Making Cider

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darkthunder212

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Well im pretty new to brewing and by the looks of it making some apple cider is something I really cant screw up on I was wondering if someone could post the directions on how to make it and where i could get the ingredients.

Thanks
 
I've only made cider once, so far, using purchaces cider to which I added wine yeast. It came out about 10% alcohol, dry, with good flavor but very little aroma. I used a modification of a recipe in the book "The Alaskan Bootleggers Bible". I hope it's OK to post that....

I'm planning on trying again this fall when I can get cider again.
 
I have been reading up on cider also, and strted a gallon test batch yesterday with some wlp004 irish ale yeast I had sitting in the fridge.

Picked up some cider at the store (no preservatives), the og was 1.050 so Im guessing I will end up with an abv around 5.5% which Im hoping will be half drinkable by apple harvest when I plan to make 2 5 gallon batches, one with just the juice and one I want to shoot for 10% ABV or better for longer aging.

My test gallon is emitting foul smells today which I understand is normal, I will post back when I learn anything new, good luck on your ciders, cheers.
 
I'm on gallon number 10 or so and I'm starting to figure out what I like best.
I've made some with wine yeast which comes out as a nice wine. I like it sparkling.
I've used different ale yeasts for most and I much prefer it. It leaves a lot more behind, obviously. I've had best success when brewing in cooler temps which will be great for apple season. In the hot summer here in Georgia.
The best part about it is that even the stuff that wasn't quite right when it finished fermenting becomes really good with time. I had a mediocre batch 4 months later and it was awesome.
I've also given up priming. I've always had just enough sugar left that after a couple months, it's perfectly carbonated.
Lastly, adding a couple ounces of honey per gallon has yielded some very nice results.
I love cider
 
My first attempt at a cider. I usually brew beer, but thought I would throw this together and let it age 'till October.



Ingredients:

* 2 to 2-1/2 gallons, fresh cider
* 1 gallon, water
* 1 pound, M&F Light DME (unhopped)
* 2 cups, Cane Sugar
* 1/2 cup, Brown Sugar Dash of Cinnamon
* 7-14 grams, Ale Yeast

Procedure:
Combine all ingredients except yeast. Boil for about 30 minutes, skim the top if you feel like it. After boiling take this off the stove, and add about 2 to 2-1/2 gallons of chilled fresh Cider. This should drop the temperature to below 90 degrees, if not chill it to below 90 degrees, then add an Ale Yeast, 7-14 grams of Whitbread or some other quality Ale Yeast as good. I let this ferment in the primary for 3-5 days, then rack to a secondary and let sit another 10-14 days before bottling.
Specifics:
* Primary Ferment: 3--5 days
* Secondary Ferment: 10--14 days
 
I've known lots of folks who add cane sugar to cider, and it's usually good, especially when young.

I was just thinking. I wonder if invert sugar wouldn't ferment more cleanly? It should, and it certainly produces a cleaner flavor in beer. Anyway, just a thought.

Cheers :D
 
Born Brewing Co.,
Have you made this recipe before? How did it turn out? I am quite tempted to cobble this up!!!!
 
Never made this before. In fact, I've never made a cider before, so we'll see. I've heard ciders can take awhile to come to flavor, so I'm hoping around Christmas it will be good to go.
 
October 18th will mark our day to fire up the press and turn a couple bins of apples into carboys full of golden cider....

My understanding is that I'm looking at nearly a year or so before it comes into it's own. I had some last night from a fellow brewclub member and it was wonderful, after only 8 months in the bottle.

He's not real fancy about the recipe, starting with freshly pressed cider, he just strains through cheesecloth into his primary, adds champagne yeast and puts the air lock on it. Transfer to secondary just to clarify after about 2 weeks, and then in a holding pattern in secondary for up to 3 months.

I like the honey idea, since there is such a long ferment time anyway, and will pump up the OG a bit.
 
I bet the cinnimon will be good in it. I plan on adding a dash to mine to see how it turns out.
 
You all seem to be makeing cider in rather large batches. My needs are smaller and would like simple instructions to brewing 1 gallon of cider. Now seeing as I'm new to brewing and cider inparticular, when I say simple I mean simple please. Your responces are much appricated.
 
tempted-fate, hard cider is pretty much just apple juice/cider fermented.
You can get yeast at a local home brew store or many places on the web. The yeast package is meant for 5 gallons, as why most recipies call for 5 gallons. You could just separate the yeast into fifths however. Yeast selection is fun. I'm using Lalvin EC-1118 right now. I heard that Red Star Cotes des Blancs works out well, but it seems that popular consensus stays with a champagne yeast. See link below for a good article on yeast selection.

If you dont have any equipment, you could just get a gallon of juice/cider in a glass jar and purchase a stopper and airlock (they'll cost you around $2) then just put the yeast in and let it ferment for a month. This isn't the proper way to do it however and you will end up with a lot of junk at the bottem of the bottle and murky hard cider. This is why two stages of fermentation are recommended. If I were limited to only the glass jug that it came in, I think I would sanitize a pot and transfer to the pot then clean and sanitize the jug and transfer back for a secondary fermentation/clearing, but then you would need proper hose to siphon with. If you do siphon, I recommend practicing as it can be tricky if its your first time.

Primary fermentation seems to take about 5-7day; untill the bubles slow down to about one per minute.
Secondary fermentation/clearing seems to take about 2 weeks - you will know when its done :p

Do you plan on bottling? Thats a whole other story. I guess you could just use the jug again and somehow cap it or even possibly tighten the lid it came with enough to create a good seal again, but beware this could be pushed off due to the pressure created. But anyhow you will need to prime it with sugar of some sort and seal it somehow.

A lot of other info available on the intraweb thingy-ma-bobber...

A good yeast selection article by Greg Appleyard: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/scrumpy/cider/ciderca2.htm

There's a good online how-to-brew book online by John Palmer: http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html

Some instructions from Leeners (who also sell supplies): http://www.leeners.com/cider.html

Some detailed info from Gillian Grafton, Paul Gunningham: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/scrumpy/cider/cider.htm

Directions by some MIT student: http://www.mit.edu/~dfm/brew.html

Good ol' Google: [ame]http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=brewing+hard+cider&btnG=Search[/ame]
[ame]http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=brewing+cider&btnG=Search[/ame]
 
umm...

s_type_airlocks.jpg

vinty_type_airlocks.jpg

STS-104-ISS-inside-airlock.jpg


no, wait, disregard the last one... dont think you can use one thats meant for a space shuttle. :)
 
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