Sam in Western Massachusetts

[samrunner]

Hi Folks...I'm Sam, in Western Mass and I am tired of buying Woodchuck Hard Cider all the time. I want to learn to make my own hard cider so here's what I did and please tell me if I went wrong and screwed it up as I suspect I did.

-Bought Champagne yeast
(5 packets for up to 5 gallons)
-1 gallon glass jug with stopper and air lock
-Boiled 1 cup of apple cider and melted 1 lb of sugar in it along with yeast packet (that's where I suspect I went wrong; boiling yeast, thereby pasteurizing it and killing the living enzymes or whatnot)
-Then I poured the yeast and sugar cider in the 1 gal glass jug along with the rest of the 1 gallon of cider and it is sitting right now with me anxiously awaiting the bubbling process...

Please tell me if I should re do with some good cider and not boil the yeast this time...Thanks, Sam

 

[motleybrews]

First, welcome.

2nd, yes, you will need to start over.

3rd, 5 packets of yeast? For 5 one gallon batches? In reality, you only need 1 packet for a 5 gallon batch.

Search the cider forum, and I'm sure you will find a good recipe, but it looks like you are trying to do this on a minuscule budget. It can be done but don't expect it to be like woodchuck. To get closer to woodchuck, you'll need equipment and ingredients and a host of other things that make this hobby expensive. Sanitation is a very important aspect of brewing anything. Perhaps the most important part.

If you are looking for a cider that can be made with minimal ingredients, might I suggest apfelwein. There is a thread called "man, I love apfelwein" that has the recipe. It is nothing like woodchuck, but you don't really need special equipment, just 5gallons of juice, 2 pounds of corn sugar, and wine yeast.

Good luck

 

[motleybrews]

Also, you don't want to boil the yeast. You can just pitch the dry yeast directly into the COOL liquid, and it will go to work. If you want, you can rehydrated the yeast prior to dumping it in, but that is not necessary. This just allows for the yeast to repopulate and start reproducing prior to going to work.

 

[Calichusetts]

Seems like everyday there is more and more Mass brewers showing up...loving it. Good luck