Hard "Fire Cider"?!

[bobdaferret]

This past weekend I learned about "fire cider," an all-natural, cold-fighting, immunity-boosting, do-it-yourself remedy. It's as simple as soaking some raw whole foods in organic apple cider vinegar for a month, straining, and then sweetening with raw local honey at the end. The whole foods include--but are not limited to--onion, garlic, hot peppers (for capsaicin), citrus juice/zest, ginger, horseradish, and whatever other healthy herbs & spices your heart desires! Here is a list of ingredients one writer recommends for putting variations on the recipe, or... websearch it!!

My thought is, what are the chances this could be any good as a hard cider?!

If I were to do such a thing, I'd imagine making a fairly weak, basic hard cider, 3-5% (this would replace the vinegar entirely)... then I'd chop up my raw goodies, hit them with StarSan, throw them into secondary & rack on top, and let that sit for a month, just like the original recipe... then I would use the honey for my priming sugar @ bottling.

How does this sound?

 

[Carusoat]

This has definitely peaked my interest. I might try to make some

 

[bobdaferret]

Let me know if you do, I'd be curious to hear about your method & results!

I'm gonna go ahead with the method I described above, once I make an investment into some 1-gal experimental equipment.

 

[Randzor]

I think it'll turn into vineager.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[WVMJ]

I dont think starsan is supposed to be used like that, get a bottle of potassium metabisulfite powder to knock down the bad bugs instead. WVMJ

 

[bobdaferret]

I think it'll turn into vineager.

Based on what?

I dont think starsan is supposed to be used like that, get a bottle of potassium metabisulfite powder to knock down the bad bugs instead. WVMJ

I won't be submerging anything in StarSan... for all my previous brews involving fruit, all I've done is make a spray bottle of the solution, lightly spray the fruit down evenly, let sit no more than 5 minutes, rinse in the colander (also sanitized), and add to the fermentor. No issues yet. Any other sanitation concerns beyond that are taken care of by the alcohol in the brew, IMO.

 

[WVMJ]

Spraying sanatizer onto fruit is a waste of time, bugs get into the crevices of the fruit. Much better to crush it up and add sulfites to the fruit then as everything is exposed.

There is another "fire" cider, this is one where they cook down the apple juice to concentrate it to give it a different taste. I could imagine this kind of fire cider with hot peppers and made by the real fire cider method would be really good.

WVMJ

 

[bobdaferret]

Spraying sanatizer onto fruit is a waste of time, bugs get into the crevices of the fruit. Much better to crush it up and add sulfites to the fruit then as everything is exposed.

The crevice issue is the reason I ever started using StarSan... straight from their Amazon Product Description section:

"This product does tend to foam, which has advantages and disadvantages. The foaming action helps to sanitize cracks and crevices, but you need to allow extra time for draining."

There is another "fire" cider, this is one where they cook down the apple juice to concentrate it to give it a different taste.

Neat! Any sources to this version?

 

[ericbw]

I think some of the alleged health benefits come from the vinegar. So swapping it out for hard cider and alcohol seems like you'd miss out on that.

 

[bobdaferret]

I think some of the alleged health benefits come from the vinegar. So swapping it out for hard cider and alcohol seems like you'd miss out on that.

Yes, I understand. I'm sorta taking the "hot toddy" approach with this idea, assuming the alcohol in the cider would be a good catalyst to absorb all the other nutrients from the raw whole foods.

So, take your apple cider vinegar in the morning... and your hard fire cider at night!

 

[jrcox1979]

This past weekend I learned about "fire cider," an all-natural, cold-fighting, immunity-boosting, do-it-yourself remedy. It's as simple as soaking some raw whole foods in organic apple cider vinegar for a month, straining, and then sweetening with raw local honey at the end. The whole foods include--but are not limited to--onion, garlic, hot peppers (for capsaicin), citrus juice/zest, ginger, horseradish, and whatever other healthy herbs & spices your heart desires! Here is a list of ingredients one writer recommends for putting variations on the recipe, or... websearch it!!

My thought is, what are the chances this could be any good as a hard cider?!

If I were to do such a thing, I'd imagine making a fairly weak, basic hard cider, 3-5% (this would replace the vinegar entirely)... then I'd chop up my raw goodies, hit them with StarSan, throw them into secondary & rack on top, and let that sit for a month, just like the original recipe... then I would use the honey for my priming sugar @ bottling.

How does this sound?

How did this turn out?