drev500
New Member
Hey guys! Well I just started brewing about 2 months ago. Fall was in full swing so I wanted to try myself at some hard cider. It took from start to finish about 7 weeks. I wanted to press my own apples but being a college a student I felt like it was unpractical/money was tight so I went with store bought apple juice.
I wanted a high alcohol content but good taste.....
The high alcohol was achieved but not the great tastes
I did two five gallon batches. Each batch I added 6lbs of light brown sugar and 2lbs of honey (I wanted to achieve that high alcohol) and I would guess like 3 tbs of cinnamon. It tasted great before going into the carboys. I added a packet of champagne to each batch.
After about 2-3 weeks I racked to secondary then let sit in secondary tonight. My roommate said lets try it out so I put a 1/2 gal into a pot and heated it up on the stove.
Took a sip and woohhooo was it potent. I started with an O.G. of 1.113 and got a F.G. of .998, about 15%. The taste is not that great so I diluted the 1/2 gal of hard cider in the pot with some regular apple juice and added some more brown sugar and cinnamon. After the additions it is definitely enjoyable to drink. I am a couple glasses into it and it is definitely starting to sneak up on me
I did a lot of research before this. Majority of the recipes I read were either ale or champagne yeast. The cider is good now after the renditions I did but I am going to try ale yeast next time so I can get more flavor then potency.
I wanted a high alcohol content but good taste.....
The high alcohol was achieved but not the great tastes
I did two five gallon batches. Each batch I added 6lbs of light brown sugar and 2lbs of honey (I wanted to achieve that high alcohol) and I would guess like 3 tbs of cinnamon. It tasted great before going into the carboys. I added a packet of champagne to each batch.
After about 2-3 weeks I racked to secondary then let sit in secondary tonight. My roommate said lets try it out so I put a 1/2 gal into a pot and heated it up on the stove.
Took a sip and woohhooo was it potent. I started with an O.G. of 1.113 and got a F.G. of .998, about 15%. The taste is not that great so I diluted the 1/2 gal of hard cider in the pot with some regular apple juice and added some more brown sugar and cinnamon. After the additions it is definitely enjoyable to drink. I am a couple glasses into it and it is definitely starting to sneak up on me
I did a lot of research before this. Majority of the recipes I read were either ale or champagne yeast. The cider is good now after the renditions I did but I am going to try ale yeast next time so I can get more flavor then potency.