Graham's English Cider

[BeerIsAwesome]

I "brewed" this on 6/16 using Mott's AJ and just racked about four and a half gallons to secondary, topping up with more Mott's to fill the carboy. It cleared up nice already and tastes great! It tastes so good it'll be hard not to call it "good enough" sooner than my target of mid-October

For those interested I followed the recipe and used US-04 for the yeast. OG was 1.045 and the SG before topping off was 1.001 for an ABV of 5.78%. Fermentation temp was 63 for 2 1/2 weeks with raised temp after that point to finish up fermentation.

Thanks for a great recipe!

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1468726353.678858.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1468726372.705270.jpg

 

[jay29]

I have 15 gallons of this started in the past few days. Two with S-04 yeast and one with Cider House Yeast. Two using Motts and one using Walmart Great Value Apple Juice.

It's a gamble. I have never tried this recipe before.

 

[yogi223]

I started a 6 gallon batch of this today. I used S-04, 6 tsp nutrients, 5 bags of tea. I only added 5 gallons of Mott apple juice today and I plan on adding the other gallon in 2-3 days.

I will return in August with a progress report.

I have not bottled yet but last week I racked this for the first time and this created more head space than I would have liked so I topped it with some apple juice. I don't see any evidence that they yeast has kicked back in so I pulled a SG reading and a taste test. It is 1.006. I typically would like for wine and cider to be on the dry side but it isn't bad at all. When I racked it I noticed that it had a very distinct tartness which wasn't bad but I didn't think it would appeal to everyone. I think I am going to give this another couple of weeks and bottle just in type for lions share of college football.

I would like to carbonate this at bottling so if the SG does not move in a couple of weeks should I add yeast?

 

[kukubau]

I've started the biggest cider batch (15 gallons) ever, but I was reluctant to add anything else to it. Is it too late to add some English tea to supplement the lack of tannins and give my cider a bit of body?
Could you recommend me what tea to add? English Breakfast or Earl Grey?

 

[BobAgain]

Hey, K.

I've made this one repeatedly. It's delicious. In answer to your question, per 5 gallon batch I use 1/4 cup boiling water, with 4 bags of Black Tea. I let that cool and then squeeze one or two fresh limes depending on size and juice. I've kegged it after a month and after a year. Using Nottingham yeast, Super Ferment, and ending around 1004-8, its got a good apple note that allows other nuances to appear.

 

[globell]

When you say tree top or similar do you mean the clean tree top or cloudy?

 

[theowlman16]

Just put in fermenter yesterday, my first cider. My starting gravity is 1.048! I did the full 5 gallons...in case it comes out nice, I don't wanna wait another 5 months. If u follow this thread from the beginning, some say pasteurize some say no need. (Bottle carbing). Which is it??????

 

[kukubau]

Just put in fermenter yesterday, my first cider. My starting gravity is 1.048! I did the full 5 gallons...in case it comes out nice, I don't wanna wait another 5 months. If u follow this thread from the beginning, some say pasteurize some say no need. (Bottle carbing). Which is it??????

Both, bottle carbing AND stove top pasteurize. Read the first post carefuller!

 

[theowlman16]

And in the ten years of posts...many say no need to pasteurize if you let in ferment all the way. In #20, Freezeblade said no boil, but others have said it is needed.

 

[WhiteSoxRob]

Don't boil the juice and don't pasteurize. Like you said, just let it ferment all the way. Even after you let it ferment all the way there will still be enough yeast to bottle carb. Also, it won't take 5 months to fully ferment. You can bottle earlier it will probably just be less clear.

 

[MSK_Chess]

how do you guys clear your cider?

 

[WhiteSoxRob]

To clear it, you can either wait a few months, cold crash it, or use gelatin. I prefer the waiting method because it gives time for the flavor to get better too.

 

[MSK_Chess]

To clear it, you can either wait a few months, cold crash it, or use gelatin. I prefer the waiting method because it gives time for the flavor to get better too.

Thanks very much. My teenager is a huge fan of Koppaberg ciders which are Swedish I believe and come in all kinds of fruit flavours. I had an idea to brew a simple cider and infuse it with fruit syrup to see if I could get similar results. They are not very potent I believe around 4% ABV and a little too sweet for my palate. Still it would be interesting to try to make a gallon or so. I have a cider yeast, yeast nutrient, brewing sugar, all I need is apple juice I think. Not sure about adding some kind of citric acid in the form of oranges or limes?

 

[FARoad]

Thanks for the recipe and the thread. I'm excited to have started my first cider. Followed recipe as written. Is it normal to basically have no Krausen?

 

[MSK_Chess]

I made cider but its far too acidic to drink, i am just gonna throw it away.

 

[oscarjets]

MSK_Chess, I had the same problem. I added 2 tsp of potassium sorbate to stop the yeast and back sweetened with 2 cups of sugar. It was fine after that. You could add as much or as little sugar as needed to your own taste, but two cups worked nicely for me.

 

[Newsman]

I made cider but its far too acidic to drink, i am just gonna throw it away.

Don't do that! As mentioned, use some Campden and stop fermentation, then back-sweeten. Maybe even use a bit of honey to add some extra flavor and/or FCAJ.

 

[MSK_Chess]

Don't do that! As mentioned, use some Campden and stop fermentation, then back-sweeten. Maybe even use a bit of honey to add some extra flavor and/or FCAJ.

Hi Newsman I have Potassium Sorbate and Sodium Metabisulphite. Originally it was just an experiment to create Co2. I did not add any sugar to the apple juice, took an original gravity reading and surmised that it would by roughly 5% ABV. All I can say is that store bought apple juice must a have a lot of added sugar because what was left over by the yeast was really sour, I mean it was like eating raw rhubarb. I don't know if using a better quality apple juice would help, or a different strain of yeast to leave some residual sweetness. I could like you say back sweeten with maybe apple juice but this would affect the gravity, not that I am bothered by that. I can sweeten it with syrup, I have cherry and raspberry and its very pleasant. Everywhere I read apple is alkaline but it sure don't taste like it in my cider.

 

[goteeguy]

Just mixed up a 1 gallon batch of this to give it a try. I only had Lalvin EC-1118 on hand, so used that instead of the suggested S-04. I suspect it will be very dry. That would work for me, but I'm planning to back sweetening to suit my wife's palate. She's more a pina colada kinda gal, so we'll see how it goes.

 

[nDub]

Going to brew this again. Great recipe OP.

I like to buy ten pounds of granny smith and juice them for about a gallon of juice and add it to the recipe (four gallons juice though)

Then I'll usually skip the limes because the malic acid in the granny smiths usually make it tart enough.

The tea bags are a great idea though.

 

[Wineaviator]

Ive been brewing this for a couple years now and I ‘d like to add my experience with it for those that have tried it or like ciders.

I brew the same cider almost exclusively since I found this recipe, having been in England for work many times I can echo the reports from others that US ciders are way too sweet for my tastes.

Originally I let this ferment all the way out and it was fairly tart, almost too sour for my taste, so I have experimented with different ways of back sweetening and although the final recipe is just a tad different from the original I thought I would share.

I start with 5 gallons of Costco Apple juice
Juice of 1.5 lemons
1 cup of strong Earl Grey Tea (great idea OP)
2 grams of Tannin Blanc
Yeast Nutrient

After doing some research here I found another thread where the OP had done literally thousands of gallons of cider and his two favorites were Nottingham and Wyeast 3056, Bavarian Wheat Blend.

Anyway, both work very well, the Nottingham brings out more of the apple flavor but is a bit tart, the Wyeast makes a pretty smooth mouth feel and is a bit sweeter.

Recently, we stumbled upon a backweetening idea that really seems to make this pop.

We take about 1 cup of beat sugar and mix it with 1 cup of apple juice and bring it up to 140 in a saucepan and then add it to the finished cider in the keg. I have done up to 2 cups of beet sugar and apple juice and it really helps the cider out.

Of course, all of these are subject to ones personal tastes, but I thought I would share our experience with this fine recipe.

Good luck to all, happy brewing.

 

[schmurf]

Are one supposed to let this condition (bottle/keg) in room temperature or colder?

 

[Justwingnit]

Graham

 

[Justwingnit]

On 10/19/18 I put together my spin on this recipe. 4 gallon Indian Sumer 100% Apple Cider (I have used this alot) 1 3" long lemon 2 LB Dark Brown Sugar, 4 vanilla Black Tea bags,
and 1 packet of Red Star Premer Blanc yeast.
I fallowed OP directions with above listed ingredients. I put the fermenter into my temperature controlled cooler set the temperature to 68f (yeast range is 59 to 86) the og was 1.064 with a great smell and sweet but great tast. The air lock took off within hours, but today it seemed to have slowed a lot so I pulled a 1/2 cup sample, smell was not bad but only ok (I normally use WLP 775) this is first time with the Red Stare the SG is now 1.000 the tast is bla, can't taste the apple cider nor the tea and its cloudy. If SG dont drop over the next few days I'll rack to secondary and top off.

Question i understand it will clear in time but will the taste and smell improve too?

 

[Hankhill11]

Alright team. I started this cider back on 7/29/2016. musslemans juice, tea bags, lime juice.. I followed the recipe. I racked to 2nd around september 2016. in Feb 2017 i did a taste test and it was extremely tart. astringent and unpleasant. it finally cleared by 7/23/17, when i racked it again to try and age out the tartness. well, here we are in 2019. Its been sitting in the basement the whole time. gravity is 1.004, and it is still very very tart. I really dont want to ditch an entire 5 gal carboy, but I'm not sure how to get that edge off. any suggestions?

 

[WhiteSoxRob]

Alright team. I started this cider back on 7/29/2016. musslemans juice, tea bags, lime juice.. I followed the recipe. I racked to 2nd around september 2016. in Feb 2017 i did a taste test and it was extremely tart. astringent and unpleasant. it finally cleared by 7/23/17, when i racked it again to try and age out the tartness. well, here we are in 2019. Its been sitting in the basement the whole time. gravity is 1.004, and it is still very very tart. I really dont want to ditch an entire 5 gal carboy, but I'm not sure how to get that edge off. any suggestions?

Hank, I suggest using potassium sorbate and k-meta to prevent further fermentation and back sweeten with frozen concentrate apple juice. Then if you are kegging you can force carbonate. If you are bottling and want a sparkling cider, don't use potassium sorbate or k-meta, back sweeten with an unfermentable sugar such as monk fruit, stevia, or Splenda.

 

[Wineaviator]

Alright team. I started this cider back on 7/29/2016. musslemans juice, tea bags, lime juice.. I followed the recipe. I racked to 2nd around september 2016. in Feb 2017 i did a taste test and it was extremely tart. astringent and unpleasant. it finally cleared by 7/23/17, when i racked it again to try and age out the tartness. well, here we are in 2019. Its been sitting in the basement the whole time. gravity is 1.004, and it is still very very tart. I really dont want to ditch an entire 5 gal carboy, but I'm not sure how to get that edge off. any suggestions?

Ours never makes it that far, glad to see someone has patience. ;-)

This is our go to cider and I add 1-2 cups of beet sugar to a 5 gallon batch. I take Apple juice and warm it over the stove and add the beet sugar to it until it’s completely dissolved in solution then add back to the cider.

You can adjust the sweetness to your liking. With changing teas and adding lemons (instead of limes) and using beet sugar to back sweeten I have to say we are able to get pretty close to a clone of an off the shelf brand, and that’s with Costco Apple juice.

Don’t give up on t yet, back sweeten it and see how it does. It’s such a favorite here I have been adding clearing agents earlier in just to get it drinkable earlier. From pitching to carbonation is less than 4 months for us. Good luck!

 

[InspectorJon]

I have used xylitol to good effect to back sweeten. Add that to taste then add priming sugar for bottle carbing. Xylitol is a non fermentable sugar so the sweetness will stay and to me it does not have the residual odd flavor some artificial sweeteners have.

 

[apeters3]

First cider I've ever made and it turned out great! Huge fan of this recipe. I'm curious as to what the tea and lime does for the labor though? Does it add to the dry flavor or does the tea provide some antimicrobial aspects? Thinking about adding a tea/lime mixture to another cider I'm going to be making in the near future and was wondering what the outcome would be if I added them.

 

[bernardsmith]

If the tea was black tea then that is to add tannins (store bought apple juice are not high in tannins0. The lime is likely to add acidity (and again, store bought apple juice will not have the acidity you are likely to find in good English cider). Cider (traditionally) was made from fruit very few of which you would enjoy as eating apples. Heck! in the UK they have cooking apples - which are too tart to eat but which make incredible pies and cobblers.