Showoff Your Cider(s)!
- Thread starter Jsk10
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
ayupbrewing
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2012
- Messages
- 150
- Reaction score
- 13
Not much action here. Was hoping to find a good simple cider recipe to try one for the first time...
ayupbrewing
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2012
- Messages
- 150
- Reaction score
- 13
ayupbrewing said:
Snap homies. There is a recipe section. What kind of commercial cider do you like? I started out trying to clone the green hornby's cider, a clean tasting, slightly tart, sweet carbonated cider . After about ten batches. I use 6 gallons of Walmart cheap as it comes apple juice (ascorbic acid is the only acceptable other ingredient, other than juice. Everything else will kill the yeast.). I use 4 lbs of corn sugar, which gets me to about a 1.075 OG, give or take. I've messed with different yeasts and have found myself liking safale 05 for its clean fermentation.
The process is simple distribute the sugar evenly between about 4 gallons and shake shake shake until its all dissolved. Then add the last two gallons, and stir. Pitch the yeast and completely ferment out dry. During bottling, I add 3 cans of apple juice concentrate in the bottling bucket. Mix in well without splashing. The trick though, is when it's done carbonating to the right level (some fill up a plastic bottle as a gauge. I just check daily.), you must pasteurize the whole batch, because of the residual sugars left in it to make it sweet. There is a thread that you can look up to show you how it's done. Then it can pretty much be drank immediately.
Turns out delicious, all for about $26 for 6 gallons in about 3 weeks time.
The process is simple distribute the sugar evenly between about 4 gallons and shake shake shake until its all dissolved. Then add the last two gallons, and stir. Pitch the yeast and completely ferment out dry. During bottling, I add 3 cans of apple juice concentrate in the bottling bucket. Mix in well without splashing. The trick though, is when it's done carbonating to the right level (some fill up a plastic bottle as a gauge. I just check daily.), you must pasteurize the whole batch, because of the residual sugars left in it to make it sweet. There is a thread that you can look up to show you how it's done. Then it can pretty much be drank immediately.
Turns out delicious, all for about $26 for 6 gallons in about 3 weeks time.
Albionwood
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2013
- Messages
- 304
- Reaction score
- 134
Yesterday I counted kegs and realized I have nearly 70 gallons of finished ciders! 
My "recipe": Grind apples, press juice, add a little (about 50 ppm) sulfite, wait a couple days, pitch yeast. Ferment cold until finished, usually 3 to 6 months. Rack whenever a good blanket of sediment appears. Keg when fermentation stops. Bulk age for a few months, then taste, and blend different batches to achieve a balanced final product.
The apples come from my orchard, mostly from trees we planted here between 8 and 12 years ago. I guess that is our real accomplishment!
My "recipe": Grind apples, press juice, add a little (about 50 ppm) sulfite, wait a couple days, pitch yeast. Ferment cold until finished, usually 3 to 6 months. Rack whenever a good blanket of sediment appears. Keg when fermentation stops. Bulk age for a few months, then taste, and blend different batches to achieve a balanced final product.
The apples come from my orchard, mostly from trees we planted here between 8 and 12 years ago. I guess that is our real accomplishment!
Albionwood
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2013
- Messages
- 304
- Reaction score
- 134
None of them. At least not any of the ones you find on most store shelves; all of those are too sweet and have that fakey "Jolly Rancher" flavor. The only commercial ciders I like are from a few craft cideries that make the real stuff, using 100% juice from true cider apples.
Albionwood said:Yesterday I counted kegs and realized I have nearly 70 gallons of finished ciders!
My "recipe": Grind apples, press juice, add a little (about 50 ppm) sulfite, wait a couple days, pitch yeast. Ferment cold until finished, usually 3 to 6 months. Rack whenever a good blanket of sediment appears. Keg when fermentation stops. Bulk age for a few months, then taste, and blend different batches to achieve a balanced final product.
The apples come from my orchard, mostly from trees we planted here between 8 and 12 years ago. I guess that is our real accomplishment!
I wish we were neighbors!!!!
My favorite cider to date is this.
Per gallon:
1/3 cup sugar
1 clove
1/2 tsp cin
1/2 nut meg
1/2 ounce oak chips
Safale 05
Tsp nutrient
3 tbs of maple syrup to prime
It's a clean, refreshing cider, crisp cider. Not super dry, not sweet, just plain ole tasty!
hunter_le five
Sheriff Underscore
Here's mine. See the recipe in the "Better than apfelwein" thread. I used the 3068 yeast, and it came out great. Until my cat dumped 4 gallons of it onto the floor...
LeBreton
Well-Known Member
Yesterday I counted kegs and realized I have nearly 70 gallons of finished ciders!
My "recipe": Grind apples, press juice, add a little (about 50 ppm) sulfite, wait a couple days, pitch yeast. Ferment cold until finished, usually 3 to 6 months. Rack whenever a good blanket of sediment appears. Keg when fermentation stops. Bulk age for a few months, then taste, and blend different batches to achieve a balanced final product.
The apples come from my orchard, mostly from trees we planted here between 8 and 12 years ago. I guess that is our real accomplishment!
What varieties are you growing Albionwood?
I've got access to a neglected orchard of ~200 dwarf EU Bittersharps and Bittersweets this year. Trying to bring it back into the fold.
Definitely prefer the ciders made from classic varieties, but don't exclude US antique sharps and multi-purpose apples.
To answer the original question:
Made the closest approximation of a French style 'Cidre Bouche' I've ever tasted here in the states. That's all I'll say for now, but details will be made available when it's totally finished to my satisfaction.
On deck this year if I can swing it:
Malus Sieversii cider
Malus Sieversii X Gala cider
DisturbdChemist
I'm drunk 60% of the time, all the time!
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2011
- Messages
- 9,801
- Reaction score
- 2,802
- Location
- Between-the-keggerator-and-the-couch
Is that cat still alive?
I'll be furious if my cats do that but they're good and i wont leave 4gallons unattendent.
hunter_le five
Sheriff Underscore
Is that cat still alive?
Its days are numbered.
I thought my cider was safe and sound in my kegerator, but it turns out that my cat likes to play with tap handles....
DisturbdChemist
I'm drunk 60% of the time, all the time!
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2011
- Messages
- 9,801
- Reaction score
- 2,802
- Location
- Between-the-keggerator-and-the-couch
ooo... that sucked. My Kegger is out in the garage so those bastards do not mess with it. Im sorry for your loss
UpstateMike
Well-Known Member
Three new types complete from Mike's Basement Brews. From left to right: The Five Eight Five, Blackberry Cider, and Citron Cider.
Link to the Citron Cider
Albionwood
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2013
- Messages
- 304
- Reaction score
- 134
I have about 50 varieities here, but the ones that do best for me are: King David, Muscat deBernay, Yarlington Mill, Cox's O.P., Ashmead's Kernel. The King David in particular, I am reworking a number of my other trees to get more of this. It's unusual in that it is great eating, but also tends to produce lots of tannin in my cool-summer climate, and the fruit character persists through fermentation better than any other apple I grow.
Roxbury Russet does well here but is a little too sharp for me. Golden Russet grows vigorously and sets lots of fruit, but it ripens too late (in the rainy season) and tends to crack, making the cider overly funky (Brett). Kingston Black also does well but ripens early.
Sounds like you have a great opportunity, bringing existing trees into production. Just be patient and careful, I have made the mistake of over-pruning and stimulated too much vegetative growth. What varieties do you have access to?
LeBreton
Well-Known Member
Not sure what the exact varieties are. The trees were originally owned by an international cider company which when bankrupt, and were bought by a second party, and planted in their current location, and essentially ignored since. The orchard definitely leans towards bittersweets based on last falls juice and currently planning on blending it with more common cookers and eaters juice come fall. This year's crop could go either way at this point. I definitely pruned heavily, it was needed, but from what I understand, from talking to my orchardist friend, is that many older varieties tend to be bi-annual. Since last year's crop was 90% lost to a late frost, so I'm hoping that the cycle will have re-set and balance out. Still learning a lot about orchard management, but it's a fun challenge.
Looks like you've got the classics covered! Ashmead's Kernel is a favorite of mine, great eating apple too! Did a Cox cider this winter, came out chalky tasting, but it was my first time working with that variety so I haven't written it off just yet. Roxbury Russet is pretty sharp around these parts too, and ferments pretty thin. Still trying to find a fit for both of those.
Looks like you've got the classics covered! Ashmead's Kernel is a favorite of mine, great eating apple too! Did a Cox cider this winter, came out chalky tasting, but it was my first time working with that variety so I haven't written it off just yet. Roxbury Russet is pretty sharp around these parts too, and ferments pretty thin. Still trying to find a fit for both of those.
Similar threads
