Looking for Recipe for Sweet, Clear and Sparkling Cider

[donttread]

Hello all,

I love the sweet hard ciders like Angry Orchard and Stella Cidre. Can anyone point me to a recipe that turns out like that?

I have my first batch of apfelwein fermenting right now, but I would like my next batch to be more like Angry Orchard. Can you help me?

Thanks,
Fred

 

[Pickled_Pepper]

A lot of those commercial ciders are fermented to dry, filtered, (to remove the yeast and clear the cider) then they are back sweetened and force carb'd.

This isn't to say that they are all done this way, but it's harder to get "sparkling" and "sweet" in the same batch without filtering, pasteurizing or a keg set up.

Do you have a keg setup or have you read the stove top sticky thread? I've never tried it myself. I never liked the idea of a bottle exploding in my kitchen, but people seem to have a lot of success with it.

A great recipe is just adding yeast to a basic apple juice without adding any additional sugars...then let it ferment dry. From here you can decide how to back sweeten and carb. There are a bunch of different avenues to take from there.

 

[Carusoat]

The last one I did I added some potassium sorbate after secondary to prevent fermentation, then back sweetened it with some apple juice concentrate. Then kegged it to force carbonate it. I think that's the easiest way. It's definitely sweet and sparkling.

 

[BeastYeast]

Check out UpstateMike's caramel apple cider in this forum. Its really popular and I have a couple batches going now.

Also, its my understanding that in order to suspend fermentation completely its recommended to use K-Sorbate AND K-Metabisulfite in conjunction with each other. Using just one will not suspend it, although when kegging it seems to me that cold crashing could be enough anyways.

To be safe i use both ingredients.

 

[DirtyOTG]

A lot of those commercial ciders are fermented to dry, filtered, (to remove the yeast and clear the cider) then they are back sweetened and force carb'd.

This isn't to say that they are all done this way, but it's harder to get "sparkling" and "sweet" in the same batch without filtering, pasteurizing or a keg set up.

As a noob, I'm curious as to how to filter a cider. Seems like it would be a fairly simple alternative to all of the additives.


Sent from my SCH-I535 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[Pickled_Pepper]

Filtering to remove yeast is a typically a commercial application requiring some expensive in-line filters. There are some home brew filters available, but to be honest I don't know if they will filter low enough to remove live yeast or just sediment for clearing.

Maybe someone with one of these home filters would be able to elaborate.

 

[Rhu]

I don't have a filter,

and I'm a massive noob to brewing (got my first ever batch of cider under way now) but a cellular filter is going to have to filter at 5nm..which is 0.00005 mm. That is a very fine - and probably very expensive filter- probably has to have a reasonable pressure behind it too to clear the solution.

 

[BeastYeast]

Never tried one before but this looks interesting.

Morebeer Filter

I've often skipped secondary with beers which I won't be doing anymore. My addiction has taken off in recent months and I have enough carboys sitting around where there's no excuse anymore lol. For some beers it almost seems appropriate to rack a third time before kegging and bottling to me. Does anyone every bother to do that?

 

[Shutteringfocus]

Sweet and sparkling is a challenge without kegging and force carbonating because to do so requires the yeast to still be alive and have sugar to eat. This is what makes the bottle conditioned sparkle. The problem is that with enough sugar to make it sweet and with live yeast in the bottle the yeast keeps on processing sugar making the cider more and more dry and also making more and more carbonation in the bottle.

This is when bottle bombs start happening.

The only way to stop this is to pasteurize, but again you must be very careful because bottle bombs are common when doing this too.

Do some reading on the post in the cider forum called "stovetop pasteurization"

 

[MindenMan]

I can say from experience, back sweetening and pasteurizing are very doable. I will suggest that you use a PET bottle, (plastic soda bottle)for your cider, and a unopened soda as a guide. The unopened one will tell you how you are doing pressure wise. The old adage, "There's always Splenda". You can back sweeten with a non fermentable sweetener, and only add enough priming sugar to reach your desired volume of carbonation, or, you can sweeten to taste and then add your priming sugar. If you don't properly pasteurize your bottles they will explode. Maybe not all, but enough to be concerned. Used plastic soda bottles are a great option, as they are beach/park friendly, and if they blow there's is no shrapnel to be worried about. I pasteurized mine in the dishwasher, and I lost one bottle. Now that I have big enough kettles, I will BK pasteurize. If one blows, oh well, at least there won't be any glass trying to eat the dishwasher pump. I will fill my 40qt kettle with bottles, add enough water to cover, and slowly bring them up to 160.

 

[RPCidery]

I have been having great success with the stovetop pasteurizing method for sweet, sparkling cider. I would heartily recommend it.

 

[EpicCider]

Never tried one before but this looks interesting.

Morebeer Filter

I've often skipped secondary with beers which I won't be doing anymore. My addiction has taken off in recent months and I have enough carboys sitting around where there's no excuse anymore lol. For some beers it almost seems appropriate to rack a third time before kegging and bottling to me. Does anyone every bother to do that?

These are designed as whole home filters, I've seen the DIY guide, but man for this price why even bother (it's like $5-10 more for pre-made). I don't trust it enough though, I still want to add Potassium Sorbate.

 

[EpicCider]

I have been having great success with the stovetop pasteurizing method for sweet, sparkling cider. I would heartily recommend it.

It's fairly time consuming and also is a tiny bit risky adding heat to a pressurized bottle, although most of the time the CO2 is low enough it's not a concern.

Keg + Beer Gun = Easier.

 

[mccaine]

Found this great and very thorough recipe to make hard cider posted by Jessica Shabatura :

http://www.howtomakehardcider.com/index.html

 

[Peruvian802]

Stove top pasteurizing works well. Another option is to add lactose (non-fermentable sugar) at the time of bottling (along with priming dextrose). If you don't mind chemicals, you could add Splenda or other artificial sweetener, instead of lactose.

 

[RPCidery]

It's fairly time consuming and also is a tiny bit risky adding heat to a pressurized bottle, although most of the time the CO2 is low enough it's not a concern.

Keg + Beer Gun = Easier.

It tried that method once (BMBF). I must have been doing it wrong as it was fight, took forever, and made a mess.

 

[RPCidery]

Stove top pasteurizing works well. Another option is to add lactose (non-fermentable sugar) at the time of bottling (along with priming dextrose). If you don't mind chemicals, you could add Splenda or other artificial sweetener, instead of lactose.

Of all of the non-sugar sweeteners, I like xylitol the best. Supposedly pretty good for you as well.

 

[rocketsan]

Stove top pasteurizing works well. Another option is to add lactose (non-fermentable sugar) at the time of bottling (along with priming dextrose). If you don't mind chemicals, you could add Splenda or other artificial sweetener, instead of lactose.

You will get next to no noticeable sweetness with lactose...

 

[fpweeks]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f25/man-i-love-apfelwein-14860/

you really can't go wrong with this. Don't take my word for it....there's 1210 pages. LOL.

No filtering required. Its hard to believe the finished product comes from some mott's and 15 minutes of work!

 

[RPCidery]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f25/man-i-love-apfelwein-14860/

you really can't go wrong with this. Don't take my word for it....there's 1210 pages. LOL.

No filtering required. Its hard to believe the finished product comes from some mott's and 15 minutes of work!

No matter how many other ciders I make, I always have that one on hand. I think I would call it a classic.

 

[Viking4]

I went to the grocery store and bought 5 gallons of Tree Top brand cider. They come in half gallon jugs. Its already pasteurized so no need for campden tablets. Take 1 1/2 jugs and bring to just boiling on the stove. Add 5 cups packed light brown sugar and dissolve. Add the sweetened cider to the rest in a sanitized carboy. No need to let cool, the rest of the cider will absorb the heat and will even the temp out to about 80 deg. F. I used Wyeast British Ale II 1335. Pitch yeast and affix air lock. Let ferment for 9 days. Its ready to drink after that. It came out rather clear, carbonated and mildly sweet with hints of flavors the yeast left behind. Maybe close to what you are looking for. Hope this helps.
Viking 4 out.

 

[JudyP]

Great thread since I am thinking of doing the same thing. I have some 'jacked' apple juice, which I made by freezing then thawing. It's at about 19 brix. I want to ferment and leave some sugar in it then force carb it to get the sparkle. I make wine, so this plan stems from my experience making sweet wines.
So I plan to :
1. Ferment to desired ABV leaving some sweetness; cold crash and add k-meta to stop
2. Sterile filter ( I prefer this to pasteurization).
3. Force carbonate in a keg.
Anything wrong with this plan?