5 Day Redneck Cider

Recipe Type: Extract
Yeast: Nottingham
Batch Size (Gallons): 4.75?
(5 gallon bucket with 2 inches of head room)
Original Gravity: Cider Template says 1.054
(I'm too redneck to buy measuring equipment)
Final Gravity: No idea, refer to above statement
Color: Dark Amber
Fermentation: 5 days in primary, then drinkable, cold crash recommended
Tasting Notes: Before fermentation, sweet to the point of syrup with hints of molasses, Will post update when done fermenting this batch.

Update: 5 days later........Ok, I've been down this road a bunch, but I'm here to give the details for all of the newbie Redneckers.

When you taste the cider right at the 120 hour mark it will taste like jet fuel. Don't get discouraged. Warm up two cans of frozen concentrate in a pot on the stove. You just have to get it up to about 80 degrees. Add the warm apple concentrate to the cider. Stir well. Now it will taste like sweet cider with hints of kerosene. Don't get discouraged. Add two TEASPOONS of malic acid. It will now taste like an actual cider. Add ONE more TEASPOON. It will now taste infinitely better. Then....add ONE MORE TEASPOON. Now you will have a sweet cider with hints of butter (USE NOTTINGHAM), and with a deliciously tart finish. It will almost want to make the back of your jaw tingle. I drink it that first night over ice, and after that just pour cold cider into glass. If you let it bottle carbonate for a day or two (depending on ambient temp) it will be slightly sparkling. Otherwise it's a still cider if you cold crash right after fermentation.

Country boy style bottling:


Ingredients:

14 x 12oz Walmart Great Value Apple Juice Concentrate
(Apple Juice Concentrate, Ascorbic Acid)

2 lbs Domino Brand Brown Sugar

4 Tsp Malic Acid (super cheap on Ebay)

2 x 12 oz Walmart Great Value Apple Juice Concentrate
This is your backsweetener on day 5

Dirty Work:

1.Cleaned and sanitized white Walmart bucket. Get the one with the #2 recycling code.
2. Opened and dumped all 14 frozen concentrate tubes into bucket.
3. Used my electric kettle to boil 1.7 liters of water (this is the max on mine)
4. Added water, pouring slowly over frozen nuggets of appley goodness.
5. Boil more water, and dump into bucket.
6. Dump whole bag of brown sugar into bucket (keep bag out of juice)
7. Stir mixture together until all nuggets are melted, and sugar has dissolved
8. Open packet of Nottingham and pour into cleaned and sanitized bowl of lukewarm water. Around 90 degrees is best. If it feels slightly warm with your finger, you're good.
9. Boil and cool water and add to bucket until within two inches of top
10. Add Nottingham to bucket
11. Cap Bucket (forget airlocks, you better have attached a blowoff tube to this bad b@%ch or else you've just made a 5 gallon bomb/geyser of sticky goodness) Ask me how I know this
12.Put in a dark place where the temp won't exceed 75 F or dip below 60 F

I've made this recipe a bunch, but I thought I'd post it up here in case any other folks want a dirt cheap super simple recipe for cider. It's a big hit with the Bud light drinkers here, and still respectable enough that my craft beer buds drink it. Oh, and the only parts of this brew that didn't come from Walmart came off Ebay. Redneck Status Achieved.

My kind of recipe!

I just made a similar batch using the apple juice from concentrate. silly me I could have saved some coin by going with the frozen concentrate. what was your total cost for this batch?

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say there's nothing redneck about Nottingham Ale yeast

Nottingham not redneck? That stuff will just about ferment water. It can withstand high temperatures (for yeast), fairly high alcohol levels, and is about as picky as a pig in sh*t. Oh, and if the brew is too hot Notty starts making Banana smells. It's the ultimate redneck yeast. Who cares if it comes from across the pond. I'm sure they have a variety of redneck over there. I watched the movie Snatch, those Pikeys look pretty redneck to me.

About the prices, $15.18 for the concentrate, $2.28 for the sugar, and notty's about $4. I'll use about $ .50 worth of malic acid, which is dirt cheap.

So, total of $21.96. The second batch will be $4 less because I always pitch a second batch right on top of the yeast cake.

Oh, and to further Redneck-ify this whole process I bottle it in used Nestle 16oz water bottles (sanitized of course) to ensure that none of my friends get a glass grenade if they don't refrigerate it. I work with some impressive talent, let me tell you.

haha. I love that movie. "so you wanna buy a caravan?"

I wasn't trying to say it's not a great yeast. I just pitched it into a peach cider and have a English Bitter thats fermenting with it. I was just thinking that when I was growing up in Woodstock, GA...my friends just left the top open for a while and waited for spontaneous fermentation. Either that or they dumped in bread yeast. It wasn't usually all that good, but it did what it was intended to do

Pickled Pepper, you and I post in alot of the same threads so I've got a feel for you and how you brew. I know that you know Nottingham is good stuff. Hell, you're probably familiar with many more yeasts than I am.

That wild yeast stuff is risky business, as I'm sure you've seen. That stuff and even whole chickens have been used to light off brews in the backwoods. I saw the chicken thing on a post here. I see you're in Georgia. I live just north of Destin, and work in that town. The whole redneck thing is a running joke. I like to take ordinary stuff and put a comedic (and cheap) spin on it. You'll see me doing it alot on here now that I've discovered this place.

As far as Notty goes, I pretty much use it for everything because I don't have a lagering setup. I'm even going to use it to make a rice wine some day.

Chicken beer? Man, I must have missed that thread!

I've been through Destin a couple of times. When I was in High School we used to go down to Panama for spring break. (The Redneck Riviera is what we used to call it) haha I'm a big fan of Apalachicola and St George also.

I have tried a lot of different yeasts and while the liquid stuff does contribute some nice qualities, I haven't been able to justify the cost for every batch. Notty is clean and works well in about any style in any temp range within reason. Fermentis Safale S-04 is a nice alternative also.

I just watched a documentary on Netflix called plastic planet. It said not to use plastic with the recycling number 1 more than once because of the chemicals it leaches. BPA is the one most people have heard of and it mimics estrogen causing females to have changed eggs and males to develop man boobs. Just thought you might want to know because it surprised me that you shouldn't reuse water bottles. I'm guessing that since you are giving away to friends you don't mind them getting man boobs.

LOL That was hilarious man. Man boobs from plastic bottles. Dude, there's harmful chemicals in just about everything we use. The cider doesn't sit in the bottles long enough for it to really do anything. With the way we drink this stuff I have to run more than one batch a week. The price and labor of using glass bottles would kill me if I had to do that on top of my 40 hour plus job. I appreciate the concern for the health of the redneck crew, but all the aluminum from the beer cans is already going to give us Alzheimer's. .

I love me some appalachicola oysters, Pickled Pepper. So tell me more about the Safale yeast, if you don't mind. How does it compare in hardiness compared to Nottingham? What does it do to the flavor profile? I always get alittle butteryness as well as that subtle yeasty flavor from Notty.

I typically ferment both below 64ºF and usually a minimum of 2 weeks. I haven't had any buttery type flavors. The butter flavor is typically associated with Diacetyl. It sometimes shows up in quickly fermented beverages. (because the yeast don't have time to clean it up) It's also desirable in some Chardonnay wines and English Ales in low amounts. The banana you described is usually from fermenting at higher temps and could be considered desirable if you like the flavor.

S-04 is a very comparable yeast to notty. I will buy it just to switch up every so often. Seems to perform similar. Don't confuse it with US-05. US-05 is a very low flocculating yeast and in my experience, the sediment never really settles down.

Pickled_Pepper said:

Don't confuse it with US-05. US-05 is a very low flocculating yeast and in my experience, the sediment never really settles down.

Click to expand...

I've found this to be true as well. Total PITA to clear, sonovabitch is resistant to cold crashing too. Which is too bad since it's better tasting than Notty, S-04 and 1118 all other things equal.

Yeah the quick fermentation leading to diacetyl formation makes sense. I never thought about it because I'm normally brewing for fairly quick consumption. The banana is more vof an aroma. I've never had the taste in the brew. Thanks for the info on the Safale.

I never worry about my cider clearing. I've made beautiful clear and dry apfelwein but it takes too long for the flavors to clean up and as I'm the only one who likes it I dont bother with it anymore.

I bumped this thread to show off the update and fancy picture.

Put a second batch of cider right onto yeasty cake at bottom of bucket. Fermentation should be impressive.

Hows this taste if you don't add the malic acid?

Ive done this using half apple and half apple berry concentrate cans, yummy! I let it sit a month though