Making First Hard Cider: Light or Dark Brown Sugar?

[SublimeBW]

Good morning everyone!

Really excited to be making my first cider next week. Going with a 6 gallon batch using local cider that is preservative free and unpasteurized. The recipe I am following from Midwest Homebrewing and Wine making. It suggests using 2lbs of honey or brown sugar for a 5 gallon batch. I am upping that to 2.4lbs of brown sugar since I am making a 6 gallon batch. All pretty cut and dry, right? However, they don't mention which type of brown sugar to use, light or dark.

Does anyone have any insight as to which would be better to use? I am guessing that the dark would probably give a bit more flavor but would the be needed since I am going with apple cider instead of juice? Any insight would be appreciated.

 

[madscientist451]

Commercial brown sugar is just refined white sugar with some unrefined dark sugar or molasses added back in.
I've had poor results with refined white sugar, a harsh alcohol flavor.
Other options are honey, corn sugar or corn syrup and less refined table sugar such as tubinado.
Honey is the best option, although more expensive. In Michigan, you should be able to get honey from a local orchard or beekeeper for about $12/quart.
There's a lengthy thread on this site about this where someone put a lot of time into testing different sugar and yeast combinations.
What are you going to ferment this in? If you have a 6 gallon bucket or carboy, remember to leave some headspace.
Good fresh cider is going for $5-6 gallon around here, which isn't bad considering how much work is involved in pressing your own.
Another important consideration is what yeast you will use.
White labs has cider yeast comparisons on their web site and taste testers all agreed ale yeast was a winner.

 

[SublimeBW]

Thanks for the information. Here are some responses:

-From what I have read people have been saying that there is a hands down better flavor profile with brown sugar compared to honey. I actually have a nice source of local uncut honey because my father-in-law has a small bee farm at his house (about 3 tall and 5 across worth of bee boxes).

-Haven't picked up the sugar yet and was going to run by Adventures in Homebrewing today to pick up the yeast (going with White Labs 775 English Cider based on reviews). I know they have brown sugar there but wasn't sure if there was a difference between that brown sugar and the stuff from the store.

-Fermentation is going to take place in a 7 gallon wine brewing bucket that we purchased when we do big brews like the Hopslam we just did.

-Found a place (Wasem's) that is selling fresh cider for $6.50 a gallon, the cheapest I could find within a 20 minute drive radius.

 

[Yooper]

I dislike the taste of fermented brown sugar, as it still has a "molasses" note, but without sweetness, so it tastes very odd to me.

My best cider recipe is: fresh pressed cider, yeast.

That's it.

If you really want to boost the ABV of the cider, you can add honey or sugar but it makes it lose some of the "apple cider" taste when you do that. I add sugar to juice to make apple wine and it makes a great fruity wine, but it doesn't taste very much like cider or apples any more.

 

[b-boy]

I lke a sweet cider with a kick - usually 5%-7%

I use turbinado sugar.

I use Nottingham yeast, let it ferment for about 1 month, keg, and backsweeten with more fresh cider. I keep it chilled in the kegerator, so I don't bother pasteurizing.

 

[MedBrewer]

I dislike the taste of fermented brown sugar, as it still has a "molasses" note, but without sweetness, so it tastes very odd to me.

My best cider recipe is: fresh pressed cider, yeast.

That's it.

If you really want to boost the ABV of the cider, you can add honey or sugar but it makes it lose some of the "apple cider" taste when you do that. I add sugar to juice to make apple wine and it makes a great fruity wine, but it doesn't taste very much like cider or apples any more.

I like the sound of this recipe! Could you share yeast type? I'd love to brew a simple cider, 1 gal (I'm one of those 1gal brewers ). No cider press here but I can "juice" fresh apples with a juicer I have. any suggestions as to what apples? should I boil the fresh apple juice? Do I need to add anything else at all? Thanks!

 

[fosaisu]

I dislike the taste of fermented brown sugar, as it still has a "molasses" note, but without sweetness, so it tastes very odd to me.

My best cider recipe is: fresh pressed cider, yeast.

That's it.

If you really want to boost the ABV of the cider, you can add honey or sugar but it makes it lose some of the "apple cider" taste when you do that. I add sugar to juice to make apple wine and it makes a great fruity wine, but it doesn't taste very much like cider or apples any more.

Another vote for skipping the sugar/honey addition on your first batch. You're not likely to get much in the way of (positive) flavor enhancement from sugar additions, they're purely to bump up the alcohol, and you can already get 5%+ ABV with just the juice.

 

[Yooper]

I like the sound of this recipe! Could you share yeast type? I'd love to brew a simple cider, 1 gal (I'm one of those 1gal brewers ). No cider press here but I can "juice" fresh apples with a juicer I have. any suggestions as to what apples? should I boil the fresh apple juice? Do I need to add anything else at all? Thanks!

One of my favorites is pressed cider (sulfited) and then adding S04 ale yeast. It finished at 1.004 the last time- pretty tart and dry but not bone dry. I like it still, but many of my friends like it carbed up.

I thinking juicing makes a different flavor than pressing, but you can do that if you like. Do NOT boil your juice, unless you like a cooked fruit flavor to your cider. Think of the difference between a fresh crisp apple, and the apple from an apple pie. That's a big difference! I use campden tablets, one crushed per gallon, in the juice to kill the microbes, and then add the yeast 24 hours later.

 

[MedBrewer]

One of my favorites is pressed cider (sulfited) and then adding S04 ale yeast. It finished at 1.004 the last time- pretty tart and dry but not bone dry. I like it still, but many of my friends like it carbed up.

I thinking juicing makes a different flavor than pressing, but you can do that if you like. Do NOT boil your juice, unless you like a cooked fruit flavor to your cider. Think of the difference between a fresh crisp apple, and the apple from an apple pie. That's a big difference! I use campden tablets, one crushed per gallon, in the juice to kill the microbes, and then add the yeast 24 hours later.

Thank ya much!