Stupid ex-beeriment with cider

[Jim311]

So I've brewed one batch which turned out quite tasty but started looking into making ciders since my girlfriend is partial to them. It looks pretty stupid easy to make a good cider. I was cleaning out the fridge the other day and found about two quarts of apple juice that has been in the fridge like a month. I was getting ready to toss it when I saw a bottle of home brew dregs sitting in a bottle of my home brew that I'd just poured. So it occurred to me to just pour in the year/trub from that bottle into the juice and see what happens. I know I vastly under-pitched the yeast since there was probably only a teaspoon or two in the beer bottle. But I figured I was going to throw this stuff out anyway, why not give it a try? I'm doing zero fermentation temperature control other than the fact that my house is 64ish degrees this time of year. The yeast was US-05. What do you guys think is going to happen? A solid krausen formed about 3 days into the fermentation and it appears to be replicating nicely in there. Have I made garbage, or something drinkable?

 

[Wolfbayte]

I think you are well on your way to making cider. Follow the instructions from the cider stickies and march on. If your gf likes sweet cider, you way wish to backsweeten with Splenda or Lactose or you can search for the great pasteurizing thread and go from there. Learn from the experience, lather, rinse, and repeat.

In the meantime, RDWHAHB

 

[Jim311]

She does like sweet cider. That seems like the most complicated part of the process. Having both a carbonated AND sweet cider is going to be tough. We may just drink it "dry" and unsweetened at first. I'm going to ferment some better quality stuff in larger quantity and higher gravity really soon!

 

[Newsman]

Check out this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/caramel-apple-hard-cider-292770/
Updated instructions are at post 420, I believe. I make this quite a bit and have played around and found I can get upwards of 9% ABV by adding 5 or so lbs of corn sugar. I also add a LOT of yeast nutrient to make sure I don't get rhino farts. Oh, and at that much sugar, I definitely take care to oxygenate the must.

 

[Jim311]

That looks like a delicious recipe.

 

[Wolfbayte]

I added 1/2 cup of Splenda to 5 gals of Apple cider (no added sugar to bump the abv) and SWMBO loves it. Tastes sweet enough and no artificial after taste.

You can do the math to scale down that amt to your batch and it should be easy. I bet it will taste good.

+1 on the yeast nutrient. Pick up some and add before the sulfur smell scares your gf away.

 

[Wolfbayte]

Splenda is free at Starbucks.

 

[Maxkling]

We may just drink it "dry" and unsweetened at first. I'm going to ferment some better quality stuff in larger quantity and higher gravity really soon!

Don't let it kill it for her, commercial ciders is NOTHING like what you are about to drink. If you keg you can make a huge variety of ciders easily. You can ferment nice and dry, then kill the yeast, and back sweeten with real apple concentrate or juice to get more cider sweet flavor. You can do the same with pasteurizing, just a bit more danger.

 

[sportpak]

I recently did two separate 1 gallon hoppy APA experimental beer batches. Bottling day, after racking off the APA, I added a dash of yeast nutrient and a gallon of Motts apple juice to each yeast cake. I shook the be-jeesus out of them and had airlock action in 3 hours or so.
When they're done I will combine the two into the bottling bucket and see how it goes. I call it Ghetto Cider (it may technically be a graff actually). It will be on the dry side, but carbed up it should be very clean, hopefully with a little hop. If anything it puts a few six packs of something different into the pipeline.

 

[Jim311]

I recently did two separate 1 gallon hoppy APA experimental beer batches. Bottling day, after racking off the APA, I added a dash of yeast nutrient and a gallon of Motts apple juice to each yeast cake. I shook the be-jeesus out of them and had airlock action in 3 hours or so.
When they're done I will combine the two into the bottling bucket and see how it goes. I call it Ghetto Cider (it may technically be a graff actually). It will be on the dry side, but carbed up it should be very clean, hopefully with a little hop. If anything it puts a few six packs of something different into the pipeline.

Did you pour out any of the trub? If not, doesn't that mean you really pitched a lot of yeast? Is that intentional? Do higher gravity ciders benefit from overpitching the yeast?

 

[sportpak]

Did you pour out any of the trub? If not, doesn't that mean you really pitched a lot of yeast? Is that intentional? Do higher gravity ciders benefit from overpitching the yeast?

I was going to too, but there was a small amount of the beer I made in there still. I wanted some of that beer character to hopefully show up in the cider. The yeast I used was US05, which is very neutral, plus the low 60s I ferment at keeps fermentation fairly clean.

The gravity on the juice was only 1.042. This won't be too boozy of cider by design, because I'm looking for some of that hop character. This whole thing was "hey, I'm bottling tomorrow, why don't I throw some juice on those yeast cakes and see what I get" sort of thing. I have a proper graff on the "to brew" list, I'm hoping this is drinkable to fill that genre until I get to it.

I do a lot of 1 or 2 gallon batches in each discipline of extract, partial mash, and all grain BIAB. I am constantly wanting to learn what I like and dial in on good processes. If something sucks, I'm not out too much. If it's good, I'll make a 2.5 gallon batch.

It's what you make of it man. Have fun and learn.

 

[Jim311]

I hear you, it's fun to experiment and you really aren't out much in cases like this. You have everything to gain and really nothing to lose. I've already decided that I'll probably always have something in the fermenter from now on, whether it's cider or beer, and there will always be something on tap once I get my kegging gear set up. I just need a regulator and some lines and I'll be in business.