hard cider for my pregnant sister

[defenestrate]

i know what your thinking...just read
my sister is due in feb. and she loves hard cider. so i figured why not make a cider now, let it age until she is has the kid and can return to drinking. this will be my first attempt, being that i've only made beer thus far. any recipes you guys want to share? she likes woodchuck, if that helps.

so far i was thinking of going half and half with apple juice and cider. maybe some brown sugar, and possibly racked on to some whole spices in the secondary. and yes it will be carbed-im shooting for an abv around 6% i think. i would normally experiment, but i want to make sure this is good the first time around, understandably

 

[eschatz]

The only cider I make is EdWort's Apfelwein. You'll find that everyone on here is pretty pumped about it. However, there are some more aggressive cider makers on here. You should do a search using the function on the toolbar at the top!

 

[Nurmey]

You are a nice brother!

I found during my cider experimental phase that I preferred the cider that didn't have sugar added. The brown sugar batch I did fermented really dry and a bit more harsh than the ones without or using dextrose. Anything you ferment is going to be much dryer than Woodchuck. Maybe using a ale yeast like Windsor that wimps out pretty early might get you some sweetness. Of course, Splenda always works for sweetening too.

I like the spice idea. Which spices are you thinking about?

 

[defenestrate]

yeah, from what i've been reading juice alone will give me the SG i'm looking for. i'll prob go with a hef yeast-seems like people are getting good results.

i would probably rack on to cinnamon sticks, maybe some ginger, maybe orange zest. even thinking about a few lbs of frozen blueberries. if i really wanted maybe i could rack on to each spice one at a time, just rotating carboys when i feel i have gotten the desired taste from each rather than trying them all at once.

now, here is something i'm not sure about. will the yeast act like they do when fermenting beer? what i mean is that will primary fermentation die out in the usual 7-10, leaving me a couple months to age and add the spices and stuff, and then add bottling sugar when i decide to bottle?

 

[lapaglia]

" hard cider for my pregnant sister" I read this and thought thats a pretty bad trade. Hard cider in exchange for a pregnant girl.

 

[HokieBrewer]

If you use a Hefe yeast, try to ferment on the low end. I used it and the temps crept up on me, and it's pretty estery now. Not my fav...

 

[will_cbe]

I'd be wary of too much brown sugar. I put 1/2 cup of dark brown sugar into 1 gallon for a test batch, and so far I don't like it very much. I'm hoping it tastes better mixed with coke.

 

[defenestrate]

" hard cider for my pregnant sister" I read this and thought thats a pretty bad trade. Hard cider in exchange for a pregnant girl.

depends on how much cider were talking about:cross:

If you use a Hefe yeast, try to ferment on the low end. I used it and the temps crept up on me, and it's pretty estery now. Not my fav...

my basement holds 65 pretty well, so that should be good i think

I'd be wary of too much brown sugar. I put 1/2 cup of dark brown sugar into 1 gallon for a test batch, and so far I don't like it very much. I'm hoping it tastes better mixed with coke.

i dont think im going to use the sugar anymore. if i were going to, i would probably use 1/2 for 4 gallons anyway-just a touch.

 

[MikeRLynch]

My new house beverage is cider, and I don't do anything to it other than adding yeast. Apple juice from the store (Motts) and some unfiltered, cloudy applejuice. I use nottingham, and it ferments down pretty well.

I racked at three weeks, it was still cloudy and had some yeast in suspension (would work well for bottling). I left some to ferment out at room temp, and it got down to 1.007 (a little dry, but still had enough apple flavor). Honestly it was damn good right then, no age needed. My current batch is about 2 weeks old, and is starting to clear out. I'll bottle this at 3 weeks and test to see how long it takes to carb. (I don't think it will take long, but I want a fairly high level of carb on this.)

I've heard of people backsweetening with apple juice concentrate, but you need to be absolutely sure the ferment is done, usually at 1.000 or below.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

If your sis is planning on giving the kid the **** juice, I recommen you NOT tempt her with the Cider.

As per our OB, it is actually more harmful post delivery for women to drink as the drink and some alcohol can make it into the milk. I don't recall if it can intoxicate but, it most certainly can alter the flavor.

IIRC, it has a lot to do with the pathway through the liver, placenta, and to the babe. Our OB said, a SINGLE glass of wine or beer, on occasion, is more harmful after birth than while pregnant.

I am just saying.

 

[MikeRLynch]

This is making the argument for adoption all the more powerful...

 

[Freezeblade]

I vote for skipping the spices and zest for your first cider, along with additional sugar. If you want it sweet, ferment with something like US-04 or another ale yeast, let it ferment dry, then add splenda along with the primeing sugar to get it sweeter (any other unfermentable sugar will work as well; lactose, aspertame, stevia, etc)

 

[john from dc]

another option for sweetening is a campden tablet after fermentation has finished, wait three days and then rack into some apple juice or apple juice concentrate.

 

[Tusch]

You need not only k-metabisulphite (campden) but also sorbate to prevent a renewed fermentation.

 

[defenestrate]

My new house beverage is cider, and I don't do anything to it other than adding yeast. Apple juice from the store (Motts) and some unfiltered, cloudy applejuice. I use nottingham, and it ferments down pretty well.

I racked at three weeks, it was still cloudy and had some yeast in suspension (would work well for bottling). I left some to ferment out at room temp, and it got down to 1.007 (a little dry, but still had enough apple flavor). Honestly it was damn good right then, no age needed. My current batch is about 2 weeks old, and is starting to clear out. I'll bottle this at 3 weeks and test to see how long it takes to carb. (I don't think it will take long, but I want a fairly high level of carb on this.)

I've heard of people backsweetening with apple juice concentrate, but you need to be absolutely sure the ferment is done, usually at 1.000 or below.

so you bottled at 3 weeks? i figured on atleast a month in the primary. i guess it all comes down to what i want the gravity to hit before i rack to the secondary. i would like mine to be fairly well carbed as well, just a bit sweet.

I vote for skipping the spices and zest for your first cider, along with additional sugar. If you want it sweet, ferment with something like US-04 or another ale yeast, let it ferment dry, then add splenda along with the primeing sugar to get it sweeter (any other unfermentable sugar will work as well; lactose, aspertame, stevia, etc)

yeah im not going with additional sugar. im still thinking about letting it sit in the secondary with some oranges and cloves. i figured if i had an OG in the area of .05-.06 i would be happy and just let it ferment out with an ale yeast, and leave it in the primary for about a month. taste and decide if i wanted to rack onto the oranges and what not. i'm getting more and more excited!:rockin:

 

[EvilTOJ]

If you go with oranges, use just the zest off the peel. It will give it more of that orange-y flavor, and less like that barfy flavor. And a little clove goes a long loooong way. Use it sparingly. For a tastier cider use the unfiltered organic crap they sell in glass gallon jugs. It's expensive, but I feel it gives a more complex flavor.

 

[EdWort]

SWMBO would drink one of my homebrews in the evening and within minutes, she's be loaded for bear. Her guns would swell and it was dinner for two.

My daughter nursed for about 9 months and my son 13 months. Both are healthy and my 13 year old boy is 6'3" at 140 lbs.

 

[sampson420]

Yeah I don't buy all this drinking paranoia with pregnancy. People have been doing it for 1000's of years, yeah its probably bad to drink a crapload of scotch every day when your pregnant, but my wife drank 1-2 glasses of wine a day with ours and he came out fine. Our OB told her it was healthy to drink red wine whilst pregnant, and said the same for breastfeeding, 1-2 drinks a day wont hurt.

 

[Tusch]

13, 6'3'' and 140? That is insanely tall for that age, but 140? Jeeze, my bro is a stick at 6'3'' 165!

 

[MikeRLynch]

Her guns would swell and it was dinner for two.

jeezus....

You have a way with words my man

 

[EdWort]

jeezus....

You have a way with words my man

Perhaps I should have said "Two course meal"

 

[defenestrate]

alright guys, well i think i have a pretty good idea of what im going to do. i work at whole foods so i can get some nice quality juice so i should get on this in the not too distant future. much obliged!

 

[EdWort]

13, 6'3'' and 140? That is insanely tall for that age, but 140? Jeeze, my bro is a stick at 6'3'' 165!

Yeah, he turns 14 in 11 days. He swims 6 days a week, eats like a horse, and there's not an ounce of fat on him. I'm trying to get him to eat more protein, but the boy loves noodles.

 

[felix]

oops double post
my ISP sucks

 

[felix]

bleh...just wait until he finds out about booze drugs n honeys

 

[felix]

if a moderator could delete my lasts posts, it would be greatly appreciated!
my internet connection is going berserk.
my sincere apologies to everyone...

 

[tiko]

i used the whole foods cider also. i was trying to follow edworts recipe for the most part and i made my voyage to the beer nut in SLC. i bought red star coste de blanc instead of red star montrachet though which has me worried. but the whole foods cider tastes great and the fermentation so far smells good. no sulpher yet.