First cider!

Swcoxe · Mar 12, 2010

Ok when I embarked on making a cider I talked to the guys at the beer store and the gave me this recipe and directions: 5 gallons of cheap cider, 2 pounds of honey, yeast nutrient, and red star Premier Cuvee. Directions mix in fermenter, and let set for a week or until the air lock slow way down. Then move to a secondary and let sit for a week. Then prime and bottle.

Ok so what I am looking for on my first try is a cider like a woodchuck, can someone help me get their? Will the recipe above get me their?

manticle · Mar 13, 2010

I can't help you with getting a product like woodchuck but I can tell you that the above will make you cider.

However you can't judge fermentation simply by time. This is especially important if you are bottling. Cider tends to ferment much further than beer and so bottling too early can create bottle bombs. Shards of exploding glass can be very dangerous to you, family, pets etc.

Use a hydrometer to make sure your brew is finished. Otherwise recipe looks good. Cider can take some time to age and condition before it tastes ok. If you ferment cool and place the finished brew in a fridge for a week or so, it will help condition it quicker than just bottling when it's finished.

Swcoxe · Mar 13, 2010

What should be my final gravity for bottling?

Beernip · Mar 13, 2010

After a week you airlock should still be going full force. Ciders will finish dry if you let them ferment all the way out. .998 - 1.002. This will cause it to taste nothing like Woodchucks. Look up cold crashing when the SG is at around 1.025-1.030 for something that is sweet like Woodchucks.

manticle · Mar 13, 2010

Swcoxe said:
What should be my final gravity for bottling?

It depends on several things. The yeast you use will have an effect. I've not used that one but it looks like a wine yeast which should finish very dry. The main thing is that the gravity is stable and within the expected region. If that is a wine yeast, it will definitely drop to 1005 and more likely to 1000 or lower.

As mentioned above you can crash chill but only if you are kegging. The cold drops out the yeast but it will wake up again when warmed up and active fermentation inside a bottle can be dangerous.

Some people crash chill and bottle, allowing the last bit of fermentation to carb up the cider. I've never done this and couldn't therefore recommend it. You would have to know what you are doing though. Regardless it's still going to result in dry cider.

Another method of sweetening is to use lactose. This is what I do - I put it in at the beginning. Cider dries right out but the palate has a light perceptible sweetness which I like.

Yet another method is to stop fermentation at the right point using sulphites (campden, sodium metabisulphite etc). Personally I hate the effect and taste of sulphites in a cider but it's common, particularly in commercial ciders available here (AU).