First Attempt at a cider!!

[bwatts4200]

I haven't brewed yet wanted to hear some advice because this is a very make shift recipe...

4 gallons of organic apple cider
1 lb of brown sugar
2 sticks of cinnamon
2 packets of Nottingham

Now comes putting it all together... any advice or tips to brewing cider?

 

[apratsunrthd]

Not being a smartass (though it does come naturally): Look up EdWort's Apfelwein and brew that first. It's a no-miss if you have the patience.

 

[Gremlyn]

1. You don't brew cider, you simply make it. Might be splitting hairs, but why not be accurate?
2. Cider only has sugar added to it if the apples providing the juice are low in sugar that year.
3. Don't add cinnamon to a recipe you have made without it (unless you are following a recipe provided by a trusted source).
4. Although it is tempting to use cheaper and more easily available beer yeast in making cider, I strongly recommend using actual cider yeast. The resulting cider will need less ageing time (mine is done in 3-4 months) and taste more appley overall.
5. You would also only need one packet of Notty if that is what you chose to use.

I prefer to make my cider in the more traditional English style by adding malic acid and tannins to my apple juice to mimic the the cider apples used to make it in England and most of the world. You can click the Recipes under my avatar for a link to the recipe.

 

[bwatts4200]

I've read that wine yeast will make it very dry?

 

[BradleyBrew]

use some yeast nutrient... in my experience ale yeast are not happy in a apple juicy environment.

 

[Gremlyn]

I've read that wine yeast will make it very dry?

Certainly will. Makes sense if you think about it, wine is far more dry than beer and cider.

 

[Mermaid]

From my own experience and research -

1. A little sugar is okay, but it's all going to dry out. Honey is better - adds a little extra character to the finished product.

2. Some yeast throws sulphury compounds that will require aging before they disappear. This is not a bad thing, you'll just need to be patient.

3. There are a ton of threads here on the forums on "back sweetening", letting the bottles carb up, then pasteurizing. Definitely seek them out.

I started a batch of cider in mid October. It finished at 1.000 in about 2 weeks, but it still had some sulphur present in the nose. I bottled a very small batch, then tucked the rest of it in some secondaries where THEN I added sticks of cinnamon and some scraped vanilla bean.

The bottles without the cinnamon turned out FANTASTIC. I brought them to share with a dry cider-loving friend at Thanksgiving and it was passed around and quickly consumed. Very well received. It was very dry, but had a wonderful appley quality to it and great aroma. (it was very simple - 3 gallons local MA cider, 1 lb. local MA honey, and a dry English cider yeast - pretty sure it was a White Labs strain). It was also crystal clear (amazing, given that I was using pasteurized cider)

The "rest" that I bottled up the week of Thanksgiving were back sweetened just a bit with more fresh cider, a bit of corn sugar (boiled in water with a cinnamon stick added), a couple ounces of lactose, are now very drinkable and very tasty.

I've learned that you can make a high quality cider that folks enjoy that is also very dry.

You can also back sweeten if you choose, but it requires a bit more watching, patience, and a fridge to store them (or you'll have to pasteurize)

Cider is amazingly easy. I really do think a lot has to do with the quality of the cider you start with, and your yeast strain. The rest is recipe experimentation, and mother nature.

cheers!

p.s. I was planning on making another batch of the dry stuff, since it really did turn out very nice - like a light refresshing dry sparkling wine. Very good with rich foods, and dessert as well.

 

[bwatts4200]

I put it all together this weekend... 4 gals straight cider and yeast. After 6 hours the lock was going crazy but calmed down today. Made another 4 gal with brown sugar and one cinnamon stick... Heated to 160 for 45 mins. Removed the stick. Ferm started about the same time but is still going a good bit harder then the other...

I'll keep this post up with how it's going