and taking place as the apple bits that made it through were further up the neck of the carboy (krausen?) instead of suspended at the surface. Sniffing at the airlock gave a yeasty smell with a small hint of apple.
15-16 hours in, fermentation still going at the same rate, but the "sniff test" was now giving a stronger apple scent. Unsure if that's from the apple bits in the neck or not, but I'll be optimistic.
Now then, for the questions~
1) First, because I could not purchase a hydrometer, mostly because I didnt think to ask about it and/or could not afford one if I did, I have no way of taking hard measurements. Because of this, if I let it run until fermentation falls off, would adding an undiluted can of concentrated AJ (12 oz) be a good method to reintroduce any flavors that may have been lost? I understand the other things that will occur if I do this, but these will be addressed in other questions.
2) (this one's a double) I do plan on bottling after primary, and intend on bottle conditioning (I know of and will do the soda bottle control). Would it be recommended to add a 1/4 cup of sugar (total batch is only a gallon instead of 5) as a primer in addition to the can of concentrate to lessen the impact on the flavors I'm trying to reintroduce? (As an alternative for a more visual presentation, what do you think about using an apple wedge [1/8th or smaller of a small apple) per bottle to provide the priming and a visual impact?) For the second part, because of the potential for the batch finishing fermentation before I'm able obtain bottles (whether purchase, f&f, or scavenging), is it reasonable to cool it down to ~35 degrees via storage inside a garage? Not sure if it'd be considered cold crashing or not, but I'll readily admit I jumped without thinking it through entirely. So I'd like to know if this would be suitable for storing it in a controlled fashion until bottles are available.
3) Finally, last question for now, if I allow it to ferment to the end, regardless of storing at low temp or not, would it still bottle condition if I transferred it from primary to a bottling solution (at the moment this'll likely be using a 1 gallon pitcher and a funnel to bottle)? Or would I need to agitate the carboy a bit to return a bit of yeast to suspension in order to bottle condition?
Last but not least, here's an imgur album with a couple pictures: https://imgur.com/a/swNSw 1: purchased supplies; carboy/lock ~$6, notty ~$4, juice concentrate ~$2.5. 2: carboy at ~9 hours in. 3: closer picture of fermentation at ~9 hours.
Oh, one last question, regarding picture 2, I'm under the assumption that the light-cream colored layer is going to be what ends up as the yeast cake. Would it be worth trying to wash/preserve some of that after going to bottle even if I still have roughly 3/4ths of the notty package left (just in case of viability problems)?
