Newbie cider maker

[RukusDM]

I'm interested in in some help for a newbie in Hard Cider making. My father in law was a very good wine maker. I never got the chance to get involved with his wine / brewing to gain experience before he passed away a few years back.

My mother in law recently asked me if I wanted his equipment and the 200 bottles of wine he had of all variates. I decided to take the equipment and wine and try making cider as my first adventure because he said it was a good place to start to learn brewing and wine making. Not that cider is simple as there are many different ways to go but this should be easier for me and being fall, the best choice in NY.

Several years back we talked about doing this together, however we never got around to it and I decided to keep up the tradition and move into brewing and wine making.

Today in his memory I started my first batch of cider. I purchased 5 gallons of pressed cider that was cold pasteurized with UV light and no preservatives. I found a recipe on the internet a week or 2 back that was very basic and started with that. I wish I had found this forum prior to starting. Anyway this is what I started with.

5 Gallons of cider
1 1/4 teaspoons yeast booster
2 lbs brown sugar
4 lbs regular sugar
I threw in about 10 oz of honey which i had
2 packets of Champagne yeast.

I washed all of the equipment and carboy with soap and water and then rinsed several times then with water. I then used water with bleach and rinsed again several times again.

I next put the room temperature cider into the carboy, reserving 1 gallon of cider which I heated to about 100 degrees or so and added the sugars and the yeast booster.

I then added this mixture to the cider in the carboy. I had previously added the champagne yeast to a half cup of water with a bit of sugar to proof. Once it was bubbling, i added this to the carboy as well. I shook the heck out of it to mix.

I took a specific gravity reading, and if I read it correctly, the SG was 1.12. This number seemed high from what I had been reading on the internet. Unfortunately, I didn't find this forum till after the fact.

With this high of a SG, it would appear that potential alcohol content might be in the range of 19%.

Will this end up ok, or will I have to run this stuff in my car
Thanks in advance for any insight.

 

[Yooper]

Well, that's a LOT of sugar. You've actually made an apple wine, not cider in my opinion. Cider is just, well, apple cider fermented with some yeast. An ABV of 6-8% means that cider retains some apple flavor and isn't "wine"y.

With an OG of 1.120 or so, you'll definitely be looking for some aging. It'll be "hot" for quite a while but aging will mellow it.

It should be very drinkable in a white wine kind of way. Just give it plenty of time!

 

[RukusDM]

Thanks for the info. I have allot to learn, but I hope this first batch is something useful other than fuel for my car.

Now that I have this forum to rely on, I may start another batch, looking for a lower SG. My father in laws equipment included 2 more 6 gallon carboys, so I can give it a go with more proven recipes from here.

It might make sense to make applejack out of the first batch if it ends up being to strong for just normal cider/wine.

I know this might be sacrilegious, but I recently had a couple of sixers of Hornsbys apple cider and really got a taste for that. I think its around the 5.5% alcohol range. Very nice and smooth for me at least. I would like to reproduce something in that range as well.

Any insight from the members is greatly appreciated.

 

[kunstler]

Please don't refer to making applejack on the forum. We don't talk about distillation of any form since it's illegal in the USA. What you do in your home is not my business but it's frowned upon to talk about home distillation on this forum. Just wanted to give you that heads up.

Some of my favorite ciders have been more simple than not as far as recipe though edworts apfelwine recipe is tasty, but different. I'd suggest making 1 gallon batches testing different factors in each batch and write down everything and see what you like

 

[RukusDM]

Thanks for the reply. I intend to track record Specific Gravity and acidity as it goes every few days or so and put it in a spreadsheet.

I'll try some of the smaller batches, and see what things change over time as well.

When I mentioned Applejack, I was thinking the freezing method by leaving outside in the winter. Not distilling method, but thanks for letting me know.

I just checked the cider this morning as I've just got up at 5am to goto work.
The stuff is bubbling fairly rapidly. My basement is about 67deg, and I'm getting bubble releases every second. I hope I haven't created a runaway Chernobyl event here

 

[kunstler]

Fyi: Freeze distillation is distillation none the less. Your condensing the alcohol through freezing and removing the water which also tends to leave more impurities than by evaporative distillation

Now if you leave it out in the winter and then bring it all back up to temp without removing any water. Once you remove water your condensing which is the illegal partof distilling...

Now, lagering it will help it age and rake some of the roughness out and if this stuff ends up too potent for you it will help but it won't magically turn sweet without back sweetening

 

[RukusDM]

Fyi: Freeze distillation is distillation none the less. Your condensing the alcohol through freezing and removing the water which also tends to leave more impurities than by evaporative distillation

Now if you leave it out in the winter and then bring it all back up to temp without removing any water. Once you remove water your condensing which is the illegal partof distilling...

Now, lagering it will help it age and rake some of the roughness out and if this stuff ends up too potent for you it will help but it won't magically turn sweet without back sweetening

Thanks for the info. I won't mention distillation again. It wasn't my intention of this cider anyway.

I have 4 or 5 cases of wine bottles that my fathernlaw had around that were empty. My intention in the end is to bottle it up in those. He also had a wine bottle corking press which should aid in that respect.

I'm currently searching here and on the internet to get a feel of how low the SG needs to be before I can bottle. I am interested in probably back sweetening the stuff with a non fermenting sugar like splenda to get the sweetness where I like it. I would also like to add a slight bit of natural carbonation. Just a touch, to give it a slight bit of bubbles when opened, and to keep any air from spoiling the cider. Not sure if this is needed or not to protect the cider, but I do like a small amount in cider.

As I am using only regular wine bottles and not sparkling wine bottles, I'll attempt to keep the carb low.

I was also interested in what acid level people find tasty for something in the semi sweet kind of cider. I assume acid levels can be changed.

Also does a hydrometer measure sugar as in splenda as well as normal fermenting sugars? In other words, can I add the proper level of priming sugar to give me slight carbonation noting the SG and then add splenda and measure SG again to use as a gauge of sweetness. I may add different levels of splenda, get readings and bottle. This way I could note it and then determine which one I like the best?

Thanks again for your help.
Doug