**Hard Cider Recipe**

[CoyoteMesc]

Anyone have some personally experienced recipes for dry and or sweet hard cider. Im gonna get 5gal tomorrow from the Orchard and I was curious about the yeast used. I have a few narrowed down, (ale yeast and wine yeast, maybe even some cider yeast) but wanted to hear some personal experience on which types you guys used. Maybe which yeast you found to be best for dry and the best for a sweet cider. Hell Im open to entire recipes also, hehe.

Any and all input on the subject is welcome as not everyone knows how easy and experimental the different hard cider recipes can be.

[Hippie3]

from mother earth news-
"
Find the Ingredients

Choose Your Juice. The best hard cider is made from sweet apple cider fresh from the cider press — whether your own, or a local cider mill’s. If you’re buying sweet cider, start by checking the label to be sure the cider doesn’t contain chemical preservatives, because these will kill your yeast and your cider will not ferment. (The cider is chemically preserved if sodium benzoate or potassium sorbate are listed on the label.) Your best bet for preservative-free cider is to buy it in season from a local orchard. In a pinch, you can also make hard cider with grocery store apple juice, as long as it doesn’t have preservatives.
Also, be aware that most commercial cidermakers are required to pasteurize their cider, and the process they use will affect the flavor. Preferably, your sweet cider should be “cold pasteurized,” which kills microorganisms with ultraviolet light. The usual method of pasteurization kills microorganisms with heat, which affects the flavor of the juice. If you’re not sure which method a local cider mill uses, it doesn’t hurt to ask.
Choose Your Yeast. A variety of dry and liquid brewing yeasts will do the trick, and you can find them online or from homebrew stores. Although you can buy specialized liquid yeast packs for fermenting cider, dry wine yeasts do an excellent job and are much cheaper. (You can get a pack for less than a dollar.)
Make a Starter. The day before you brew your cider, make a starter. This step is optional, but it ensures that your yeast is proofed (i.e., alive) and will start fermenting your cider right away. To make a starter, open the bottle of preservative-free apple juice and pour out a few ounces. Pour the contents of one yeast packet into the bottle, reseal it and shake for a few seconds. Within five or six hours, you should see a bit of bubbling within the bottle. Once you do, release the pressure within the bottle, reseal it and put it in the refrigerator. Get it out a couple of hours before you brew.
Start Brewing

On brewing day, pour your cider into the brewpot and simmer it over medium heat for about 45 minutes. This will kill most of the wild yeasts and bacteria in the cider. Bolder cidermakers will forgo this step by pouring the sweet cider directly into a plastic bucket and then pitching in the yeast. If you follow this strategy, wild strains of yeast will still be in the sweet cider when it begins fermenting. This will alter the flavor of the cider. (It may or may not improve it.) If you do heat the cider, don’t let it boil! Boiling causes pectins to set, which creates a permanently hazy beverage. While simmering the cider, you can add the optional 2 pounds of brown sugar or honey. This will boost the fermentable sugar content in your cider and up the alcohol content."

[Hippie3]

Next, pour the cider into a sanitized fermentation bucket — an unsanitized bucket may spoil the cider. To sanitize, pour a capful of bleach into your bucket, fill it with water, let it sit for a half an hour, then dump out and rinse with cold water. (You can also buy non-bleach, no-rinse sanitizers at homebrew stores.) Let the cider cool to nearly room temperature, then add your yeast — or starter, if you chose to make one. Stir the mixture for a minute or two with a clean stainless steel or plastic spoon to aerate, then seal the lid and affix the airlock. Place the bucket in a room or closet where the temperature is 60 to 75 degrees — the closer to 60 degrees, the better. Stay within this range if you can: At lower temperatures the cider won’t ferment, while higher temperatures will speed up fermentation, but may also change the flavor.
Let it Ferment. Within a day or two you should see the airlock start to bubble. The gas it’s releasing is carbon dioxide, a byproduct of the fermentation process. Congratulations, your soft cider is on its way to becoming a delicious, inebriating elixir of the gods! This bubbling should subside within two weeks, signifying an end to the primary fermentation. After that, let the cider sit another week to allow the yeast to settle out.
Options For Bottling

There are a couple of different ways you can go at this point:

Option 1: Bottle the Cider Now. If you want to bottle the cider immediately, affix the rinsed food-grade tubing to the spigot on your fermentation bucket and pour the cider off into sanitized jugs or bottles. (Be gentle when moving the bucket full of cider. Sloshing can disturb the yeast sediment at the bottom of the bucket and cloud up your cider.) Seal the jugs or bottles. Let the bottled hard cider sit for another two weeks and then it will be ready to drink. Your cider will probably be “still” (i.e., not fizzy) unless you let it age for several months. Hard cider is more like wine than beer, and the flavor will improve as it ages.

Option 2: Let it Clarify. If you only use one fermenter, your cider will taste fine, but may not be perfectly clear because it will probably still have some suspended yeast. To reduce cloudiness, siphon your cider into a secondary fermenter (another food-grade bucket). Sanitize this bucket before filling it with cider. Once you’ve siphoned your cider into the secondary fermenter, put a sanitized lid and airlock on it and place it back in a dark and, preferably, cool location. A month should be ample time for the cider to clarify. After it’s aged for as long as you can stand, bottle it as above. This cider will most definitely be “still,” with no bubbles.

Option 3: Make Sparkling Cider. Regardless of whether you decide to bottle immediately or let it clarify in a secondary fermenter, if you want “sparkling” cider, you’ll have to add a couple steps at bottling time. First, boil 1 cup water with three-fourths cup honey or brown sugar. Pour this mixture into a sanitized bottling bucket (i.e., another fermentation bucket with a spigot at the bottom). Then, siphon your cider over from your fermentation bucket to the bottling bucket. The honey or brown sugar syrup and cider should mix together naturally, but stir slowly with a sanitized spoon if you feel it is necessary. Then, bottle as you would normally. You’ll have to let this sit a bit longer than the still cider, so the residual yeast will have time to ferment the sugar you added and carbonate the cider inside the bottle.

[Hippie3]

Drink the Cider! At this point, it’s time to start drinking your cider and thinking about brewing your next batch. With time and experience, your skills will grow and your recipes will become more complex. Soon, you’ll be making cider that delights your friends and terrifies your enemies.

Brewing Equipment

One 5-gallon food-grade plastic bucket with spigot, lid and airlock
3 to 6 feet of 5/16-inch food-grade plastic tubing
Stainless steel or plastic spoon
Enough half-gallon glass “growler” jugs or other bottles (including caps or corks) to store the finished cider
Optional: Stainless steel or enameled pot
Optional: a second 5-gallon food-grade plastic bucket with spigot, or a glass carboy
Hard Cider Ingredients

5 gallons of preservative-free, sweet apple cider, preferably unpasteurized
Two packets of wine yeast (Lalvin 71B or Red Star Cote des Blancs are good choices)
Optional for higher alcohol content: 2 pounds of brown sugar or honey
Optional for creating a starter: one 16-ounce bottle of preservative-free, pasteurized apple juice
Optional for sparkling cider: 3/4 cup honey or brown sugar



Wittenham Hill Cider Portal
Northern Brewer Homebrew Forum
Brews & Views Bulletin Board Service

[Hippie3]

from
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-...er.aspx?page=3

[Hippie3]

comments on pg. 3 say to use more sugar

[CoyoteMesc]

rock on !

have you made any?

[Hippie3]

nope.
but i found a guy selling apples , a big box for $14
gonna buy tomorrow in town.
pies and sauce too.

[CoyoteMesc]

I never made hard cider in my life. But I have drank a spiced cider some yrs ago and was very pleased. The host of the powwow had a punch bow of heated cider. He had cinnamon, captain morgan, and some cider. It was served warm and was pretty good.
I found some recipes that sounded similar to what he had.

This time of year is perfect for some warm spiced cider
Sitting around a bon fire, roasting some hot dogs, shooting the bull
and passing around a canteen full of some warm cider sounds
peaceful.

[CoyoteMesc]

Originally Posted by Hippie3

nope.
but i found a guy selling apples , a big box for $14
gonna buy tomorrow in town.
pies and sauce too.

Great idea...I hope the have some fresh sauce when we go tomorrow.
The kids are gonna get some pumpkins and the addition of apple sauce....lol they'll be stoked!

[helloinsomnia]

This is awesome. Great time of year to do this.

[Hippie3]

got excellent deal,
only 2 throw-aways in entire bushel.
making pies and sauce [wife is...]
Jonathans grown by the Amish

[CoyoteMesc]

Sweet deal.

My cider I got today have some Johnathon's in it also.
The guy told me that they do use heat when they pasteurize it.
But no preservatives. He said that the cider was brought up to 165 degrees
for 15 seconds.

I started the brew and details with pics to come

[xerimyco]

I "make" hard cider every year. I put make in quotes because it really makes itself.

Where I live, I can get fresh, organic, unpasteurized apple juice of a number of different varieties. It comes in plastic 1 gal. jugs like milk. The process for making the cider is as follows:

Step 1: Open jug and remove about 12 oz. of juice. Drink the 12 oz. of juice.

Step 2: Leave juice on counter at room temperature. Leave alone until you see bubbles

Step 3: Start drinking cider.

As long as the juice is unpasteurized, it will contain lots of wild yeast. The juice usually starts fermenting within 24 hrs., sometimes as little as 12. I start drinking it right away, it goes from real weak the first day or so, to about 9% after 5 days. One of the reasons I drink it while it is still fermenting is that the CO2 generated by the fermentation naturally carbonates the cider. It is absolutely DELICIOUS!

You can also make "apple jack" with your cider. Apple jack is hard cider that has had the alcohol concentrated in it. You can use a still, but I like the traditional "freeze distillation". All you do is freeze your cider, in your freezer, or, if you live in the right climate, by leaving it outside at night. Then, while it is frozen, pour off the portion that is still liquid. This will have quite a kick, and tastes great. One thing to beware of though, is the danger of methanol. Apples contain a lot of pectin, which is fermented into methanol and other fusel oils, which are toxic. The presence of these compounds in the cider is not dangerous, but if concentrated through freeze distillation, they can reach levels in the apple jack that could be considered toxic. Using a still is safer, as you can remove the foreshots (the first of the liquid produced by the still), which will contain most of the mehanol and fusels. This is work though, and I tend to avoid too much of that when possible. To tell the truth, not much of my cider ever makes it to apple jack, because the cider is so good I drink it before there is a chance to concentrate it.

[Beastmaster]

Yep, good stuff, I'm gonna make some cyser (mead/cider) this fall. I prefer Lalvin EC1-1118 or KV1-1116 for my meads, as it pushes the alcohol content up around 15% or higher - though you do have to have enough sugar there for the yeast to produce that much alcohol (hence the addition of honey).

Was thinking adding some mulling spices towards the end might make a nice christmassy brew. Careful adding spices though, only use a bit and don't let it soak for too long, spices can overpower the flavors of your brew real quick.

[CoyoteMesc]

October 4th I bought 5gal of fresh cider from my local
orchard. As soon as I got home I sterilized my 6gal
carboy, airlock and rubber cork. The apples chosen is
3-2 sweet-sour ratio using several different types of apples
I cant remember them all



I poured all five gallons of apple juice into my carboy.
After half of each gallon was poured in I shook the heck
out of the remainder to aerate the cider well. Then it was poured on in. This was done with each gallon of cider.
This is needed because the yeast will use the oxygen
in the juice while it is consuming the sugar.
Once all five gallons were in the carboy-the juice was
left alone with the airlock in place so that the temperature
would raise to room temp(approx 68-72 degrees) and the fruit flies couldn't get in.



After 8 hours
the musk was ready for the yeast. It was given one more quick swirl and the yeast was pitched.


After 24 hours the musk was working over time. My airlock was bubbling at least twice every second.
The smell of alcohol alone will almost get you high. It smells much like whiskey- high in alcohol content.


After 24 hours I added 2.5 pounds of light brown sugar and 2.5 pounds of white sugar.
I mixed the sugar with 1/4 a gallon of apple cider and melted it all together.
Once it cooled, it was added to the carboy with a funnel.
No OG was taken because high alcohol content isnt my goal,
nor do I have a hydrometer for it. But next time I will measure so that
'I know'

Here it is after 48 hours....
It must be noted that the cider that was used came from a local
orchard and it was pasteurized to 160 degrees for 15 seconds. I
chose not to do another pasteurization at home to further kill the
wild yeast. The recommendation to pasteurize for 20+ minutes at home
is given in many recipes. The reason given for this is to have more
control over the end product. i.e no wild bacteria, no wild yeast
I will keep this musk as close to 65 degrees as possible while its
in a 'box closet' covered by a blanket to further aid in blocking out any light.
More to come as the cider progresses

To date, the juice has been in the carboy fermenting 5 days and bubbling now once every 4 seconds.
Im hoping by Friday it is ready to rack to a secondary fermentation.

[Hippie3]

i'll need a sample, of course...

[CoyoteMesc]

five days in/
Bubbles once ever 3 seconds.
Sediment is visible now
Froth is almost entirely gone from the top
temps steady at 69
Smell of alcohol coming from airlock
is more alcohol than cider. It does have a slight apple aroma.
But mostly alcohol.



No problem hip. With five gallons Im sure I'll have a least a teaspoon
to spare

[CoyoteMesc]

6 days in now

Im ready to rack the musk off the lees. Here is a picture
of the sediment collecting at the bottom.

I tried to gather everything that was going to touch my cider
and sterilize it well. One can use bleach; But I dont like the smell
of bleach so I use this stuff.
I like to get the water so hot I need gloves. Then I mix that stuff in.
After that, I scrub the shit out of it.



One day when I get a basement I'll start these projects up high
so that when racking time comes I wont have to lift 5-6 gallons more
than once. Not to mention I dont want to disturb that sediment in the
bottom.


Racking time!

Just keeping the filter at the bottom of the siphon above the lees.






I saved Hippie's portion of the hard cider
There is some nasty looking stuff mixed in there.



Now a smart man would have done that transfer to another carboy!
But a poor man had to use a bucket...So back to the carboy it goes.
After a good hot sterilizing bath of course



So here it is day 6 of the project and the start of day 1 of secondary
fermentation.

Oh, If you like wine...you'll love this stuff. It's becoming dryer as the
sugar is consumed and I can tell already that it's mellowing out.
Im not sure if Ill add any sweetener after the campden tablets
at the end or not? I guess it will depend on the end product.
Needless to say Im loving it so far.

[Hippie3]

you're mean.

[Mermaidia]

I'll sneak a package out to ya Hip. No worries.

[CoyoteMesc]

Originally Posted by Mermaidia

I'll sneak a package out to ya Hip. No worries.

I hide change....you find it and claim it as your own
I hide exotic mush strains....you find em and grow them yourself
I make up some apple wine cider......You give it away

I want to save my change
I want to grow my mush
and I want to give away my apple cider

Just teasing ya but you know most is true.

Hip Ill bottle you up a wine bottle full with a couple others. Once I taste
a few after a month or two of storage Ill send yours out. I need to make sure they are stable first. Im a little apprehensive about giving out my beer cause most folks I know dont drink dark beer. I feel that if they dont like it they cant say 'I dont like it'. Take my dad, never drinks dark beer never liked dark beer, hates it. I give him a bottle of mine. I know he wont like it but I want my dad to have a beer I made. Guess what...He said he liked it

But I would like to offer you a bottle. If you could please report back and be honest. If you could tell me what you like about it, or what you dont like about it. I really enjoy the hobby but what pisses me off is everyone 'likes' my beer...Now tell me how everyone likes one thing. They cant. They feel that if they tell me they dont like it for whatever reason they will hurt my feelings or whatever. But really I need contructive critism if you know what I mean.

Merm likes wine. I like wine. And there is nothing better than making a wine for someone that they like. If I gave the entire batch..(minus at least one glass) to folks and got REAL feedback I'd be honetly thrilled.

Its a great feeling for me to give something to someone I made myself.

[CoyoteMesc]

6 days in
Secondary fermentation started
oxygen cleared, bubbles ever 5 seconds
No visible sediment
temps 70 degrees
Cleaned and sterilized air lock w/ rubber stopper
Taste test: Slightly dry, nice balance of alcohol, a little yeasty,
a little harsh.
Plan: rack in another 7 days and take another taste.

Plan to buy 4 one gallon jugs to age.
1) sweet
1) dry
1) sparkling dry
1) not sure, might age with a cinnamon stick

[Hippie3]

i'm good at honest criticism.

[rocketman]

Would either of you have a recipe for non fermented cider aka no alcohol? I have just harvested around 7 five gallon buckets of nice apples and around the same amount of pears. I am making pear preserves and pear honey, but id really like to try some "soft" cider. i guess soft cider is the same as apple juice?????

[Mermaidia]

i did a quick search and came up with this

Making apple cider is a simple process of separating the juice from the apples. You should use a variety of apples to allow each to contribute its own taste. Sweet apples such as Delicious and Cortland should be used for the bulk of the cider. But adding mildly tart apples such as Winesap, Jonathon or MacIntosh will really perk up the taste. It is perfectly alright to use bruised apples, but check for mold, rot or worms. Thoroughly wash the apples and remove the stems. Chop or grind them into a fine pulp. To save time, putting them through a food processor works great. Save any juice to be added to the cider.


The chopped apples are what home beverage makers call pomace. This will be used to extract the cider. Place all the pomace into a clean pillow case or cheesecloth and place into the cider press. This is not a process that can be rushed, so give yourself plenty of time. Apply press and wait until most of the juice has stopped dripping down. Then simply apply more pressure. In the long run, your patience during this process will be greatly rewarded by increased yields and a clearer cider.

When you have finished pressing your apples, the cider can be poured into clean glass jars or used as a mixer for other cider recipes. If you are pouring it into jars, filter the juice through several layers of cheesecloth to improve the storage quality and create a clear cider. The minute the juice is pressed from the pomace, the flavor of the cider will began maturing. It will start out as a sweet, tangy tartness and progress to a mellow full bodied fruity taste. If it is not properly stored it will progress into vinegar. Cider will keep in the refrigerator for several weeks or can be frozen for approximately a year. It can be pasteurized by heating it quickly to 170 degrees and immediately pouring it into canning jars. The jars should be sealed and processed in a water bath for five minutes. If you choose to make cider vinegar for salad dressings or other use, you can simply open a jar of your cider and allow it to stand at a temperature of 70 degrees for about five weeks. It will then have turned to hard cider and shortly after will be vinegar.

Mulled cider can be made by adding 10 cloves, 1 cup of maple syrup, 4 cinnamon sticks and nutmeg to a quart of cider. Bring the cider and cloves to a boil. Add the syrup and stir until thoroughly mixed. Pour into mugs with a cinnamon stick in each and top with nutmeg. Applejack is a form of hard cider that can be made by placing a container of cider where it will freeze. A slushy ice will form on the top. Removing the top layer of ice will give you a concentrated form of hard cider. Remember when making applejack that with this drink, the alcohol content has been increased well beyond what the fermentation process will produce. Federal regulations that have been in effect since 1979 allow adult citizens to make all the hard cider they want, but the selling of this beverage or distillation to make hard liquor is illegal.

[Mermaidia]

and

Apple cider terminology can be a bit confusing—the term historically referred to a mildly alcoholic beverage produced when apples were ground and pressed and the resulting liquid was allowed to ferment. Fermented apple cider is now called hard cider.
Today, in the U.S., apple cider refers to the unfermented and unfiltered liquid produced by pressing apples. The apples are picked (apples that have fallen off a tree are never used, they can contain dangerous bacteria and toxins), ground into a pulp, and pressed to yield cider. The cider retains a small amount of apple pulp resulting in an opaque liquid with a rosy brown color resulting from the oxidation (browning) of the apple pulp.
Apple juice is a translucent golden liquid made from apple cider that has been filtered to remove all traces of apple pulp. (Apple juice that has been watered down, or contains added sugar, must by law, be labeled as an apple drink or an apple juice beverage.) Apple juice has a far less complex flavor than apple cider and is also less nutritious. Unfiltered cider contains higher amounts of polyphenols (natural antioxidants that protect us from cancer) than commercially bottled apple juice. A recent study comparing apple cider to apple juice shows that apple cider's higher pectin content may have a greater protective effect against colon cancer.
The terminology gets even more confusing when we add in the modern practice of juicing fruits and vegetables using electrical juicers that are able to grind the entire fruit into a puree. Apples juiced using this method are entirely unfiltered and contain all the nutrients they originally had. This type of apple "juice" has a very short shelf life and thicker consistency than apple cider.
While cider sold at fruit stands is not always pasteurized, most apple cider sold in stores is, that is, heated to 160 degrees F or treated with UV light to kill any pathogens. Un-pasteurized cider can be risky for pregnant women, small children and those with a compromised immune system. While pasteurization renders apple cider safer to drink, and increases its shelf life, the process can alter the flavor of the cider slightly. The process destroys enzymes, and inhibits oxidation so pasteurized apple cider has less distinct flavor. Cider that will be used for cooking will almost always be heated about 160 degrees F, so using un-pasteurized cider for cooking is of less concern as long as it is stored and refrigerated properly and used before the end of its shelf life.

The apples used for apple cider and hard cider production are different varieties than those produced for fruit. Cider apples tend to be juicier and generally have a have higher tannin content. The tannins lend a more astringent flavor, and cider apples are not usually eaten for their fruit. While hard cider is often made from a single varietal, most apple cider is made from a mixture of different apples to balance the sweet and tart notes of the apples. But there is a new and exciting culinary trend: Producers are beginning to offer ciders made from single apple varieties, yielding ciders with distinctive flavors.
Cider isn't just a delicious beverage; it is also great to cook with. Cider can be substituted for stock or water in a variety of recipes, adding sweetness and a taste of fall to your favorite recipes. Or cider can simply reduced and drizzled over plain yogurt as a delicious. (To reduce the cider, just simmer is until it has decreased in volume by three-quarters.)

[CoyoteMesc]

Originally Posted by rocketman

Would either of you have a recipe for non fermented cider aka no alcohol? I have just harvested around 7 five gallon buckets of nice apples and around the same amount of pears. I am making pear preserves and pear honey, but id really like to try some "soft" cider. i guess soft cider is the same as apple juice?????

Ive watch them make it rocket, minus the pasteurizing. Some cut them in half and some just keep them whole. Wash them off and press 'em while they are wrapped in cloth material of some kind. Kinda like a pillow cloth . I seen a guy on youtube make a homemade press with a hydraulic jack.
I know one thing; It's some good shit. Much better than apple juice. Cider taste more like apples to me.

[jay-pheno]

~ Fancy ~

* 16 cups apples, cored and chopped
* 2 pounds raisins (optional)
* 1 cinnamon stick (optional)
* 4 1/2 cups granulated sugar
* 1 teaspoon yeast nutrients
* 1 1/2 teaspoon acid blend
* 1/2 teaspoon pectic enzyme
* 1 campden tablet
* 1 gallon water, hot
* 1 package wine or distillers yeast (for 1 to 5 gallons)

Place fruit in primary fermentor. Pour boiling water over it. Let sit overnight.

24 hours later, add balance of ingredients. Stir to dissolve sugar. Stir daily for 5 to 6 days or until frothing ceases. Strain out fruit and squeeze as much juice out of it as you can. Siphon into secondary fermentor and attach airlock.

For a dry wine, rack in three weeks, and every three months for one year. Bottle.

For a sweet wine, rack at three weeks. Add 1/2 cup sugar dissolved in 1 cup wine. Stir gently, and place back into secondary fermentor. Repeat process every six weeks until fermentation does not restart with the addition of sugar. Rack every three months until one year old. Bottle.

If wine is not clear, or still has quite a bit of sediment forming between rackings, Fine the wine as follows.

Use wine finings or plain gelatin. Gelatin: use 1 teaspoon per 6 gallons of wine. Finings: 1/2 teaspoon per 5 gallons or as per package directions. Soak in 1/2 cup cold water for 1/2 hour. Bring to a boil to dissolve. Cool. Stir into wine. Let sit 10 to 14 days. Rack. If not clear enough yet, repeat process. DO NOT increase amount of gelatin or finings. The mixture will stay suspended in the wine, preventing it from ever clearing. Bottle once wine is clear.

The wine is best if you can refrain from drinking it for one full year from the date it was started.

NOTE: The best apples to use are tart apples such as winesap, jonathans, etc and not the delicious apples.


To make hardcider from that you just freeze the applewine , pitching the ice

cider is the best ,,, its easier then brew , everyone seems to like it and its damn near free if you got a tree nearby

[CoyoteMesc]

kick ass jay, hard cider STRAIGHT from the fruit.

[CoyoteMesc]

only one thing....we call that last comment 'Apple jack'..

The freeze separation...


One a side note. I wonder when the cinnamon is put in. I thought about cinnamon myself.

[CoyoteMesc]

Racked last Friday, the 17th
The Sediment that was removed was CAKED to the bottom.
It was about 2 inches thick. Im glad I got the goods off of that
stuff.

Added one cup water to a pot and boiled for 1minute.
Added two cups white sugar and removed from heat.
Wait for syrup to cool and added just after I racked it,

Taste test:
ALCOHOL lots of it.
Couldnt taste much else.
I hope that changes with age.


Air lock isnt bubbling but maybe once ever few hours now
temps steady in the low 70's

[TVCasualty]

Great thread!

I'm not sure if the choice of yeast had anything to do with it, but some German friends of mine would make cider every Fall that they bottled in mineral water bottles and stored until the next Summer. It was so dry that it was not drinkable by itself, but when mixed 50/50 with sparkling mineral water it was one of the tastiest and most refreshing hot-weather drinks I've ever had. It also seemed like it was a common practice (this was in Germany) since everyone I visited would offer some.

I've been looking into cider lately also, and I'd love to recreate what they were calling äpfel-Bräu.

[CoyoteMesc]

Yeah, Id say you're right. The yeast being a contributor to do with the alcohol level.
Some yeast dies at certain levels while other keep on thriving and thus eating more sugar/meaning higher ABV percentages. My ale yeast probably was long dead sometime ago but I bet that the wild yeast that was left in there lived much longer.

[waylitjim]

Great thread!

I'm about to make my first batch of Apfelwein. Here's some real good info and a recipe.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f25/man-...felwein-14860/

[CoyoteMesc]

cool waylit



Racked yesterday and added 4 camden tablets.
Cider tasted pretty good. The apple flavor is coming back.
After 24 hours,(now today) I added another 2cups sugar. Boiled water and
used just enough to melt the sugar to a syrup. That was added today.
Now the cider is in a 5gal carboy where it will stay till x-mas.

I plan to then filter and bottle.

It definitely taste like an apple wine. Still young and green tasting
but Im feeling really confident now.

[CoyoteMesc]

I think part of the 'Green' taste I describe is acidity.
To fix:

The most common fault in an amateur’s cider is acidity. This is because most apples contain more acid than is needed for pleasant cider. Diluting the juice to lessen the acidity before fermentation usually results in a poorly-flavored cider. Balancing the acidity using acidemetric apparatus, is almost certainly beyond the scope of beginners because not only is expensive apparatus needed, but also some laboratory experience. However, if a cider turns out too acid, some of the acid may be removed quite simply by anyone. The only risk is that of removing too much. Even this can be rectified, but this involves adding more acid. Better to proceed with caution and to get the lessacid cider you are after at first or second attempt. Now let us suppose a cider is only a little too acid. Removing a little acid is quite simple. Take a quart of the cider (a quart of each gallon); take a little of this quart and dissolve in this by stirring about a quarter ounce of precipitated chalk - from any chemist for a few coppers. When dissolved, stir this into the quart. Leave until the sample is clear again and then siphon the clear cider off the chalk deposit. Having done this, return the treated cider to the bulk. The acid will have been removed from the quart by the chalk, and this completely acid-free cider going into the bulk should be enough to reduce the acidity of the rest of it. If it is found that not enough acid has been removed, repeat the process, but with less chalk this time. If by accident, too much acid is removed so that you have a flat almost insipid cider, the remedy is to add either citric acid from a chemist or lemon juice.

[CoyoteMesc]

Like wine and beer making, cider making is on the increase to such an extent that there are now available small cider presses for home operators. Since this can be used also for crushing and pressing large amounts of fruit for making wines it would soon pay for itself. I believe one firm of home wine and home brew supplies, retails an ‘assemble it yourself press’ for about $358. Where it is planned to make large amounts of cider a press will be an essential, but where just an occasional gallon is to be made, a press - though useful - is not essential. Most home operators ‘knock up’ quite a nice drop of cider without a press and do it very often, merely by making small amounts - two or three gallons frequently - instead of twenty or so. Any apples may be made into a cider of sorts, but for true cider, only true cider apples are suitable and these do not grow in all districts. And, as with wines, the quality of the cider depends on the quality of the apples used. Since weather, soil, situation, the amount of rain or sunshine during the growing and harvesting affects the quality of the apple - mainly in sugar and acid content - it follows that cider made in one year will be better than in another, depending on the weather. Skill and knowledge which can only come from experience will assist amateur cider makers to blend apples and to make allowances for deficiencies of one sort or another. But all this need not bother beginners who will not be so fastidious as to insist on the very best at the first attempt. They will know better than to expect to be able to make a cider to satisfy connoisseurs the first time and will be satisfied with jolly good second-class or ‘everyday’ sort of cider.
Whether cider making is going to be an attractive proposition will depend on whether cider is the favorite drink of the operator or not. There is little point in someone making cider just because this book explains how to do it unless he knows in advance that he likes cider. Not everybody does; I like it sometimes as a long refreshing drink, but I prefer a good commercial or home produced beer. In winter, I drink a lot of my own wines.
As a child I remember the traveling cider press that clanked to a standstill at the gate of my grandfather’s cottage, and I can vaguely recall the urgency with which every local child was commandeered to help collect the apples. And I remember helping him with the pressing, though I cannot remember exactly how it was done. Then there was the transporting of the juice to the converted pig-sty he used for making the juice of the apple into the drink of the countryman. Some pretty good cider came out of that unlikely building, according to stories my late father told me - stories about men with reputations for having cast-iron intestines being flattened by just a couple of pints of ‘old Dad’s’ concoctions.
The principle of cider making today is the same as in my grandfather’s day and is, in fact, the same as it always has been. Cider making can be traced back to before the Norman conquest of this country. Before the first “World War, cider was made in almost every country cottage; every farmer made it for his laborers and in almost all ‘gentleman’s houses’ those nearly forgotten places where the illiterate sons and daughters of the working classes were employed for a pittance, and who, incidentally, had to appear, or actually were, grateful for the opportunity - beer was made on quite a large scale.
When I was very young, one heard of the generosity of the ‘gentry’ who might concede to their under-paid employees drinking half a pint of the cider or beer they had spent hours of sweat-labor to produce for their master. I recall hearing of how one young lad - obviously a budding scoundrel- had drunk the accumulated drips from a barrel of beer. He was dismissed on the spot with the loss of his ten shillings - one month’s wages. And according to remarks at the time, this ‘young criminal’ was fortunate indeed in having such a generous master, for he had lain himself open to a month in jail. But I suspect he escaped this, for the master feared he might be dubbed as mean if he had handed the lad over to the police. Such were the good old days and like a lot of other things from the past, you can keep ‘em. But not beer and cider; we’ll have as much of these as we can make.
There are over twenty million gallons of cider made in factories in this country and probably as much made in odd lots by home operators every year; quite an intoxicating thought. God knows how many apples are needed for that lot!
If cider making were not worthwhile for the amateur, production of commercial cider would double. This may be the reason for the commercial producers making such a variety of splendid ciders and advertising their goods on such a large scale they are doubtless trying to capture the market for that other twenty million gallons. They won’t do it, for not only can the amateur make a worthwhile cider, he can do it for half the price of commercially produced cider. If he grows apples, the cost is reduced by half again - he has only sugar to buy.
Those who live in cider-apple growing districts will know this well enough as those who live in cherry growing areas know well enough, so there is no point in attempting to bring the fact home to them. Those who live in such areas, would do well to find a grower and arrange for buying some of the crop annually. In some areas, growers will express the juice from an amateur cider-maker’s apples for him. In others, a commercial cider producer will often sell juice expressed from the firm’s cider apples to enable an amateur to make his cider with readily expressed juice.
All this being as it may it is not intended to explain how to make cider from readily expressed juice from a commercial press. Anyone with this God-sent facility at his elbow will also have neighbors with a relative working at the cider factory who will be able to tell him more about using the particular juice from the type of apple used than I could hope to. Each firm has a method to suit its particular apple, its retail trade and the people of the areas in which its products are mainly sold. And these will be a lot different to the next factory perhaps at the other end of the county or country.
My aim is to show the novice cider-maker how to use whatever types of apples are available to him. In this way he will make cider - not an imitation of some commercial product - but one peculiar to his particular needs. Furthermore, if he grows apples, he will be able to make a type or variety of cider quite unique. It will still be cider, but far and away different from the commercial product.
There is far too much of trying to ape the commercially produced these days. Wine makers, try to make wine (and do, incidentally) almost identical to commercial products. It’s the same now with beer and will, I expect, be the same later on with cider. But I hope not. And I hope copying the commercial will soon die a natural death.
A number of people will ask why I have said this when obviously if we can make wines and beers as good as commercial products it is a good thing. Up to a point it is a good thing and I for one have copied commercial methods and made wines identical to world-famous commercial products. But in doing so, we forget, or just overlook the fact that in making wines from ingredients found in the field and hedgerow we are making something quite unique compared with commercial products. Our ‘country wines’ while still being basically country wines are now so much like commercial products that they are no longer what they used to be country wines. They are better wines in every respect; higher in alcohol, of perfect clarity, full-bodied most of them, of good bouquet and splendid flavor. But I still feel that there is nothing to compare with the unusualness of the old country wines as I remember them as a youngster. And surely it was this unusualness that made country wines so different from the products we have turned them into. Anybody can go into the nearest pub and buy cider, but he will not be able to buy cider like the stuff he can make himself any more than a true country wine maker could buy a bottle of cowslip wine. So there it is. Copy the commercial and make something you can buy almost anywhere or stick to making something that cannot be bought anywhere or at any price.
Before making cider it should be borne in mind that to make it too strong is to make apple wine. Such would not be drinkable by the pint or half pint, but only by the wine glass. Cider is usually about 8%-9% of alcohol by volume, or around 14-15 degrees proof spirit, and this is plenty. A medium strength wine is only a little above this, so don’t spoil your cider and perhaps temper by making it stronger than this.
The safest means of making sure of not making it too strong is to use a hydrometer. The use of this is explained in the beer-making section. After the juice has been strained from the pulp, and water, if any is used, has been added, the reading is taken using the same kind of hydrometer as that used for beer making. The Specific Gravity and Alcohol Table, is quite suitable for cider. It will be seen from this that a reading of 1.070 will produce a cider of 9.2% of alcohol by volume - approximately 140 proof. This is plenty for cider. Anything stronger would be too strong. Indeed, a reading of 1.060 should be enough. If you want to make just a little drop of something stronger, take a look at the Specific Gravity and Alcohol Table in the chapter on mead making. This covers a wider range because mead is wine, which is, naturally a stronger drink.
It is unlikely that apple juice will contain enough sugar to make the amount of alcohol required, therefore, some will have to be added. Now, suppose you take the reading of the juice and it registers 1.040. You decide you want more alcohol than this figure will give you; all you have to do is to add sugar to give the reading you want which in turn will give the amount of alcohol you require. This will be readily seen by consulting the table already mentioned. Let us suppose you want to raise the gravity by twenty degrees on the hydrometer, all you have to do is to bear in mind that 2% ounces of sugar will raise the gravity of a gallon of juice by five degrees, 5 ounces being needed for 2 gallons, 10 ounces for 4 gallons and so on. Therefore, if you want to raise the gravity by twenty degrees in one gallon, you merely calculate thus: 2% ounces of sugar will raise it by five degrees, so to raise it by twenty, you must add four times 2% ounces - 9 ounces per gallon.
It will be seen then that a cider of any strength may be made merely by increasing the amount of sugar. But as already explained, over-strong ciders should not be the aim of anybody simply because, like beers, cider is for drinking in larger quantities than wines.

[CoyoteMesc]

Once you have discovered the pleasure of fresh and bottled cider by the glass) it is simply a matter of time and curiosity until the satisfaction and enjoyment of cooking with cider becomes apparent. Whether fresh and very sweet or fully fermented and bone dry) cider is one of the most versatile liquids a cook can use. Since most recipes require the addition of some liquid during the cooking process) cider can be used in preparing an entire meal from the first course through dessert. Cider is an important part of the regional cuisines of France and England. It is an essential element of such classic recipes as tripe a la mode de Caen from Normandy and Devon pork pie, for example. More important) though) is the general use of cider in a wide variety of meat, fowl and seafood dishes. Cider gives its own zest and flavor to many foods that are more often prepared with wine.
In order to simplify the use of cider in the kitchen, we have written recipes for three categories of cider - fresh sweet) semi-dry) or dry hard. Fresh sweet cider is recently pressed, not effervescent, and full of apple flavor. Semi-dry cider is bubbly, mildly alcoholic and fruity, but still fairly sweet. Most of the sweeter bottled ciders fall into the semi-dry category. Dry hard cider is bone dry, relatively alcoholic, not effervescent and rarely fruity when naturally fermented. Only the driest bottled ciders should be considered in this category for cooking.
Sweetness is the primary consideration for successful use of cider in cooking. The natural sugar in fresh cider averages 12 percent, which translates to two cups per gallon or four to six teaspoons per cup. Almost all bottled ciders have some sweetener added during blending. The sweetness of the cider on hand must be consistent with the desired sweetness of cider in a recipe or good food and good cider can be turned into a most unsatisfactory experiment.
Balance in the cider between sweetness and acid is also important to the cook. Most well-made cider, whether fresh or bottled, is high in acid. The sharpness of cider works to enhance the natural flavors in many foods.
Fruitiness is the third quality to consider for the most effective use of cider in the kitchen. Fresh cider often retains an apple flavor throughout the different stages of fermentation. Some bottled ciders also boast a distinctive fruitiness, which to American palates is somewhat bitter and even sour. However, many ciders, both fresh and bottled, have little apple flavor, which is a great advantage when adding cider to yeast breads, for example.
There are several different ways to prepare cider for use in the kitchen. American pioneers, especially the early colonists in New England, often boiled the fresh cider until it became a substance similar to maple syrup. Boiled cider was used to sweeten a great variety of desserts and beverages. It was the essential ingredient in a colonial favorite called boiled cider pie and a major addition to such regional specialities as Boston baked beans.
Since many hours of cooking were required to reach the [roper degree of thickness, boiled cider usually lost much of its natural apple flavor and became somewhat molasses-like from prolonged exposure to heat. A more satisfactory method of concentrating cider today is by freezing.
Fresh cider is mostly water, which means that most of the sugar, acid and flavor is contained in a relatively small amount of liquid. To obtain that concentrate, remove three cups of cider from a gallon of cider and freeze the rest overnight. When the cider is thoroughly fro-
zen} the jug can be opened and placed upside-down in a large bowl. The concentrate will thaw before the water in the cider, and most of it will be in the first five cups of melted liquid. It can be used to make several delicious desserts or can be mixed and blended with other beverages. Cider can be stored for several months in the freezer. Just be sure to thaw it completely and to shake before using so that the concentrate is blended back into the liquid.
Fresh cider can also be pasteurized to maintain a desired level of sweetness, although pasteurization is an inexact science, and results will vary depending on the cleanliness of the cider} the storage temperature, and the length of storage desired. Pour the cider into a sauce pan and heat to from 170 to 175 degrees for thirty seconds to a minute. Pour the hot cider into a bottle, cap} and invert the bottle so that every part of the container has been heated to destroy most of the organisms. Cider may be preserved at higher temperatures} but the flavor will suffer correspondingly.
Ideally, those who are just learning to cook with cider should keep a variety of bottled ciders and fresh ciders at different stages on hand. Fresh cider should be checked regularly so that the cook knows about how much sweetness, flavor and acid the cider contains. A supply of fresh cider gives the cook convenient control over the important characteristics in a fermenting gallon of fresh cider. Cider that has become too dry} for example, can be sweetened by simply adding a small amount of fresh cider.
Fresh cider not only allows the cook to control the quality and characteristics that are most important for cooking, but is generally much less expensive than bottled cider. But whether you cook with cider that is naturally fermented, or processed and bottled, we hope that you will find the results as tasty and worthwhile as we have.

Last three post from:
http://www.cheapdraft.com/category/c...omemade-cider/

[CoyoteMesc]

Do you like Apple cider Vinegar ?

See:

http://forums.mycotopia.net/lifestyl...r-vinegar.html

[motograter]

Wow, my buddy just started this about a month ago... Can't believe I didn't think to check here.....

[Phx]

Also with making any wine product I like to use chanpagne yeast. It gives a higher alchol content. Nice thread for sure.

[Hippie3]

good tip, had heard the same.

[abaca]

Champagne yeast will give you more alcohol but will also give you a very dry cider. IMHO a little residual sweetness is good in cider and meads. If you want to boost the alcohol add some honey or dextrose or even cane sugar. White Labs has a yeast strains just for cider and mead.

WLP775 English Cider Yeast
Classic cider yeast. Ferments dry, but retains flavor from apples. Sulfur is produced during fermentation, but will disappear in first two weeks of aging. Can also be used for wine and high gravity beers. Attenuation: >80% Flocculation: Medium. Optimum fermentation temperature: 68-75 degrees F.
Attenuation: >80%
Flocculation: Medium
Optimum Fermentation Temperature: 68-75°F
Alcohol Tolerance: Medium-High

WLP720 Sweet Mead/Wine Yeast
This yeast leaves residual sweetness in the wine. Good for blush styles like White Zinfandel, as well as sweet ciders, Gewurztraminer and Riesling.
Alcohol Tolerance: 15%
Attenuation: <75%
Flocculation: Low
Optimum Fermentation Temperature: 70-75°F