Making Sweet Cider for Beginners

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

BrewingChip

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 23, 2017
Messages
66
Reaction score
3
Hello all,

I recently bought a gallon of freshly pressed apple cider from a local Cider Mill at a Farmer’s Market. It has no preservatives and from my research seems to be perfect for hard cider. I have US-05 that i was originally planning on using for an amber ale, but now i am thinking i would use it for this cider. However, i have a few questions i would like to have answers for before i give this a try...

1. Should i just pour the cider into my 1 gallon carboy and then pitch the yeast? Or do i need to heat up the cider first?
2. Is it critical that i use something to kill of the yeast towards the end of fermentation?
3. If I want it to be sweet rather than bone dry, what should i do?

Any help would be appreciated. I don’t live that close to a Homebrewing Store and i would rather not make the drive to get an ingredient/chemical/supplies if i dont have to. Thanks!
 
Aloha!

- no heat

- toss the S05 in & an airlock on

- monitor SG...and cold crash around 1.01-1.02 range...

- rack after a day or so of cc'ing & then store in fridge.

I do this all the time on a larger scale using S04....and my ciders are sweet & lightly carbed.

No chemicals used [emoji12]

Cheers & Good luck!
 
How long do you let your cider ferment?
Should I give them the normal priming sugar tablets or corn sugar after I cold crash the carboy in the fridge?
Are you saying you bottle condition entirely in your fridge and not at room temperature?

Sorry for all the questions. I want to get this right!
 
My regular ciders (5-6gal batches) typically have OG in 1.064-1.08 range...combo 100% AJ & FAJC....and tend to ferment down to 1.016-1.02 in 7days...using S04 in mid60s.

Once I cold crash - I rack back into 1gals containers....add fruit concentrates/cinnamon sticks for conditioning in fridge. I don't add any priming sugar....though fruit concentrates have natural sugar in em [emoji12]

I serve right out of the gal containers.

Everyone develops their own methodology that works for them via a bit of trial and error....[emoji12] ...which is part of the fun!

Here's a pic of one of my batches....



S04Batch5gal.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Also, should I use the entire packet of S05?
...the advice I've followed is it's better to over pitch than under.....that said...a half pak would be just fine in 1gal batch. I use one full pak S04 for my 5-6gal batches.
 
Gotcha. If I want the cider to be fizzy, should I add some carbonation drops or just cap them right out of the fermenter without adding anything?

Thanks for all the help!
 
Gotcha. If I want the cider to be fizzy, should I add some carbonation drops or just cap them right out of the fermenter without adding anything?

Thanks for all the help!
Try it both ways [emoji12]

I get light carbonation via my mythology w/o adding those.

Cheers & Good luck [emoji111]
 
What about pasteurization after a few days of bottle conditioning?
 
Carbonation consumes 2-3 gravity points of sugar. If the ferment is finished, you can add sugar in the correct amount and bottle without worry. If you also want it sweet, you have to take other measures like pasteurization (see the sticky on that), or force carb in a keg.
 
Carbonation consumes 2-3 gravity points of sugar. If the ferment is finished, you can add sugar in the correct amount and bottle without worry. If you also want it sweet, you have to take other measures like pasteurization (see the sticky on that), or force carb in a keg.

So would my regular carbonation drops/tablets be just fine once be cider is done fermenting for a few weeks?
 
I have no idea what these carbonation drops are you're talking about. When I get a fresh keg of cider I turn the CO2 up to about 30 lb and get the cider really cold lay The Keg on its side periodically and gently rock it back and forth a couple times a day and after about 4 days I reduce the pressure and start drawing yummy cider. I have a red raspberry apple cider made from concentrate and I also have a mead on tap in my Kegerator right now. I have some maple syrup wine I am making with pure maple syrup can't wait to try that
 
I usually use 15 frozen juice concentrate 12 oz and 11 lb of white cane sugar and I brew it with k1v 1116 yeast and I adjust the potential alcohol by volume with the water addition. I usually like to hit 17% and it makes 5 gallons
 
I ended up buying some pasteurized apple juice with no preservatives and I split my S-05 between that (OG 1.050) and the fresh pressed cider (OG 1.052). They’re bubbling away and smell amazing! No Krausen in either, but they seem fine. I’ll see where they’re at in 2 weeks and likely rack them into secondary to clear for another week or so before I bottle them. Pretty excited!
 
when I make my ciders out of Frozen concentrated juice I'm usually 45 to 60 days from the time I pitch the yeast until I put it in my keg. It takes a minimum of at least 45 days for it to clear
 
when I make my ciders out of Frozen concentrated juice I'm usually 45 to 60 days from the time I pitch the yeast until I put it in my keg. It takes a minimum of at least 45 days for it to clear

For the one batch of cider that I made, this was my experience. I bottled after 56 days. It was quite dry and to my liking. I primed with sugar. You can use your carbonation drops, but if the cider is still sweet when you bottle, that sugar will be consumed by the yeast too and create high pressure inside your bottles. The guys that put it in their fridge seem to be enjoying their cider before pressure builds up. I have heard that even at those low temps the yeast will work away at all the sugar over time, though it will be much longer than if you leave it at room temp.
 
It depends on what yeast you use also. If you use something like ec-1118 or even K1 V 1116 they both have potential to ferment high potential alcohol values. If you use a yeast-like 71b or d47 with tolerance is around 14-15 and start your gravity at around 17-18 and cold crashing in your keg as soon as it clears you will still have a sweet cider and with the keg you don't need any priming sugar just hook it up to the CO2
 
It depends on what yeast you use also. If you use something like ec-1118 or even K1 V 1116 they both have potential to ferment high potential alcohol values. If you use a yeast-like 71b or d47 with tolerance is around 14-15 and start your gravity at around 17-18 and cold crashing in your keg as soon as it clears you will still have a sweet cider and with the keg you don't need any priming sugar just hook it up to the CO2
I used S-05. I’ll probably check the gravity in a couple of weeks, transfer it to secondary for a week, take another reading, and decide if it’s ready to bottle or not. I don’t care as much about it being super clear and aesthetically pleasing, however I am well aware that the longer it sits the better it’ll be.

My biggest concern is that I’ll get bottle bombs if I either bottle too soon or if the carbonation drops will be too much sugar for the yeast!
 
Hey BrewingChip, You can always bottle pasteurize to keep it carbonated that way you don't have to worry about bottle bombs. Pappy's sticky has a lot of awesome information in regards to that process. I will probably give it a go myself with my 3 gallon batch iv got going. I like a carbonated cider that isn't TOO dry but not TOO sweet either.. im still a newbie so im just going to have to see what works.

Iv also got two gallon batches going with the Safale-04, im excited to taste those. They look super clear already and only on day 6 of primary.. although I don't really care if its cloudy. My favorite cider by downeast is an unfiltered cider and is absolutely incredible.
 
I took some frozen concentrated orange juice and some pure maple syrup and through it together with some EC 1118. It's only like 4 weeks old and I racked it already a week ago and it is looking really super clear. I'm going to take a gravity check on it tomorrow. I started with a gravity of about 16% ABV
 
Back
Top