The cider thread

[sliverx]

growler on the left is the small red/green apples.

 

[sliverx]

L-R blend of what was left after filling, 2 1l of yellow apples, 2 16oz of red/green apples. Airlocks in hopefully they start working themselves while I'm out of town for a few days.

 

[Skittle34]

Ok, so interesting situation. I bottled my cider roughly a month ago in some swing tops and some crown caps. The swing tops are all over carb'd and the crown caps are not. Anyone have an idea why? possibly O2 exchange?

 

[sliverx]

Both small bottles have this developing.

 

[Dunt1]

Anybody have some tips for good cidermaking literature?

 

[Snarf1]

Ok, so interesting situation. I bottled my cider roughly a month ago in some swing tops and some crown caps. The swing tops are all over carb'd and the crown caps are not. Anyone have an idea why? possibly O2 exchange?

Ever carb up? If not, did you fill swing tops first?

 

[koopa1]

Anybody have some tips for good cidermaking literature?

Greating starting resource...

http://www.scottlab.com/products-144.aspx

You can email them and request a copy of there newest handbook, but here is a link to one posted on the internet a few years ago....

http://www.scottlab.com/pdf/2014CiderHandbook.pdf

 

[Skittle34]

Ever carb up? If not, did you fill swing tops first?

They did, just took a little longer, but still quite carbonated

 

[Dunt1]

Just racked my first cider into a secondary carboy today. Sample I pulled off tasted great (used wyeast dry mead yeast). Unfortunately my secondary had a lot of air space leftover in the vessel, so I topped it off with some leftover cider I didn't use and some water. I hope it doesn't thin it out too much, but lesson learned if it does. Have a second 2 gallon bucket fermenting with the wild yeast present in the juice after the apples were pressed. Haven't opened the bucket to check on it, but it's happily fermenting away and smells great from the outside.

 

[liquiddegenerate]

Anyone use sacc trois in cider before? Just curious about what I can expect in a 2.5g batch I have going.

 

[wuntrikpony]

Anyone use sacc trois in cider before? Just curious about what I can expect in a 2.5g batch I have going.

Have you checked MTF?

 

[liquiddegenerate]

Have you checked MTF?

No specifically. Not much about results with a Google search.

 

[wuntrikpony]

No specifically. Not much about results with a Google search.

Doing a quick search in the MTF Facebook group comes up with a half dozen brett trois cider posts. I'd check it out.

 

[Phischy1]

I recently got the WL vault Scottish cider yeast. Did a 2.5 gallon batch with organic juice from Sprouts. It's been carrying this week and I should sample it tonight.

Anyone else use this strain? Had a ton of apple flavor when I kegged it despite finishing at .998

 

[Lutter]

Trying to get myself back brewing so I figured I’d start easy.... 1 gallon Whole Foods Organic Apple Juice and champagne yeast.

6 hours later and that thing is ******* pumping with CO2.

Maybe the most satisfying $10 you can spend.

 

[Lutter]

I was reading on our sister site about brewing a cider (really apple wine) with frozen apple juice concentrate (thawed)... it’s apparently an OG of 1.2

Anybody ever try that?

Half tempted to get some high gravity yeast this week and see what happens lol.

 

[Lutter]

I've seen differing answers about this but....

... my understanding is that the yeast in cider are very hard to kill (supposedly in England they used to leave the stuff outside to ferment and it's normal for the yeast to be frozen, unthaw, and continue fermenting). Should I be pasteurizing my bottles? Or just cold crash for a few days in the fridge? I don't wanna make anything esplode.

The juice was pasteurized to begin with if that matters (pasteurized, no preservatives).

 

[coldcrash1]

I've seen differing answers about this but....

... my understanding is that the yeast in cider are very hard to kill (supposedly in England they used to leave the stuff outside to ferment and it's normal for the yeast to be frozen, unthaw, and continue fermenting). Should I be pasteurizing my bottles? Or just cold crash for a few days in the fridge? I don't wanna make anything esplode.

The juice was pasteurized to begin with if that matters (pasteurized, no preservatives).

Shouldn’t be any need to pasteurize unless you’re back-sweetening/ trying to leave residual sugar behind

 

[liquiddegenerate]

I almost always backsweeten with fruit juice and put the bottles through a sanitize cycle in my dishwasher. Pasteurized... easy, peezy.

 

[Lutter]

sanitize cycle in my dishwasher.

That's brilliant. I'd never even think to do that, lol.

 

[rcubed1]

I've been making cider with Costco juice up until this past weekend and got some local fresh pressed juice from a blend of four varieties. OG is 1.080!!!! Added some yeast nutrient and I'm just letting it ferment wild.

 

[Lutter]

Put together a cider today with 3/4 honey crisp organic apple juice (pasteurized, no preservatives) and 1/4 Apple concentrate.

OG was 1.082 so it should come out to ~9.5% ABV (champagne yeast so I expect it to get dry af).

Last cider is ready to go but I have no idea where my bottles went. Will have to locate some and hopefully bottle tomorrow.

Was just gonna sanitize some Grolshlager bottles but the ones at the supermarket aren’t swing tops anymore. Grr.

 

[Lutter]

Surprising amount of activity still in the fermenter on Saturday's brew.

Trying to decide if I want to try to backsweeten the ~5% ABV cider I made last month. I've never tried doing it.

From what I've read (and spoken to my homebrew pal about) I can add juice concentrate or honey as well as priming sugar and pasteurize as soon as the bottles are ready co2-wise (so as to kill whatever yeast are left). It's been in the fermenter a good month now, so it's dying to be bottled.

 

[rcubed1]

Surprising amount of activity still in the fermenter on Saturday's brew.

Trying to decide if I want to try to backsweeten the ~5% ABV cider I made last month. I've never tried doing it.

From what I've read (and spoken to my homebrew pal about) I can add juice concentrate or honey as well as priming sugar and pasteurize as soon as the bottles are ready co2-wise (so as to kill whatever yeast are left). It's been in the fermenter a good month now, so it's dying to be bottled.

Usually you'll want to kill the yeast, keg, force carbonate, and then bottle with a beer gun or counter pressure filler.

 

[Lutter]

Usually you'll want to kill the yeast, keg, force carbonate, and then bottle with a beer gun or counter pressure filler.

Unfortunately I don't have kegging equipment.

Will probably just bottle dry or add some non-fermenting sugars at bottling. My wife just likes it a little sweet.

 

[Lutter]

Unfortunately I don't have kegging equipment.

Will probably just bottle dry or add some non-fermenting sugars at bottling. My wife just likes it a little sweet.

So I’ve been reading a lot about this and I can overdo the priming phase with too much sugar, check a sample in a plastic bottle for when it is done carbing. Then murder all the yeast with a 10 minute pasteurization at 180 degrees to end the carb and keep residual backsweetening. I’ll do that with apple juice concentrate.

My strong cider has gone from 1.082 to 1.02 in a week (8.4% ABV) I’m gonna let that complete fermenting out for another 2 weeks and I created a tincture of key lime and will add lactose to create a strong key lime cider.

Got another gallon of cider for to start another batch when I bottle sometime this week. (Gotta finish a 12-pack of bottles first, lol). That’s gonna be finished with cherry concentrate at bottling.

Also bought pectin enzyme for future batches. I’m just too impatient to wait for this stuff to clear.

 

[Phischy1]

I have a 4.5 gallon batch going now. Organic juice from Sprouts. Added pectic enzyme and just letting it go on dry yeast. Plan to keg this batch and then bottle it off in Yellow Rose bottles (those labels are insanely hard to remove).

Should be about 5%.

Next I want to do a tart cherry small batch.

I need to learn more about acid blending. Don't even know where to start.

 

[rcubed1]

I need to learn more about acid blending. Don't even know where to start.

Hit up Trout on the QUAFF list. You'll likely get an essay on it as a response.

 

[Phischy1]

Hit up Trout on the QUAFF list. You'll likely get an essay on it as a response.

I have no need for a lecture in hipsterbonics. I can barely comprehend his stream of thought postings as is. His posts give me dyslexia, I ask myself if i got kicked in the head or if his words are actually in the correct order.

That being said I do wish I had taken one of his classes before I left. He's much easier to understand in person.

 

[Lutter]

Bottled my first cider finally. Strong cider is still bubbling a lot.

Bottled with apple juice concentrate. Put the first pour in a plastic soda bottle so I can test when to pasteurize.

I really need to get a couple of these going at once... I only got about 10 bottles of beer from 1 gallon, lol. They’re gonna be gone in ~ half a second after my wife gets ahold of them.