just finished brewing my first hard cider. Looks good hope its going to taste good. I used the mr beer caramel hard apple cider mix. I did make on small change in the brown sugar. The mix called for 2 cups light brown sugar. I used one and half cups light brown sugar and a half cup dark brown sugar.
my first hard cider
- Thread starter ritchie
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I'm sure it will be fine; hard to screw it up.
..... Why does anyone buy a cider kit from Mr.Beer. Buy a couple of gallons of apple juice, pitch some yeast and you are off. That will get you about 6% abv, a lot higher than the Mr.Beer kits too. Add sugar if you want, but not necessary.
..... Why does anyone buy a cider kit from Mr.Beer. Buy a couple of gallons of apple juice, pitch some yeast and you are off. That will get you about 6% abv, a lot higher than the Mr.Beer kits too. Add sugar if you want, but not necessary.
Buy any apple juice that does not have any preservatives (this is important as it will not ferment if it has preservatives). Pasturization is OK. Check the ingredients, should be just juice (can be from concentrate). Ascorbic acid (vitamin C) is OK.
I have used Organic 365 (cloudy juice), tastes great, but takes a really long time to clear. I've used Old Orchard (clear juice) from Walmart, tastes great, and clears quickly. I have used cheap Flavorite Juice from Biggs, also tastes pretty good and clears quick. You can use frozen concentrate too if you want.
Shake the heck out of the juice to get oxygen dissolved in it.
Pour juice into fermenter and add yeast. I recommend an ale yeast, seems to leave more flavor than a wine yeast. Leave for a couple of months (if you can), then bottle. Can be drunk still.
I use 1 cup of apple juice per gallon for bottle priming (no sugar).
If you make beer, you can just pitch the apple juice on the yeast cake from the beer - free yeast!. Don't go the other way around and put a beer on yeast used for cider.
Most apple juice is about 1.045/1.050, and will ferment down to 1.000. That will give you between 6 and 6.5% abv.
If you want a little more alcohol, you can add some sugar. I would not add much, maybe 4 to 5 ozs per gallon. The more you add the longer it takes to become smooth. I often don't add any.
This will give you a dry cider. I like it dry and find it really refreshing when carb'd.
Simple really.
I have used Organic 365 (cloudy juice), tastes great, but takes a really long time to clear. I've used Old Orchard (clear juice) from Walmart, tastes great, and clears quickly. I have used cheap Flavorite Juice from Biggs, also tastes pretty good and clears quick. You can use frozen concentrate too if you want.
Shake the heck out of the juice to get oxygen dissolved in it.
Pour juice into fermenter and add yeast. I recommend an ale yeast, seems to leave more flavor than a wine yeast. Leave for a couple of months (if you can), then bottle. Can be drunk still.
I use 1 cup of apple juice per gallon for bottle priming (no sugar).
If you make beer, you can just pitch the apple juice on the yeast cake from the beer - free yeast!. Don't go the other way around and put a beer on yeast used for cider.
Most apple juice is about 1.045/1.050, and will ferment down to 1.000. That will give you between 6 and 6.5% abv.
If you want a little more alcohol, you can add some sugar. I would not add much, maybe 4 to 5 ozs per gallon. The more you add the longer it takes to become smooth. I often don't add any.
This will give you a dry cider. I like it dry and find it really refreshing when carb'd.
Simple really.
I brewed this one a few weeks ago. It's still sitting in the fermenter.
64 oz. apple juice (couldn't find cider, but either works)
10 oz. light dme
1 packet montrachet pasteur yeast
made just over 1 gal volume (planned for 140oz to end up with 1 gal after hydro readings)
tasted good on brew day.
64 oz. apple juice (couldn't find cider, but either works)
10 oz. light dme
1 packet montrachet pasteur yeast
made just over 1 gal volume (planned for 140oz to end up with 1 gal after hydro readings)
tasted good on brew day.
vcorbett
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I have been experimenting with this too from Keri apple juice 3L. Add in 2 cups of sugar, 2 or 3 grams of beer yeast and shove a balloon on top with a pin prick in it. Fermentation takes 7 days, sometimes more, so let it fizz out then rack to secondary. Leave for 2 week's or drink straight away after chilling down.
I pitched an EC-1118 yeast onto 3 different kinds of apple juice and cloudy cider earlier in April. Received an OG of 1.090 before yeasties and it is still fizzing away nicely, two weeks on. I added an extra kg of light brown sugar. Someone told me that pure dark brown sugar can sometimes impart a smoky/burnt wood flavour, but in some cases that might be a good thing. Best of luck, and let us know how it goes! 
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