When the Apples are Ripe, Ferment Some Cider!
Matt Miller
Crab apples. Those little apples that most people consider just ornamental. Yes, they are pretty sour and they aren't really very easy to eat out of hand. I have several crab apple trees in my neighborhood, in common areas, which get loaded with fruit every year. As an avid cook, I just hated to see them wasted. I got a few odd looks from neighbors at first, but I picked a big bucketful! My first thought was crab apple jelly.
And it was a good thought--good enough for a second place ribbon at the North Carolina State Fair in 2012.
I made all the jelly I could use and gave away a bunch, but there were still crab apples weighing down the trees. So I made crab apple butter, and lots of it. Still, the trees had plenty of fruit. What else could I do? Juice? After some research, I decided I would like to try making cider. Hard cider.
I have been a little leery of fermenting things in the past, but my research convinced me that this would be a safe procedure. I sought out a local home brew shop and procured the basic set of equipment and supplies to ferment a one-gallon batch of cider.
(extracting)
Over the next couple of months, I was able to ferment several batches of cider. The first two, I made using Champagne yeast and they fermented out very dry. I individually primed the bottles with corn sugar and they wound up tasting much like Champagne, but were lacking in apple flavor. I experimented with another yeast: Safale S-04 and bottled them with a little sugar left in them. A little more apple flavor, but still kind of monotone and tart. As the season was waning, I made a blend of crab apple and Fuji apple juices that fermented into a very nice still hard cider. Much better sweetness and apple flavor.
(primary)
(Secondary)
(Tertiary)
Through more research, I learned more about varieties of apples and their history. Many varieties were bred specifically for making cider. In fact, early in our country's history, apples were much more readily available than grain. Therefore, hard cider was more popular than beer. I also learned that crab apples are traditionally used in blends for their tartness and tannins, but are not normally used by themselves. My Fuji-crab apple blend reinforced that information.
(Juice with pulp)
In my experiments, I also read about cider makers using concentrated, frozen apple juice to sweeten their cider after fermentation. What I found in my local store was that the concentrated, frozen juice was made from juice from China or Argentina. I wasn't thrilled about that, so I checked out the bottled juices and found a product that is packaged in a half gallon glass carboy and it's preservative-free, pasteurized and made from whole apples sourced from Virginia. Much better! After the apple season was over, I even made some "Super Easy Cider" by just adding yeast and an airlock directly to this commercial cider and the results were very good.
(Ferment bucket)
(Clearing)
This year, I am looking forward to using my crabapples again; however, I am going to seek out several varieties of cider apples to blend them with. I may also experiment with a couple of new yeasts. For you brewers out there, you likely have everything you need, as far as equipment is concerned, to make cider. Primary fermentation bucket, sanitizer, airlock, second bucket, or carboy to rack into, siphon, bottling cane, etc. There is no boiling, just fermenting. What you will need to add to your supplies are: yeast nutrient, campden tablets (to kill off undesirable yeasts) and pectic enzyme. These should all be available at any good home brew shop and are not expensive.
(Bubbly cider)
For procedures, I recommend delving into the information and recipes in the Cider forum here.
Cheers!
Author Bio: If you are interested in my experiences, you can see my journal entries starting at: MMMBrews.
Matt Miller
Crab apples. Those little apples that most people consider just ornamental. Yes, they are pretty sour and they aren't really very easy to eat out of hand. I have several crab apple trees in my neighborhood, in common areas, which get loaded with fruit every year. As an avid cook, I just hated to see them wasted. I got a few odd looks from neighbors at first, but I picked a big bucketful! My first thought was crab apple jelly.
And it was a good thought--good enough for a second place ribbon at the North Carolina State Fair in 2012.
I made all the jelly I could use and gave away a bunch, but there were still crab apples weighing down the trees. So I made crab apple butter, and lots of it. Still, the trees had plenty of fruit. What else could I do? Juice? After some research, I decided I would like to try making cider. Hard cider.
I have been a little leery of fermenting things in the past, but my research convinced me that this would be a safe procedure. I sought out a local home brew shop and procured the basic set of equipment and supplies to ferment a one-gallon batch of cider.
(extracting)
Over the next couple of months, I was able to ferment several batches of cider. The first two, I made using Champagne yeast and they fermented out very dry. I individually primed the bottles with corn sugar and they wound up tasting much like Champagne, but were lacking in apple flavor. I experimented with another yeast: Safale S-04 and bottled them with a little sugar left in them. A little more apple flavor, but still kind of monotone and tart. As the season was waning, I made a blend of crab apple and Fuji apple juices that fermented into a very nice still hard cider. Much better sweetness and apple flavor.
(primary)
(Secondary)
(Tertiary)
Through more research, I learned more about varieties of apples and their history. Many varieties were bred specifically for making cider. In fact, early in our country's history, apples were much more readily available than grain. Therefore, hard cider was more popular than beer. I also learned that crab apples are traditionally used in blends for their tartness and tannins, but are not normally used by themselves. My Fuji-crab apple blend reinforced that information.
(Juice with pulp)
In my experiments, I also read about cider makers using concentrated, frozen apple juice to sweeten their cider after fermentation. What I found in my local store was that the concentrated, frozen juice was made from juice from China or Argentina. I wasn't thrilled about that, so I checked out the bottled juices and found a product that is packaged in a half gallon glass carboy and it's preservative-free, pasteurized and made from whole apples sourced from Virginia. Much better! After the apple season was over, I even made some "Super Easy Cider" by just adding yeast and an airlock directly to this commercial cider and the results were very good.
(Ferment bucket)
(Clearing)
This year, I am looking forward to using my crabapples again; however, I am going to seek out several varieties of cider apples to blend them with. I may also experiment with a couple of new yeasts. For you brewers out there, you likely have everything you need, as far as equipment is concerned, to make cider. Primary fermentation bucket, sanitizer, airlock, second bucket, or carboy to rack into, siphon, bottling cane, etc. There is no boiling, just fermenting. What you will need to add to your supplies are: yeast nutrient, campden tablets (to kill off undesirable yeasts) and pectic enzyme. These should all be available at any good home brew shop and are not expensive.
(Bubbly cider)
For procedures, I recommend delving into the information and recipes in the Cider forum here.
Cheers!
Author Bio: If you are interested in my experiences, you can see my journal entries starting at: MMMBrews.