My first hopped cider

[Pontiac_Guy]

Just bottled my first hopped cider. I did five gallons of apple juice, 1 pound raw sugar, and safale us-05 yeast for a month. The temp was usually around 72 during primary. Dry hopped with half an ounce of Cascade for the last seven days.

I tried a sip while bottling and it was almost like a green jolly rancher. I don't know, just wanted to see what others have done with this sort of thing. Oh, and my gravity reading gave me a 7.5% abv
Can't wait for the bottling to be done in a couple of weeks.


Can't

 

[gingerman]

Please update when you're done with bottling. I'm researching hopping ginger beer and would love to hear your insight before going down that path.

 

[jflongo]

I have dry hopped my cider and enjoyed it. Not sure 1/2 oz you'll be able to tell much. I used 3 oz of dry hops(1.5 cascade, 1.5 centennial) and it was a "little" hoppy. Next batch I will be using 6 oz total.

 

[Pontiac_Guy]

I decided to use half an ounce due to the hops I was going to use (cascade happened to be in the fridge at the time) and their AA %. My hydrometer tests gave off light floral notes which was what I was shooting for. I let it sit for a week hoping to sponge out all the hoppiness I could without being overpowered. Oh well, we do this to experiment, right? Next time I'm thinking about using Amarillo hops. Maybe I'll just use both cascade and Amarillo

You'll have to let us know about the six ounces though... That'll be a hop bomb for sure!

And I'll post on here in a couple weeks and the bottling process is complete.

 

[gingerman]

Very cool. Yeah I'd like to accentuate the floral notes in the high quality ginger I'm using without overpowering it.

This thread is great food for thought. I'm gonna have to do this soon.

 

[jflongo]

My batch was 5.5 gallons, dry hopping with 3 oz, didn't even come close to making it a hop bomb. That's why I'm going to 6 oz next time. I'm waiting for the orchards here, to start making fresh cider, then I'm going to make my next batch from that instead of store bought. So it may be awhile still.

 

[Pontiac_Guy]

Haha I was saying that the six oz one will be a hop bomb, but who knows. What is your typical abv when hopping yours? I was aiming towards a dryer cider to accentuate the hop aroma with only a slight taste change, so I added some sugar and used s-05. I'm glad to hear there are a few people on this thread that aren't purists and only want hops in beer and what-not

 

[jflongo]

Haha I was saying that the six oz one will be a hop bomb, but who knows. What is your typical abv when hopping yours? I was aiming towards a dryer cider to accentuate the hop aroma with only a slight taste change, so I added some sugar and used s-05. I'm glad to hear there are a few people on this thread that aren't purists and only want hops in beer and what-not

ABV was 10.37% 1.079 -> 1.000

I know you weren't talking about the 3 oz I just meant the 3 oz didn't seem very hoppy at all to me, so hopefully the 6 oz will. Cheers.

 

[Linda]

I am a novice cider maker and have made about 6-7 gallons (1 gal batches) so far. I'm playing around with ingredients, yeasts and levels of sweetness. The store brands are way too sweet for my tastes. So I decided to make a batch of hopped cider for my DH as an experiment last month.

Simple recipe:
1 gal apple juice (I used an unfiltered pasteurized generic brand)
1/2 tsp. Nottingham yeast
1 heaping tablespoon of Cascade hops (pellets) in the secondary
No added sugar or yeast nutrient
Strained out hops with cheesecloth right before bottling.
No back sweetening

DH liked it. I thought it tasted kind of like lightly hopped grapefruit juice. I like grapefruit juice so it's okay by me.

 

[Pontiac_Guy]

Two weeks into the bottling and it's not that bad.

 

[Pontiac_Guy]

Alright, so three weeks into the bottling and I like it. The first week had me nervous because the aroma was a little too strong for me, but it's evened off now. I got exactly what I was shooting for which was a slight floral/citrusy aroma and a bit of a back-of-the-tongue flavor. So I'll chock this up to a good batch. Now, I don't know how this will fair in a month or two., but will it even last that long?

 

[robbyhicks]

My guess is that it will last a week or two but really drop off after that, especially if you used the oxygen absorbing caps on your bottles... reading research from sam adams and other industry people the oxygen caps used "suck up" the hop aromas/flavors, since we taste mostly by smell, that is why sam adams is looking to put boston lager in cans...

that being said, I think you have better utilization and staying power if added in the boil vs. Dry hopping, so would there be problem in doing say a 10min boil? I suggest that as understanding, Palmer I think, says 60-30 min in the boil is bittering, 30-10min is flavor and under 10min is aroma...

On another note I have fallen in love wih el dorado hops in my light beers this summer... somethin like notes of pear, watermelon and stone fruit... I am also immensely curious, and have 6oz now, of citra hops which should be a strong citrus to grapefruity flavor/aroma... both of these are fairly high aau (15% & 11%) compared to the afore mentioned cascade and amarillo (about 5-6% i think)... but that just means you have to use less...

 

[Pontiac_Guy]

I use .5L swing top bottles, but that's really interesting about the oxygen absorbing caps. I never would have guessed that. Thanks for that. I really don't think these hops will last that long either, but the faint aroma and taste was what I was going for. Again, I'm leaning more towards Amarillo or maybe Crystal hops in the next batch. I am intrigued with the el dorado hops though, I'll definitely remember those.

So you're looking more towards a high AA Hop? Why? I'm trying to get to the lower spectrum.

 

[robbyhicks]

Mostly thinking high aau hops so you dont have to use as much... and I have some on hand...