Help please.

[cliveo]

Hi

I am VERY new to this but hopefully will be much better in a few months.

Basically, I just moved house anf there is an apple tree in the garden.Before I went on holiday it was dropping loads of little dark green apples. By the time I got back it was rammed with loads of very nice tasting eating apples. They are red where they're exposed to the sun and light green on the other side.

I want to make cider with them. My missus has a juicer which I can use to get the juice. After that I'm in the dark.

The local homebrew shop weren't much help on the advice side of things but they sold me a leaflet on making cider (pretty useless I think) a 5 gallon bucket with a lid, a small tub of 'Super Enzyme', a small tub of 'Ascorbic Acid' and a 5g sachet of cider yeast.

I've trawled this site and realise Ihave no idea what I'm doing. I am paranoid about making 'bombs' as many people warn. My second concern is wasting the apples.

What is the simplest, most basic way of making cider or scrumpy. I'd prefer fizzy if it is not too complex to do.

I'm guessing I'll need to buy more equipment but it's gonna be worth it I'm sure.

Thanks in advance.

Cliveo

 

[Drew966]

Well, once you get the juice it can be as simple as shaking up the fermentor full of juice to aerate it and putting in your yeast (I don't know much about yeast, you may have to rehydrate it if dried, and/or use a starter to make sure it's good), then wait for the fermentation to stop (basically when the bubbling stops, typically a couple or three weeks will be enough, but you should really use a hydrometer if you are worried about bottle bombs). If you want carbonated cider, you add priming sugar at bottling time. Obviously, it can be quite a bit more complicated than that. Or for that matter, even simpler, apples typically have wild yeast and may ferment on their own, but I haven't tried that and don't really know how well that works.

 

[Adolphus79]

If you have a 5 gallon bucket, a juicer, and some yeast, you're almost ready to go. Actually, you could start your cider, and get the rest of the equipment within the next week or so.

First, juicing. Make sure you do not use any fallen apples, rotten apples, or wormy apples. Some small scabs or spots are O.K., and light bruising won't hurt much. Figure approx. 15 pounds of apples per gallon (that's pressed, I don't know if your juicer will have the same ratio). Wash/rinse the apples, and make sure to remove and leaves, stems, dirt, etc. Then juice them. You may decide to use more than one variety of apple, to add complexity to the finished product (some apples are acidy, some subacid, some sugary, etc.).

Dump the juice into your bucket, add pectic enzyme and campden, and let sit for 24 hours. The next day, throw the yeast (and any sugar, optional), and seal the bucket with an airlock. Let the bucket sit until primary fermentation has finished (about 2-4 weeks depending on sugar, yeast, etc.), then rack to a secondary, glass carboy (or Better Bottle, or small glass gallon jugs, etc.).

Tada! you have hard cider.

Now, this is only the very basic of basic recipes, there are several variations (different sugar, different yeast, adding other fruits or berries, etc.), and you could always try to let it age a little longer (most strive for 6-12 months) to allow the malolactic activity to take place. Just take your time, and look through this forum, and you'll see that everyone has their own personal approach to cider. Just remember to sanitize everything, and take a gravity reading before you throw the yeast (buy a hydrometer & test jar from your LHBS).

If you want to carbonate your cider, then after that first or second month, rack the cider again onto some priming sugar (corn sugar, dextrose) and then bottle in beer bottles or champagne bottles, and you can then let it age in those.

No matter which route you travel, just remember, RDWHAHB... and of course, let us know how it turned out!

 

[mgayer]

Keep everything simple at first and do lots of reading not only on Cider but other wines and Mead. The process is the same for all with a few variations. The big difference is Cider is in the 5% to 9% ABV range and wines/Meads are in the 12% and above.

I would suggest to everyone starting to get either glass or Betterbottle carboys. Plastic buckets leak once in awhile, look at all the posts concerning this, but are much better for primary fermentation when using fruit in the must.

The clear carboys also allow you to see the progress. The biggest mistake of beging brewing is getting the stuff too quickly. Let it clear and give it the time it needs to age. Just start with the juice, a yeast packet, and a pound of sugar. Five gallons will go faster than you think! I would also suggest some Pectic Enzyme as this will help it clear and keep the pectin from creating any haze. Put an air lock on the carboy after mixing everything and let it sit for about 6 weeks. Actually this is a guessitmate. It will be finished in about 3 to 4 weeks but you want it clear well. I would then rack this over into another carboy and let it sit for another month. It should be crystal clear by now. Rack this onto some priming sugar and bottle it up. There are lots of posts concerning the proper amounts. My wife likes Cider a bit sweeter, more like the Woodchuck brand, so I back sweeten with some Splenda. Splenda cannot do any fermentation so nothing to worry about there, about a cup per 5 gallon makes it nicely sweet. Remember adding the priming Sugar will not increase the sweetness as it will ferment out.

Different yeast will give different flavors so read up on them also. Sugars tend to make a major impact on flavor. Brown sugar is good but imparts color and a bit of a bite, white sugar also gives a different flavor than brown but Dextrose or corn sugar is very netrual. I am a mead person and Honey is always my favorite, it gives a very distinct flavor but may take a bit longer to age.

If you have any questions just ask. Lots of us here to help you along. By the way you may want to look at my Cider test posting just to get a few more bits of info.