Graham's English Cider

[Aleaxnedr]

Did anyone add apple juice concentrate? And what quantity?

 

[Slow_Day]

I started this in mid July with generic juice, lime, tea, S04, and yeast nutrient. Was hoping it would be ready for a friends wedding in November. Kegged after 3 months. It was still pretty sour when the wedding came around, so I sweetened with a few containers of frozen concentrate. It was ok, but my pumpkin ale went over much better.

There was a couple of gallons left, so I just put it in my kegerator to age. After 7 months, it has just now mellowed into a fantastic cider. Patience pays off on this one. I've never had a commercial cider this dry and smooth.

 

[tomsan]

This is crystal clear for me after 4 weeks in the primary. Should I bother with a secondary?

 

[Slow_Day]

This is crystal clear for me after 4 weeks in the primary. Should I bother with a secondary?

I gather that one use for the secondary is to get it into a smaller carboy to reduce oxygen absorption while it ages. Once primary fermentation finishes, the blanket of CO2 will start mixing with oxygen.

I don't think the yeast cake is much concern for a good while.

4 weeks is a lot faster than mine took to clear. At that point, Mine was just starting to clear at the top.

 

[Slow_Day]

Coincidentally, I was just sampling some of mine that I started in July.
Man, patience is a virtue.
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1425438069.814884.jpg

 

[vertilizer]

Slow day patience is the key

 

[Recluse]

I just made a batch of this..or...very similar. Different yeast and added some sugar.

2.5 gal Apple Juice
1/2 lb Sugar in the raw
juice of 1/2 lime + 2 Constant Comment (orange spiced black tea) bags steeped in 16 oz water
1/4 tsp DAP
1 packet Cooper's Ale Yeast.

OG = 1.05

The Cooper's yeast was pretty old, but in about 8 hours it started to form on top and after ~48 hr had a nice big krausen. KRAUSEN!! I have made about 12 batches of Apfelwein type ciders, but always with Wine yeasts. This is the first time I have used an Ale Yeast. Not used to seeing a Krausen with my ciders! Looking forward to tasting this. Not sure the orange/spice flavor will come through from the tea, but it should add more tannin.

Thanks for the recipe!!

Update: This is the craziest ferment I ever saw!!! It is quite cold in the basement (56 deg F) so I have the carboy near the boiler, so it probably gets up to at least 65 or more in that corner. Maybe it is the cycling of the burner and the swings in temperatures that confuses the yeast, but I started with a slow ferment with krausen. The krausen didn't really fall but has been replaced with a layer of foam, and now the airlock is getting more activity and the yeast have colonized the carboy. With wine yeasts I NEVER see this behavior, and when I make ales, the krasusen rises/falls and then things look pretty static. Never seen foam like this before. Just glad I left a lot of headspace!!

 

[Aleaxnedr]

1 month primary, 1 month secondary, 1 month aging. Best stuff I ever made! Thx.
I used lalvin 1118
another batch with s-04 not opened yet.
SG 1044 FG 1002
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1428607756.219515.jpg

 

[Aleaxnedr]

Even with tea tannins is no enough

 

[cjbalough]

This stuff was good fresh in the bottles.....then it wasn't so great....now about 5 months in it is improving again -- to the point of being pretty darn good...I imagine it will be really good on another month or two if it lasts that long

 

[LoboViejo]

I've brewed cider quite long, but usually drink it within the first 2 months. I notice a nail polish smell even when flavor was good. Does this smell goes away when aging?

 

[Andi Dawson VO]

Just made my first batch of this - even after two days the smell of cider is wafting around my house! This is gonna be a long 5 months! Lol

 

[tomsan]

I notice a nail polish smell even when flavor was good. Does this smell goes away when aging?

I don't get this smell. AFAIK the acetone nail polish flavour comes from fermenting at too high a temperature, but I can't see why it would only affect the smell and not the taste.

 

[gbbrewing]

Just made a batch, can't wait to try in 5 months, anyone made any recently. My og was just under 1.05

 

[HawleyFarms]

I made a hopped version of this late last fall and had been saving a bottle in the fridge to do a tasting with my father and it was quite good even almost a year later. Couldn't tell you OG or FG but was made with store bought juice, cold steeped black breakfast tea, lemon juice and dry hopped with centennial. Used us-05 because that's what I had on hand.

Was pleasantly surprised at the final product. I am NOT a fan of Samuel Smith's as I think it is one of the worst ciders out there right now but it was 100 times better.

Going to try a similar recipe this year by adding a touch of DME and fermenting with a saison blend instead of us-05.

 

[LoboViejo]

got it fixed. fermented at lowwer temperature and replace Champagne yeast for Premier Cuvee yeast and worked like a charm...

 

[gbbrewing]

What temperature did you ferment at?

 

[gbbrewing]

Mine has fermented for the last 3 weeks, is that normal? Took gravity reading it was at 1.012

 

[Mexicanconnection2002]

Just started a 3 gallon batch of this today.

 

[Mismost]

Started a 5 gallon batch Saturday....used Notty yeast...sounded like a steam engine it was bubbling so hard. Per the recipe...super simple.

Being simple minded, I just a huge kick out of watching the bubbles and hearing it too....I work out of my home office and it's good company!

 

[Sveinn]

I will be starting a batch of this in about a week one my NB caribou slobber kit is finished. There is a lot of conflicting information in this thread, especially concerning pasteurization. From what I have gathered, the only time one needs to pasteurize is when one adds ajc to backsweeten yes? All I will be looking to do is bottle carb during conditioning. I would prefer to use ajc to prevent flavor changes, and it seemed that towards the beginning of the post people were just calculating the sugar they were adding with the ajc to hit the correct priming amount.

As to my brew, I only have big mouth bubblers, so will it be an issue to secondary for 2 months in the plastic? Also, are people aging in bottles at room temp or cold?

I will be using plain juice from walmart, notty, yeast nutrient, earl grey, and I'll have to decide on acid or not.

Sveinn

 

[Sveinn]

Well, decided instead to start a batch of this in my new mini bmb. It's glass, and I have a glass secondary (1gal glass carboy) so longer aging shouldn't be a problem. Og was 1.050 on the dot and I added 1 Bigelow earl grey tea bag. Pitched 1/3 or so of notty onto it. Didn't seem to need the lime juice as the aj I got had a decent tartness to it. This Brand (Indian summer) has varied gallon to gallon by quite a bit on tartness.

I put the airlock on at 10 this morning, and at 9:30 tonight it was obviously putting out some pressure, though not bubbling yet. The little cap inside the 3 piece airlock was completely filled with air, but I only had a minute to check it cause I was running late for work.

I'll check back in with more information later.
Sveinn

 

[Mismost]

Racked my first batch over after 35 days in the primary....it was already very clear. Notty yeast, with the basic recipe except I added 3 cinnamon sticks. Tasted about a 1/4 cup....nice...crisp, clean, just a little tart bite, dry, and the barest hint of the cinnamon. I would like a more cinnamon....but...I'll give it another taste in a month and see.

Also, I'm gonna save this yeast cake, clean that carboy, and start a new batch right now.

 

[Mismost]

Racked my first batch over after 35 days in the primary....it was already very clear. Notty yeast, with the basic recipe except I added 3 cinnamon sticks. Tasted about a 1/4 cup....nice...crisp, clean, just a little tart bite, dry, and the barest hint of the cinnamon. I would like a more cinnamon....but...I'll give it another taste in a month and see.

Also, I'm gonna save this yeast cake, clean that carboy, and start a new batch right now.

Walked in the office this morning and the second batch is already going strong! Started Saturday on top of the old yeast that I did a quick "wash" on....did not even come in here Sunday, but I can tell it started to work pretty quick. Oh and I added 5 cinnamon sticks and 3 whole cloves to the tea and then dumped it all in the carboy.....smelled very Christmas like!

My wife just walked in here and said "what's that smell"...I showed her the two ciders. She asked if I liked cider and I said I don't really know, I have never really drank any! She said, well you'd better like it....you got 10 gallons of that stuff!

So, I'm not much of a drinker, I don't even know if I really like this stuff, but I got 10 gallons in the making. Odd, but that idea is kinda comforting to me! Strange new hobby this is!

 

[midfielder5]

Started my first batch in March 2015 w/ harvested Nottingham yeast, moved to 3 gal glass secondary after 3 weeks (4/2/15), and maybe feel it is about time to bottle this up! Ha. I kind of forgot about it in the back of the closet and got busy w/life. Will update post when taste it! I bet it is delicious.

 

[Sveinn]

So I had moderate bubbles ~2 min apart and then after 2 days it stopped. It now has a thick weird creamy paste like substance dripping down the side of the headspace. No discernible airlock activity at 1 week, and it is starting to clear. I am hoping i didn't get and infection, but I know to RDWHAHB. In 2 more weeks, Dec 29-30 I will take a gravity reading and move to secondary.

I will enjoy the first bottle on my Birthday, during July! Perhaps a bit young yet but old enough to enjoy. The cider, that is

 

[slsBrewing]

What post-ferment pH are you all getting with this recipe? I used s04 yeast, og 1.048 finished at 1.000 with a pH around 3.79

 

[gbbrewing]

I have had mine in the primary carboy fermenter since the 24th of September...i should have racked but do you think it will taste fine if I rack to secondary now?

 

[Sveinn]

So I went to rack batch 1 to secondary today, 4 weeks in, and I "discovered" my 1 gal carboy refuses to accept a rubber bung... I discovered this after racking due to what I call "overwhelming overconfidence" about knowing what I'm doing... anyway the bung ended up popping into the carboy and I decided, with only an hour and fifteen minutes before work to quick sanitize some bottles and just bottle it. So now, I have a cider 4 weeks from start of ferment, 1.005 sg, in bottles. And for some reason I decided to stick them in the fridge right away. It's still, so no real risk of bottle bombs, but shouldn't they "condition" at room temp just like mini secondaries?

 

[BobAgain]

Think of it as cold crashing.....