n00b with a plan!

[daughterofthesun]

Hi there!

I am brand spanking new at this brewing business, and I've decided to attempt a sweet Christmas cider. I've been perusing the forums and gleaning what smarts I can get, so here's the recipe thus far:

5 gal. local pasteurized apple cider
4# dark brown sugar
3 12.oz cans concentrates
1/2 pack (5.5 g) Nottingham yeast
2 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1 nutmeg

First and foremost question: Do any of you more experienced brewers see any glaring problems with my recipe? Not enough sugar/too much spice, etc?

Second question: What do you recommend on the racking/ carbonating end of things? I've been told that as a homebrewer, I basically have to choose whether I want it to be sweet or be carbonated, lest I find myself with one really sweet bottle bomb. Is that the case?

 

[irchowi]

Your sugar seems a bit high, but that depends on the ABV you are looking for. Off the top of my head, I think that's 10%+.

You don't have to choose between sweet or carbonated. There are a number of ways to stop fermentation, and you can pretty much choose what you want to do. If you wanted a sweet and still cider, you stop fermentation with sulphite/sorbate or stove-top pasteurize and backsweeten. If you wanted a relatively dry, sparkling cider, you'd add about 3/4 cup of fermentable sugars per 5 gallon. If you were looking for a sweet and sparkling cider, the most popular method around here is to backsweeten to taste, usually with apple juice concentrate, and wait until the carb level is just right and then stove top pasteurize to stop fermentation and your bottles blowing up.

An easy way to keep track of carb level is fill plastic soda bottles with your cider and gauge the firmness of the bottle and open 1 a day to check it's progress.

For more info on stove top pasteurizing, check the sticky at the top of the cider forum.

 

[UpstateMike]

1/2 pack (5.5 g) Nottingham yeast

Use a full pack of Nottingham. Additionally, you may want to make a yeast starter the day before you plan on doing this cider.

May also want to add yeast nutrient and yeast energizer, I have found that this eliminates the "Rhino farts" that usually happen on day 3 - 5.

 

[daughterofthesun]

Your sugar seems a bit high, but that depends on the ABV you are looking for. Off the top of my head, I think that's 10%+.

You don't have to choose between sweet or carbonated. There are a number of ways to stop fermentation, and you can pretty much choose what you want to do. If you wanted a sweet and still cider, you stop fermentation with sulphite/sorbate or stove-top pasteurize and backsweeten. If you wanted a relatively dry, sparkling cider, you'd add about 3/4 cup of fermentable sugars per 5 gallon. If you were looking for a sweet and sparkling cider, the most popular method around here is to backsweeten to taste, usually with apple juice concentrate, and wait until the carb level is just right and then stove top pasteurize to stop fermentation and your bottles blowing up.

An easy way to keep track of carb level is fill plastic soda bottles with your cider and gauge the firmness of the bottle and open 1 a day to check it's progress.

For more info on stove top pasteurizing, check the sticky at the top of the cider forum.

Thanks so much for the feedback! What would be a more appropriate sugar by volume of cider for a sweet cider, in your opinion?

As for the backsweetening idea, that was sort of my plan with the juice concentrate. I was wondering how that would impact the issue of carbonation, or if I needed to stop the yeast first. I will check the sticky on stovetop pasteurization for more info!

 

[LeBreton]

Thanks so much for the feedback! What would be a more appropriate sugar by volume of cider for a sweet cider, in your opinion?

Adding sugar in the beginning will not give you a sweeter cider in the end. It will simply ferment out and turn to alcohol. For sweet cider add it immediately before bottling. Some will ferment out and carbonate the cider, and if you bottle pasteurize, the rest will remain as sweetener.

 

[RoughandReadyRanch]

Back on topic. I actually like the look of this recipe and we have a local cider producer here that should be getting ready for harvest soon. I am new to the cider game aside from my little AJ experiment. If I drop the sugar down and use the full packet of yeast which happens to be in my fridge right now, can I just keg this for carbonation or am I still going to need to back sweeten this?

 

[daughterofthesun]

Thanks everyone for the feedback (and the moderation help )!

So the general consensus is that I've got so much sugar in this batch, I might get some cider in my rocket fuel. Gonna have to dial that down to about 1#, rather than the original four!

I've also done some light reading on adding spices to the mix. Apparently my original plan of adding the spices during fermentation produces a flavor akin to an old sock-- not what I was aiming for. The new plan is to mull the cider with spices prior to fermentation, or add them during secondary fermentation. However, I've also heard it said that flavors added during secondary fermentation tend to lend more of a "nose" rather than a flavor.

Any experienced input on this?

 

[Kashue]

I added vanilla to my last batch before bottling and it worked fine, you could try that with some mulled cider. Note tht bottle conditioning will really bring out even subtle flavors, so don't go crazy!

...Unless you want to, I mean it's all a big experiment really.

 

[daughterofthesun]

I pitched this one on the 22nd with an initial SG of 1.06. Mulled the spices for 20 minutes first and made the whole house smell lovely. The ferment is bopping along at a steady pace with a bubble every second or two.

Once the SG levels off, we are going to rack it off the lees and into a carboy with a vanilla bean and leave it a few weeks before bottling.

 

[daughterofthesun]

We seem to have leveled off at a flat 1.00, which translates to 7.88% ABV! Time to add the vanilla and rack it into the carboy!

 

[TattooedViking9]

I'm anxious to see how this turns out!


Happy Brewing