Making a Cider

[tenglish1020]

I've brewed some beers before and looking into making some cider for upcoming holidays and I'm not sure where to start exactly, so where should I start? I like my ciders dry and kind of tart, like a granny smith apple if that helps. From what I read it seems fairly simple. 5 gallons of juice in the carboy and add yeast, let it sit for a few months.

So I would love any insight or help from any of you master cider makers out there.

 

[Newsman]

You should probably add a pound or two of corn sugar (and/or apple juice concentrate) to boost the alcohol content, plus add yeast nutrient when pitching the yeast. If you're using non-filtered cider, you might consider adding pectic enzyme to help your cider clear.

 

[microbiology]

You should probably add a pound or two of corn sugar (and/or apple juice concentrate) to boost the alcohol content, plus add yeast nutrient when pitching the yeast. If you're using non-filtered cider, you might consider adding pectic enzyme to help your cider clear.

Will the pectic enzyme work for non filtered juice that has been heat pasteurized?

 

[tenglish1020]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f25/man-i-love-apfelwein-14860/

This is kind of what I'm looking at using campaign yeast to have it more of a dry/tart cider. Will this work?

 

[porterpounder]

Start with good quality cider. No preservatives. Pretty much any yeast you use will create a dry cider. You will want to add some yeast nutrient/energizer blend as cider is low in available nitrogen. Cider tends to be best at a starting gravity above 1.060 in my experience, so some sugar may be added. I like raw sugar for a bit more character than white sugar. If you want to get serious about a good finishing cider you will want to adjust the acidity and tannins after fermentation to get a better mouth feel and more rounder flavors. Check this out for good info:

https://beerbrew.com/adjusting-finished-cider-1/

 

[bernardsmith]

Champagne yeast is a kind of all purpose fruit wine yeast that will ferment all simple fermentable sugars dry even if the starting gravity of the must is high (say a gravity of about 1.100). Apples don't have nearly that amount of sugar and if you press your apples or you buy commercially pressed apple juice you are likely to have a juice that weighs in with a gravity of around 1.045 (or thereabouts) -equivalent to about 1 lb of fermentable sugar in each pressed gallon of liquid. If you have brewed beer you may know that that kind of starting gravity where all the density (for all intents and purposes ) comes from FULLY fermentable sugar will result in a finished gravity of about .996 or lower and that means that the potential alcohol content of the cider is about 6 percent. If you want something approaching a wine you have two choices - you add more sugar (another 1lb per gallon will raise the potential ABV to about 10% (a starting gravity of about 1.080), or you can concentrate the apple juice by freezing it and then allowing the juice to thaw while you collect the first third or half of the thawed juice (this just about doubles the sugar concentration in each collected gallon - and also concentrates the flavor).
That said, all cider will ferment dry with just about any yeast you pitch - from beer yeast to wine yeast to champagne yeast. Dryness means that there is no remaining sugar left to ferment and since ALL the sugar (unlike beer) is simple and since simple sugars are 100 percent fermentable then if you leave the cider and yeast to do its own thing it will result in a dry hard cider.
The example you bring is not really a cider (you can drink cider by the pint) but a wine. You drink (IMO) apfelwein by the glass.

 

[podz]

The example you bring is not really a cider (you can drink cider by the pint) but a wine. You drink (IMO) apfelwein by the glass.

Apfelwein is the German word for cider. Other German speaking countries call it Most.

 

[podz]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f25/man-i-love-apfelwein-14860/

This is kind of what I'm looking at using campaign yeast to have it more of a dry/tart cider. Will this work?

Yep. I've literally made hundreds of gallons of the stuff using Plain Old Apple Juice and champagne yeast. Use DAP if you want it to finish in 1 week instead of 6.

 

[WinterWarrior]

Yep. I've literally made hundreds of gallons of the stuff using Plain Old Apple Juice and champagne yeast. Use DAP if you want it to finish in 1 week instead of 6.

DAP?? Diammonium Phosphate? How does it speed up fermentation (if I'm understanding you correctly)?

 

[tenglish1020]

Ok, I think I have a grasp on a recipe, just looking for a little more input on using an acid blend and pectic enzyme. Also about how long is the whole process take?

 

[podz]

DAP?? Diammonium Phosphate? How does it speed up fermentation (if I'm understanding you correctly)?

Apple juice is missing a sufficient level of nitrogen for yeast to thrive. DAP corrects that nitrogen deficiency.

 

[WinterWarrior]

Apple juice is missing a sufficient level of nitrogen for yeast to thrive. DAP corrects that nitrogen deficiency.

OK, now I understand. I use yeast nutrient and energizer in all my batches. I wasn't thinking of that as "speeding up" the fermentation just making sure it got started and the yeasties were happy and fed the whole time.

 

[podz]

OK, now I understand. I use yeast nutrient and energizer in all my batches. I wasn't thinking of that as "speeding up" the fermentation just making sure it got started and the yeasties were happy and fed the whole time.

DAP doesn't speed up fermentation; it allows it to occur at the pace which it should. Fermentation is not occuring at anywhere close to a normal pace when it takes 6 weeks to reach terminal gravity because the yeast is living in a nitrogen deficient environment. Additionally, there are yeasts which produce hydrogen sulfide gas in an nitrogen deficient environment (Montrachet in particular), in other words make your entire house smell like rhino farts. That's a surefire way to make SWMBO and the kids happy ;-)