The cider thread

[Snarf1]

Haha.
We're looking into getting the requisite winery license to start making some old school cider. Oak fermented and aged.
Enjoy the banter on here.
Visiting family, and a respite was needed.

Talk dirty to me about keeving please.

 

[Steve2]

Haha.
We're looking into getting the requisite winery license to start making some old school cider. Oak fermented and aged.
Enjoy the banter on here.
Visiting family, and a respite was needed.

Let us know if you need any guinea pigs!

Been trying to think of whether there's any Florida grown fruits specifically I could get fresh pressed, unpasteurized to get that natural-skin yeast cider. I'll have to do some research.

 

[degardebrewing]

Talk dirty to me about keeving please.

Not much dirty to say...
we liked the result of running juice through freshly emptied two year lambic inspired barrels. Thinking we'll schedule production around that. Run through coolship first to ensure at least a small viable sacch population. Many trials ahead though!

It seems (as best I could understand), that some of our favorite Basque ciders were picking up their funk from the pretty crazy foeders. First trial seems to bear that as practical...

 

[Snarf1]

Not much dirty to say...
we liked the result of running juice through freshly emptied two year lambic inspired barrels. Thinking we'll schedule production around that. Run through coolship first to ensure at least a small viable sacch population. Many trials ahead though!

It seems (as best I could understand), that some of our favorite Basque ciders were picking up their funk from the pretty crazy foeders. First trial seems to bear that as practical...

Can you get actual cider apples in sufficient quantities or will you be working with dessert apples?

 

[SirDickButts]

i always wanted to make an apple cider called "pink lady and brett"....

maybe i should do that...

 

[degardebrewing]

Can you get actual cider apples in sufficient quantities or will you be working with dessert apples?

Theres a mixed selection. Any significant quantity will be difficult, but the farmer that takes our spent grain has offered to plant what we'd like.
I dont think itll be a huge production, but a fun diversion.
The Newtown Pippin juice has produced some fun results too though.

 

[drgarage1]

I made a cider using the ECY Brasserie (Fantome) cultures. Came out beautifully. Much cleaner than a Fantome saison, just really crisp, crazy dry and a tad funky. Probably the easiest to make fermented beverage of my homebrewing career.

 

[FTowne1]

I made a cider using the ECY Brasserie (Fantome) cultures. Came out beautifully. Much cleaner than a Fantome saison, just really crisp, crazy dry and a tad funky. Probably the easiest to make fermented beverage of my homebrewing career.

That sounds delicious. Recipe, please.

 

[Snarf1]

That sounds delicious. Recipe, please.

I just happen to have that yeast going on the stir plate.

 

[drgarage1]

That sounds delicious. Recipe, please.

Entire recipe was a half gallon of fresh- pressed cider from the Sierra foothills. Add yeast. Leave alone for two months. Bottle. Enjoy!

 

[Thorpe]

Entire recipe was a half gallon of fresh- pressed cider from the Sierra foothills. Add yeast. Leave alone for two months. Bottle. Enjoy!

Any idea what type of apples? Our Whole Foods has honeycrisp cider and I was thinking of trying that.

 

[drgarage1]

Any idea what type of apples? Our Whole Foods has honeycrisp cider and I was thinking of trying that.

I should ask the person who gave them to me! I have no idea.

 

[levifunk1]

levifunk tried a bunch of brett strains in cider. There's a big thread on it over on HBT.

Yea, brett ciders are legit. As with degardebrewing, i'll be looking into getting a winery license to make them again. You can read all about the fermentation panel I did with different brett strains on my blog. If you go to HBT, you'll want to read teh Wild Brewers thread, not the Cider thread. The cider guys didn't even think brett could ferment cider :facepalm:

 

[Skittle34]

I did two 3gal batches of cider, one with an English Dry cider strain and the other with WLP565. I much preferred the English Dry cider strain. WLP565 wasn't as sharp and in fact kinda muddled the flavor. It was an interesting test and I want to try again and see if I can get the yeast to clean up a little bit more/ impart some of it's characteristic flavor

 

[FTowne1]

Can you add dried orange or tangerine peel to a dry cider (during fermentation) to add a little sweetness/flavor?

 

[Tooch4321]

Yea, brett ciders are legit. As with degardebrewing, i'll be looking into getting a winery license to make them again. You can read all about the fermentation panel I did with different brett strains on my blog. If you go to HBT, you'll want to read teh Wild Brewers thread, not the Cider thread. The cider guys didn't even think brett could ferment cider :facepalm:

Virtue makes Percheron which is a brett fermented cider, I also happen to have a 1/6 barrel of the 2013 that I will bring up with me next time we come up to Madison...

 

[BadJustin]

Place local to me is doing some nice stuff that I have decided I am going to start including as extras in boxes.

http://harvestmooncidery.com/

 

[Milksteaks4me]

Just had my first cider experience and made a grapefruit ginger cider. Added amarillo hops to store bought apple cider and am planning to add fresh ginger tea once fermentation is done. Would really like to experiment with some of the stuff mentioned in this thread though. Especially with some sort of awesome saison yeast.

 

[PubGrubTrub]

This has the potential to be either a total dump or something interesting. I hope for the latter, but either way it's interesting.

Last year I bought 5 gallons of cider from a farm/orchard, tossed in some ale yeast and energizer and let it sit... and sit... and sit...

For a year. Didn't touch it for a legit 52 weeks. Did that first because other things seemed to take up my time to prevent me from racking it into secondary. Then it gave way to general laziness. That turned into a genuine curiosity of what it would be like. I figured if I kept an open mind, either way I'd be okay.

Racked it to a secondary on Sunday but pulled some to try. Was very dry and a bit bready. Added some fresh to sweeten it, put the top on and the airlock and have it sitting in a dark closet to continue getting happy. I figure I'll check it in two weeks to see how it's doing.

 

[Os]

so I want to do some lazy experimenting with cider...

can I just get fresh pressed cider and pitch yeast?

 

[Steve2]

so I want to do some lazy experimenting with cider...

can I just get fresh pressed cider and pitch yeast?

You can get fresh pressed cider and not pitch, too. Most of the time anyway.

 

[Os]

You can get fresh pressed cider and not pitch, too. Most of the time anyway.

what temp would you keep it at?

 

[tehzachatak]

what temp would you keep it at?

I have had unpasteurized cider ferment in my fridge at fridge temperatures before... pretty delicious tbh

 

[Steve2]

I have had unpasteurized cider ferment in my fridge at fridge temperatures before... pretty delicious tbh

This works - if you want funkier flavors keeping the cider itself between 60F and 72F is the way to go. You'll still get lots of pleasant phenols from a colder temp with the wild yeast both ways.

Usually it's 10-to-1 odds you'll have amazing cider to something nasty haha. Worth it for how much more delicious natural yeast fermented cider is IMO. Still try to keep the process as clean as possible.

 

[Skittle34]

I'm gonna try and do something this weekend, three gallons of cider sounds about right

 

[Skittle34]

Went five instead... whoops ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[sliverx]

Wild apples on the family property, kept thinking about then while out hunting so today I picked a bunch. Time to run them through a juicer and see what happens.

 

[sliverx]

Wild apples on the family property, kept thinking about then while out hunting so today I picked a bunch. Time to run them through a juicer and see what happens.

Pulp is what happens. So much pulp... got a bit more than a gallon between the 2 types. Strained twice and will update after it settles out some.

 

[Snarf1]

Pulp is what happens. So much pulp... got a bit more than a gallon between the 2 types. Strained twice and will update after it settles out some.

That's why it's called a press. Or read up on english cider making where they ferment on the fruit initially.

 

[sliverx]

That's why it's called a press. Or read up on english cider making where they ferment on the fruit initially.

A press will happen in the future. This was me being bored on vacation and having the time to actually follow through on one of my ideas.