First cider...ever

[fl4tdriven]

Alright so I'm new to making cider (actually completely new to brewing in general) and I just wanted you guys to check my plans before I attempt to do this.

1) I'll be buying 5 gallons of cider from a local cider mill.
2) I'll be heating it and adding 2 lbs of brown sugar to it
3) Transferring it to a sanitized 5 gallon bucket (Lowe's food grade) letting it cool and adding 2 packets of yeast (Red Star Côte des Blancs).
4) I'll be fermenting the cider in this bucket for 2-3 weeks (your recommendation?). Then transferring to the other bucket (longer fermentation or bottle at this point?)
5) Bottle the cider into used (sanitized, of course) beer bottles.

Questions I have:

1) Where can I get a lid for the buckets that is safe for fermenting? I didn't see any that were food safe at Lowe's or Home Depot.

2) Is siphoning a safe way to remove the cider into bucket 1 to bucket 2?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[sa101]

Alright so I'm new to making cider (actually completely new to brewing in general) and I just wanted you guys to check my plans before I attempt to do this.

1) I'll be buying 5 gallons of cider from a local cider mill.
2) I'll be heating it and adding 2 lbs of brown sugar to it
3) Transferring it to a sanitized 5 gallon bucket (Lowe's food grade) letting it cool and adding 2 packets of yeast (Red Star Côte des Blancs).
4) I'll be fermenting the cider in this bucket for 2-3 weeks (your recommendation?). Then transferring to the other bucket (longer fermentation or bottle at this point?)
5) Bottle the cider into used (sanitized, of course) beer bottles.

Questions I have:

1) Where can I get a lid for the buckets that is safe for fermenting? I didn't see any that were food safe at Lowe's or Home Depot.

2) Is siphoning a safe way to remove the cider into bucket 1 to bucket 2?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Firstly, what sort of cider are you planning on making? Sweet/Dry/Semi, Carbed/Uncarbed?

Is that Redstar a champagne yeast? If yes, then they tend to turn out drier than using an ale yeast, but I've never used it so don't quote me.

Is the cider you're buying un-pasteurised? Make sure you find out, because if it's been pasteurised then there's no need to heat it up. If it hasn't, then make sure you read up on what temp and for how long (190F for 10minutes off the direct heat???)

Buy a bucket which already has a lid on it. You don't want to risk contamination. You should have a brew store around somewhere, it's worth the investement, and they tend to come with a spiggot, which makes racking much easier then mucking around with a siphon, and also leaving behind all the yeast.

In my opinion 2lbs is WAAAAY too much! I love my sweet ciders, and I only used 2 CUPS of brown sugar, or 1.5 cups of dextrose in a 5 gallon batch. Also, how big are your yeast sachets? You generally only need 10-12grams per 5g batch, but the packet should suggest amounts.

But most importantly, tell us what sort of cider you want to make. This will effect the process pretty dramatically

 

[Sewer_Urchen]

As it was said, the best way to start a recipe is to describe what kind of cider you're making...for me, 2 lbs. of sugar is WAAAAAY to little...I tend to use a pound of sugar per gallon of juice, on top of that, it's verry early in the pressing season and the cider you get will not have as much sugars in it as cider pressed at the end of October. The Red Star yeast will ferment out all 2 pounds and the sugar in the cider and have room to keep on going and going and going, THIS IS NOT AN ALE YEAST! What you're using can ferment up to 15% ABV, sometimes more! Make sure your primary is covered with an airlock, or a cork with a hose going down into a half full water bottle with vodka in it, and you have at least three to four inches of head space on top. Personally, I think cider should be left in the primarry for 4-6 weeks so you can be sure that it's fermented out, wine yeast ferments much slower than ale yeast.

If the cider from the mill has not been pasturized, it's better to get campden tablets than to heat pasturize...and if you heat pasturize, get some pectic enzyme to add to the secondary, otherwize it will be cloudy and there's nothing you can do about it. Leave in the secondary for an additional 4-6 weeks. If you want sparkling cider, with this yeast you can simply add a 1/2 teaspoon of table sugar to each beer bottle, or a heaping teaspoon into a 750 ml champagne bottle. DON'T USE A REGULAR WINE BOTTLE FOR SPARKLING. If you're making a still cider than a regular wine bottle is fine, just be absolutely sure that it's fermented out, and that means leaving in the primarry for a good 6 weeks.

And, yes, siphoning is the prefered way of transfering. You gan get auto siphon's pretty cheap at the LHBS, they're only like $10. Or if you use just a piece of tubing you can fill the tubing with water and use that to start the siphon, just don't put your mouth around it and suck it through. Keeping everything as steril as possible is the key. Siphoning keeps the yeast sludge at the bottom of the primarry and just transfers the liquid.

Good luck!

 

[fl4tdriven]

Firstly, what sort of cider are you planning on making? Sweet/Dry/Semi, Carbed/Uncarbed?

The idea is to make a drier cider. Not extremely dry, but definitely not too sweet.

Is that Redstar a champagne yeast? If yes, then they tend to turn out drier than using an ale yeast, but I've never used it so don't quote me.

It's a white wine yeast from what I understand.

Is the cider you're buying un-pasteurised? Make sure you find out, because if it's been pasteurised then there's no need to heat it up. If it hasn't, then make sure you read up on what temp and for how long (190F for 10minutes off the direct heat???)

Buy a bucket which already has a lid on it. You don't want to risk contamination. You should have a brew store around somewhere, it's worth the investement, and they tend to come with a spiggot, which makes racking much easier then mucking around with a siphon, and also leaving behind all the yeast.

In my opinion 2lbs is WAAAAY too much! I love my sweet ciders, and I only used 2 CUPS of brown sugar, or 1.5 cups of dextrose in a 5 gallon batch. Also, how big are your yeast sachets? You generally only need 10-12grams per 5g batch, but the packet should suggest amounts.

But most importantly, tell us what sort of cider you want to make. This will effect the process pretty dramatically

As it was said, the best way to start a recipe is to describe what kind of cider you're making...for me, 2 lbs. of sugar is WAAAAAY to little...I tend to use a pound of sugar per gallon of juice, on top of that, it's verry early in the pressing season and the cider you get will not have as much sugars in it as cider pressed at the end of October. The Red Star yeast will ferment out all 2 pounds and the sugar in the cider and have room to keep on going and going and going, THIS IS NOT AN ALE YEAST! What you're using can ferment up to 15% ABV, sometimes more!

15%?! I wasn't expecting that haha. Is this a bad thing necessarily?

Make sure your primary is covered with an airlock, or a cork with a hose going down into a half full water bottle with vodka in it, and you have at least three to four inches of head space on top. Personally, I think cider should be left in the primarry for 4-6 weeks so you can be sure that it's fermented out, wine yeast ferments much slower than ale yeast.

If the cider from the mill has not been pasturized, it's better to get campden tablets than to heat pasturize...and if you heat pasturize, get some pectic enzyme to add to the secondary, otherwize it will be cloudy and there's nothing you can do about it. Leave in the secondary for an additional 4-6 weeks. If you want sparkling cider, with this yeast you can simply add a 1/2 teaspoon of table sugar to each beer bottle, or a heaping teaspoon into a 750 ml champagne bottle. DON'T USE A REGULAR WINE BOTTLE FOR SPARKLING. If you're making a still cider than a regular wine bottle is fine, just be absolutely sure that it's fermented out, and that means leaving in the primarry for a good 6 weeks.

So 4-6 weeks in the primary, then another 4-6 in the secondary? I plan on it being a still cider.

And, yes, siphoning is the prefered way of transfering. You gan get auto siphon's pretty cheap at the LHBS, they're only like $10. Or if you use just a piece of tubing you can fill the tubing with water and use that to start the siphon, just don't put your mouth around it and suck it through. Keeping everything as steril as possible is the key. Siphoning keeps the yeast sludge at the bottom of the primarry and just transfers the liquid.

Good luck!

I found a local home brew store that I'm going to check out tomorrow afternoon. I might have to pick up some sterilizer and a auto siphon while I'm there.

Thanks for all the help guys!

 

[Sewer_Urchen]

Well the Cote de Blanc might not go quite as high as 15%, my point was basically that with the ammount of sugar you used, that yeast will ferment it all and have room to keep going, for quite a while. The guy at my LHBS just keep racking and topping off with a sugar water mix until the yeast has no more, he ends up with a cider around 15% with some sweetness (due to his adding sugar and the yeast kicking the bucket before it was fermented out)

So unless you stop fermentation, it will be a dry still cider.

 

[fl4tdriven]

Alright, I stopped at my local home brew store and picked up a few things. I grabbed two ale pales (1 with a spigot for bottling), lids with air lock holes, an auto siphon, star san, and I also grabbed two packets of champagne yeast just in case I decide to use them instead.

Just to double check...4-6 weeks in the primary, 4-6 weeks in the secondary, then bottle right?

 

[Sewer_Urchen]

That's a good plan, you can even rack a third time if you want it to clear more, but usually three months is a good amount of time to let it condition. You could even do 2 lbs of brown sugar and 2 lbs of honey, mmmmMMMMmmm. Also throw a couple cinnamon sticks in the secondary, that will help cut the acidity a bit.

If you want to experiment with some sparkling, with the wine yeasts you can add a 1/2 teaspoon of white table sugar to a few bottles, or a heaping teaspoon in a 750 ml champagne bottle. That way you don't have to sparkle all of it, but just a few to see if you like it better sparkling or still. I usually botle half sparkling, half still.

Good luck man!
Cheers!

 

[fl4tdriven]

I rehydrated and pitched the yeast last night around 8. Just got home from work and I'm getting bubbles every 2-3 seconds. I'm very excited