Simple Hopped Cider -- So Good It's Sick!

[WinterWarrior]

I tried a hopped cider recently and thought to myself, "Self -- this is good, let's try making one of our own!"

I really wasn't sure what to do, so I just went with my gut (my gut loves simple).

Kegged yesterday and, daiyy-ummm, it's good!!



Here's the recipe.

Originally based on EdWort's Apfelwein recipe and I used the same hops from the hopped cider that inspired me to try this.

Hopped Cider (haven't come up with a name yet, but I will)
5 Gallon Batch

5 gallons apple juice or "naked" cider
6 cups sugar
Nottingham yeast
1/2 oz. Citra hops

Dissolve sugar in 1/2 gallon apple juice and add to Bucket. Add rest of apple juice. Pitch yeast -- I don't rehydrate.

After 14 days, add 1/2 oz. citra hops and stir vigorously. The gravity reading before adding hops was 1.010 and after hops 1.030.

After 6 days, gravity was 1.001. A total of 10 days after adding the hops, I was ready to keg. I added potassium sorbate and potassium metabisulfide just as I would any other cider then kegged to carbonate.

I didn't need to backsweeten and the hops come through perfectly for both aroma and taste without going overboard.

If my readings are correct, I ended up with 9.4% A.B.V.

 

[stussi67]

Hello,

I am looking to try my luck at my first cider and your receipt is intriguing. I have some questions:

1: Do you not need to stain the cider before kegging?

2: Is potassium sorbate the properties that come in your standard yeast nutrient for higher alcohol content brews?

Cheers,
Drew Stussi

 

[WinterWarrior]

Howdy, Drew!

I do a one-step bucket brew and then I transfer to another bucket on bottling/kegging day. So, yes, I transfer so that all the yeast & hop sludge stay in the original bucket.

Then, after the cider is in the new bucket, I add a combination of potassium sorbate and potassium metabisulfide and do any backsweetening that's necessary -- then bottle or keg. Potassium sorbate and potassium metabisulfide stabilize the cider and also prevents the yeast from activating again if you backsweeten.

Yeast nutrient and yeast energizer are different from potassium sorbate and are added at the beginning of the fermentation.

 

[Morejello]

I've done a real simple dry-hopped cider like this as well, only I used .65 oz of Cascade hops, and it was a 3 gallon batch. It came out very citrusy. The next one I do like this will probably be the same amount of hops, but a full 5 ga. batch. I may switch up the hops, but because I still have plenty of cascade I may not.

 

[WinterWarrior]

Cascade hops have a lower AA value than the Citra hops I used. I'm thinking that the higher the AA% the less you'd want to use per 5 gallon batch -- unless you want a really pronounced, in your face, hops presence. I didn't, so I was afraid to use more than 1/2 ounce in the batch.

I actually read somewhere else in the forum that using more than 1/2 ounce per batch made the cider bitter -- so I erred on the side of caution and I'm glad I did.

Good luck with your 5 gallon batch ... please let me know how it turns out and how much you decided to add.

I do recommend Citra if you wanted to try a different hop -- very fruity w/ citrus notes and doesn't overpower the apple flavor at all.

 

[rocketsan]

Reluctant to "stir vigorously" after 14 days...surely this may result in oxidized cider :/


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[FatsSchindee]

. The gravity reading before adding hops was 1.010 and after hops 1.030.

Why would adding hops make the gravity increase part way through fermentation? Did you add any sugars or more juice or anything else at that time? Or did you you have a bunch of the hops floating in your hydrometer sample that affected the reading?
Just sounds weird...

Recipe sounds good, though! Looking at hopping a cider for the first time, and it sounds like a citrusy type hop is the way to go...


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[gotbags-10]

Glad I found this. I'm starting my first batch of Ed worts cider tonight actually. I absolutely love citra so I will deff be trying this. I just have a question on aging. In Ed's thread people are waiting months before drinking it. How long did you age it? I'm wondering what would happen to the citra taste if left to age for months ? Either way sounds good.

 

[phug]

Hopped ciders actually make a lot of sense. A balanced cider should have bitterness, acidity, and sugar( at the beginning) and since most store bought filtered juice has te sugar and the acid, adding the hops to make up the bitterness and give it some aroma if not a bad idea at all. Any idea how many obi you contributed?


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[cujocon]

Nothing to contribute...but thanks for the thread.
Cider pressing starts here in the next few weeks and I'll be trying a hopped cider - will use this recipe.

 

[gotbags-10]

I'm thinking maybe I will age for a few months and then dry hop with the citra in the keg ?

 

[ericbw]

You shouldn't get much bitterness from dry hopping the cider. I mean, if you add a LOT, then you would taste the plant. But without the boil, you're not really getting the bitterness. And as far as I can tell, AA% doesn't really have an effect on the aroma that you'd get from dry hopping. That has to do with other stuff (myrcene, etc.) in the hops.