Looking for Cider Recipe

[NewBrewer69]

I've not tried brewing cider before, and I'm looking for a recipe that is generally beginner-friendly. Ideally the cider would end up with an abv of 10% (+/- a few percent, though higher abv is preferred over lower abv), maintain much of the flavor of non-alcoholic cider, and be quite sweet. Thanks!

 

[IslandLizard]

I've not tried brewing cider before

Have you brewed anything else, before?

Ideally the cider would end up with an abv of 10% [...] maintain much of the flavor of non-alcoholic cider, and be quite sweet.

You know that's impossible, right?
One can't drink a ~10% ABV cider without noticing the alcohol as if it were plain, unfermented apple juice.

And why would you?

 

[Kickass]

Store bought juice
Brown sugar
Yeast nutrients
Wine yeast

Stabilize with potassium metabisulfite and potassium sorbate

Backsweeten with apple juice concentrate and package.

 

[NewBrewer69]

Have you brewed anything else, before?


You know that's impossible, right?
One can't drink a ~10% ABV cider without noticing the alcohol as if it were plain, unfermented apple juice.

And why would you?

I think I didn't phrase it properly, I don't mind the alcohol taste at all and want that to be a part of the cider, I just don't want fermenting the drink to make it lose its flavor

 

[fluketamer]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/pappy-s-pub-cider-award-winner.408610/

pappys will knock your socks off.

most yeast will strip most of the flavor out of the juice.

you can add the flavor back after fermentation is over by backsweetening with AJ. you will need to stop refermetnation tho

once the yeast are stabilized you can make it as sweet as you want.

how old are you?

just curious?

 

[NewBrewer69]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/pappy-s-pub-cider-award-winner.408610/

pappys will knock your socks off.

most yeast will strip most of the flavor out of the juice.

you can add the flavor back after fermentation is over by backsweetening with AJ. you will need to stop refermetnation tho

once the yeast are stabilized you can make it as sweet as you want.

how old are you?

just curious?

Thanks! I'm over 21 if thats what you're asking, but I'm new to the hobby.

 

[IslandLizard]

I think I didn't phrase it properly, I don't mind the alcohol taste at all and want that to be a part of the cider, I just don't want fermenting the drink to make it lose its flavor

Fermentation will always change the flavor and aroma of the original (fruit) must (or wort, when making beer).

This is due to the complex biochemical reactions that take place during fermentation when yeast metabolizes hundreds of chemical compounds that are present in the must (or beer wort), along with creating alcohol from the sugars. The sugars are their food (energy source), the alcohol being technically their waste product... Yumm!

If you want to get the taste of real fruit juice while drinking alcohol, get some fruit juice (or concentrate) and add grain alcohol (e.g., Everclear) to taste. basically making American (not German) Schnapps.

Santé!

 

[worlddivides]

If you want to get the taste of real fruit juice while drinking alcohol, get some fruit juice (or concentrate) and add grain alcohol (e.g., Everclear) to taste. basically making American (not German) Schnapps.

Seconding IslandLizard, but as he says, the best way to get fruit-flavored alcoholic beverages is by mixing that fruit juice with a neutral grain spirit like Everclear (if you want the ABV very high) or vodka.

The reason I'm commenting is because I wanted to mention another possibility: making a liqueur. Now, this uses the fruits themselves and not just the juice. As an example, "umeshu," a type of Japanese plum liqueur is made by steeping Japanese plums in neutral grain spirits until their flavor is extracted (though it's not uncommon for people to just leave the spirits constantly in contact with the fruit). Then once the desired extraction is reached, sugar is added, affectively lowering the ABV from the original 94% or whatever down to, usually, around 10-15%. Sometimes high-ABV shochu is used instead. With liqueurs, nothing is fermented because you're not adding any yeast, and even if you did, the ABV is too high for anything to survive. You're basically just extracting the flavor of the fruit (or chocolate or coffee or vanilla or whatever other kind of liqueur you're making is).

I've also made Limoncello, which is a lemon zest-based liqueur with a similar idea, generally with simple syrup being how the ABV is both lowered and the flavor sweetened.

Then there's just cocktails where you just mix multiple different fruit juices with potentially multiple different spirits and/or liqueurs.

Those are the options for maintaining the fruit or fruit juice's flavor since fermentation removes the sugar, along with a lot of the flavor compounds and replaces them with flavor compounds created by the yeast (which is generally desirable by people who are fans of that style whether beer, cider, wine, perry, mead, or whatever).

 

[madscientist451]

I've not tried brewing cider before, and I'm looking for a recipe that is generally beginner-friendly. Ideally the cider would end up with an abv of 10% (+/- a few percent, though higher abv is preferred over lower abv), maintain much of the flavor of non-alcoholic cider, and be quite sweet. Thanks!

Beginner Friendly cider tips:
Using the right yeast is important, I like Cider house select, which you can get on line or some homebrew shops. Some wine yeast will strip away all flavor, some beer yeast will provide flavors I don’t like.
Starting with the right apples/juice is very important, and this is the biggest problem when making cider. I’ve tried all kinds of combinations of eating apples and am generally disappointed in the results. But you can only use what you can get, so remember most juice you buy has some kind of preservative in it, and it won’t ferment properly. A beginner method is to use frozen apples juice concentrate from Walmart, but make sure you look at the label to see if any preservatives have been added.
You need to buy a hydrometer so you can measure the starting gravity to determine ABV and also know when it’s done.
So just mix up the concentrate with the amount of water to get the Alcohol strength you want, toss in the yeast and let it ferment. There’s nothing to brew, no cooking is required.
When it’s done fermenting you can drink it right away, but I think it’s better to let it age a while. Adding table sugar to boost ABV is an option, but this produces a strong alcohol flavor that I don’t like, but doesn’t bother some people.
For more apple flavor I just add frozen apple juice juice concentrate to the finished cider. Pour off the cider into a 1.5 liter wine bottle. Add about 1/2 can of apple concentrate. Add more or less to taste. Keep it in the refrigerator and drink it all within a week or two because it will kick off fermentation. This method avoids the use of chemicals to stabilize the cider.
Note you can use the cider house select yeast over again in your next batch, and can actually run the same yeast many times.
Watch some you tube videos about how to sanitize everything, taking samples and adding other flavors.