Cheap gift cider

[Arpolis]

Hello everyone

A long while back I saw this in the store:

I thought it made a ready cider fermenter. All that would be needed is pennies worth of ingredients and airlock. I was shopping this weekend and since this was just going to cost me $4.00 to try this I gave it a shot. I shook up the cider real well and added the following:

1/2 tsp DAP
1/2 tsp Pectic enzyme
1.5 tsp Mahara ja Chai Oolong tea (From Teavana)
5 tsp Yeast slurry (This was Lalvin K1v-1116 from a Strawberry mead I am making)

It is sitting on top the fridge now and I am waiting for some bubbling to start. I did not warm up and re-start the yeast like I should have so don't really expect much for the first 24 hours. We shall see!

My plan is to let ferment dry. Throw it in the fridge to drop out the yeast and compact the lees. Siphon off the lees into bucket, clean the jar and put the cider back in. I will prime with sugar water and pasteurize once I believe it has hit the appropriate C02 level. Let me know what you think.

 

[Arpolis]

I checked this at about 0500 this morning and it is bubbling real well. Had all the tea pushed up to the airlock. I punched that down and gave it a gentile swirl. Now I am a mead maker normally and I measure primary and secondary in months. What time frames am I supposed to see with a small cider batch like this?

 

[Arpolis]

no responses? Well looking back the thread name was not a good one to attract attention. I just thought the above would make cool little gift batches to hand out at a party or holiday. So just to reiterate: What is the turn around on a simple batch of spiced cider like this? I hear people all the time say they will make cider in between Mead batches so are we saying something like this would be drinkable in 30 days, 3 weeks, 1 week lol? Thank you for any input.

 

[hehawbrew]

I'll treat my cider kinda like beer. Two or three weeks in primary. Bottle. Two or three weeks in bottles. Drink.

I'm pretty new to brewing and finally have found out how to make ciders I like. So, I've been making three gallon batches, bottleing a dozen or two for immediate drinking and then filling a few bombers to set aside for Fall.

I've also been messing around with Apple Jack, which is a freezer concentrated cider.

From what I've read, cider is like everything else. The higher the abv the better it taste with time.

 

[oregonbrew541]

Cider is one of the only drinks u can drink throughout the entire brew process so its ready when u want it to be

 

[oregonbrew541]

I myself like to keep it simple one bottle of apple juice start by taking out a half cup of the juice stick that in mason jar and freeze to save for later in process then i take half cup of water pour into pot with quarter cup of table sugar cook summer that for five mins then let it sit till it cool to 110 pitch my yeast top off bottle bam cheap and sweat if u like it less sweet skip sugar process just use juice. Now thats just a gift recipe my fav way to do it is basically the same way but use maltose aka corn sugar and a dab malic acid maltose is in some bulk sections in grocery store and its the fastest to ferment and clarify its perfect for quick awesome real tasting hard cider!

 

[oregonbrew541]

I myself like to keep it simple one bottle of apple juice start by taking out a half cup of the juice stick that in mason jar and freeze to save for later in process then i take half cup of water pour into pot with quarter cup of table sugar cook summer that for five mins then let it sit till it cool to 110 pitch my yeast top off bottle bam cheap and sweat if u like it less sweet skip sugar process just use juice. Now thats just a gift recipe my fav way to do it is basically the same way but use maltose aka corn sugar and a dab malic acid maltose is in some bulk sections in grocery store and its the fastest to ferment and clarify its perfect for quick awesome real tasting hard cider!

Oh and that half cup of juice u froze is just for adding to secondary to top that back off after you siphon

 

[ox45]

Cider can pretty much be ready when you want it to be. I have turned out batches after 2 weeks in primary (I keg, not bottle), to aging a batch for a few months. Of course like a lot of things, it gets better with a little conditioning. I've noticed the apple really starts to come back after 3 to 4 weeks for mine.

 

[homebrewjack]

would guess. 2 weeks ferementation, decorbonize.letz sit. 3 days, rebottle with little bit of sugar, let go for one week. ready to drink. would guess 4 weaks. ferementation is the tricky part, it can go fast or take forever..

 

[Arpolis]

Well fermentation is complete and dry right now. I am letting it clear right now. Once it is as clear is I think it will get then I will rack, clean the jar and top up with some left over strawberry mead I have with a tsp of sugar. Seal it up and see where it goes.

 

[Arpolis]

Ok I have it racked off the lees. Topped up with strawberry mead and a tsp of sugar added. It is all sealed up so let's see how she carbs up and tastes in a week or so.

 

[Arpolis]

Well just out of grins and giggles I tried this out today. I know I know it has not even been two weeks. Well this was not a serious attempt at cider and just a side gimmick that I thought may be fun as I watch my good stuff bulk age.

Here are my observations so far.

This stuff is not clear in any sense of the word. Just as murky as the day I bought it. So I may need a 24 hour pectic enzyme regiment and a full 30 day clearing process if I want it clearer but what do you all think. Should unfiltered apple juice fermented be clear?

This tastes like some tropical mix drink from the bar. Something a lady friend would enjoy.

At first there is a sour kick to it like it has a lot of acidic notes common with pineapple.

On the back end it is a tad bitter to off set it.

It is not really carbonated but I know it did carb a little. The gravity was a nice dry at 1.000 exact.

I think if I did this again I would cut the tea in half and may just separate the spices to have like 1/2 tsp earl grey black tea and throw in 1 whole clove, pinch of all spice and a half stick of cinnamon. Also I think using lalvin 71b would be good to cut down on that acidic first taste.

Let me know what you think or ridicule for tasting too soon. But I think this was fun learning and I might just do a serious batch in the future.

 

[Kashue]

Taste all the time!

Young cider has a slightly burney acid-ey heat to it. This dissapates with bottle conditioning and is IMO the best reason to bottle condition. I assume time in the keg will work the same way.

You should also limit the straight water you add- consider using melted concentrate instead of sugar+water. You already learned you can just fire the yeast right in.

You should totally try a serious batch again soon. And within reason you can use just about any yeast you want, although champagne yeasts and English or Belgian ale yeasts seem to be the popular ones. I've had good results with Nottingham and Windsor, got some Munich to try but ended up using it on some other projects (a beer that exploded and a mead that's happily popping away as we speak).

 

[Arpolis]

It is good to hear:

Young cider has a slightly burney acid-ey heat to it.

So just some aging would help with that acidic taste I had and it may not have been a product of mis-used ingredients or bad process. I have some mead stuff to do soon and I am preparing entries for our state fair so after that I may pick up a serious batch.