Recipe help, help me choose yeast and recipe!

[wulfsburg]

Hello,

After years of absence on the forum, I have recently brewed some beer and am going to attempt my first apple cider.

I am going to buy 5 gallons of 100% applejuice (probably from costco) and then add some brown sugar , cinnamon and maybe a tiny bit of ginger.

I need help deciding on a yeast. This will be going on gas, not in a bottle.

I have narrowed it down to:
Safbrew S-33
Red Star Cote des Blancs
Lalvin EC 1118

I don't want it super dry, as this is mainly for SWMBO, so I am leaning towards the Safbrew. She likes cider a little bit more on the sweet side.

Also, I want the abv to be around 7%. I plan on adding brown sugar to up the gravity, but not sure how much. Also, not sure how much cinnamon and ginger to add to put a little bit of flavor in there. After it is done fermenting I am going to add 1 can of apple concentrate per gallon to add that apple flavor back to it.

Suggestions/thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[ericbw]

S-33 might be good because it sometimes gives up early, leaving more sugar. 1118 will go all the way dry.

You might consider adding the cinnamon after fermenting a week or two. Not sure about the amounts. I have some notes I can check.

 

[ericbw]

The red star will also run pretty dry.

I've used cote de Blanc and 1118 but never s-33 in cider.

 

[UpstateMike]

Might want to consider using S-04, or maybe Nottingham.

And I would advise adding cinnamon and nutmeg after primary fermentation completes.

 

[sfgoat]

Might want to consider using S-04, or maybe Nottingham.

And I would advise adding cinnamon and nutmeg after primary fermentation completes.

+1 to this. Nottingham is great in cider.

 

[UpstateMike]

And I would advise adding cinnamon and nutmeg after primary fermentation completes.

I meant ginger... Cinnamon and ginger... Although nutmeg might be an interesting addition.

 

[wulfsburg]

Thank you everyone for the replies. How much cinnamon and ginger would you advise?

 

[Yooper]

Might want to consider using S-04, or maybe Nottingham.

And I would advise adding cinnamon and nutmeg after primary fermentation completes.

Thank you everyone for the replies. How much cinnamon and ginger would you advise?

None, until it's done and you sample it. It's very easily over done, and best to add "to taste".

I second (or third) to not use any of the yeast strains you had listed, and probably not add sugar before fermentation starts. Yes, it does boost the ABV, but it removes much of the "apple" flavor from the juice, leaving a white wine. Apple juice isn't all that much like fresh cider anyway, and so you may end up with apple wine instead anyway but adding sugar will certainly change it to more wine-like. I'd use S04 or nottingham ale yeast. That will still end up tart and fairly dry (my last one ended at 1.004) but it will be more cider-like and won't require much sweetening if you like the hard cider to be a bit sweet.

 

[bernardsmith]

Hello,



I don't want it super dry, as this is mainly for SWMBO, so I am leaning towards the Safbrew. She likes cider a little bit more on the sweet side.

Also, I want the abv to be around 7%. I plan on adding brown sugar to up the gravity, but not sure how much.
Suggestions/thoughts?

Thanks!

To produce an ABV of 7% your starting gravity needs to be around 1.054. Fermented dry that will give you your target. One pound of sugar will add .040 per gallon of must, so you will need to measure the gravity of the juice and then determine how much sugar you want to add to bring the gravity up to the target - 1.054. If your wife prefers a sweeter cider you will either need to back sweeten or play Russian roulette with pasteurization (aiming for a target finishing SG and hoping you get near that bulls-eye). Me: I prefer to ferment dry and if I want to backsweeten I stabilize and then precisely the amount of sugar I want... but to each their own.
If you ferment dry and backsweeten, the 71B is a great cider yeast as it hits the malic acid and softens the flavors - and so not so tart. But like any good wine yeast it can handle 12-15% ABV without blinking.

 

[wulfsburg]

So, i have those yeasts to choose from due to stuff I have left over. I don't mind experimenting a little, and other cider (Crispin) uses belgian yeasts if I am not mistaken.

I have made applewein, and it turns out very ... flavorless. This time around, I want something with a little less alcohol, and more flavor.
So, based upon the responses, I think I am going to stick with the s-33. On the other hand, I do want to make it a higher abv than just regular cider, and was thinking of using piloncillo to sweeten, since I have had laying around since I haven't made Tepache in a while due to lack of Pineapples.

By everyone's response it sounds like I am going the path less traveled.

Thanks for the advice on the cinnamon and ginger. Add to taste after fermentation is what I will do.
Also, I will be sure to check my gravity and gauge based upon that.

What do you guys use to "backsweeten" ? I have tried with some artificial sweeteners and have really had success in my wine with gelatinizing cane sugar (can't remember the technical name for it).

 

[UpstateMike]

What do you guys use to "backsweeten" ?

Frozen Concentrated Apple Juice (FCAJ) is a good backsweetener for cider. Three 12 oz cans thawed and added into the bottling bucked for a 5 gallon batch is a good starting point.

 

[ericbw]

Here's what we have done, since you're kegging. Ferment the cider dry and let it sit and settle. Stabilize, sulfite, vat pasteurize, filter (any/all/whatever), then add more juice to dilute and sweeten it.

We've been getting about 8% ABV from the fermented juice. Backsweetening is about 2/3 hard cider and 1/3 fresh cider (pasteurized and with pectic enzyme to clear it some) to get sweet cider at 5% (ish) ABV. Carbonate in the keg.

If you like it more alcoholic, adjust the ratio of fresh to hard cider. And as mentioned, you could use frozen juice concentrate to sweeten and not dilute as much.

 

[ArkotRamathorn]

Another vote for 71B and S04. I really like the softness in my strawberry cyser from the 71B, very dry, but without being super crisp tart. The S04 is great for my straight up cider, still a tiny bit sweet, slightly tart, very appley.

 

[MarkKF]

Might want to consider using S-04, or maybe Nottingham.

I agree - Ive become a big fan of english ale yeast for cider! :rockin:

 

[Bent-Brewer]

I've tried Montrachet and Nottingham for ciders, and the Nottingham tasted far better. Kirkland (Costco) apple juice is great - I like to do 2:1 Kirkland Apple Juice:Apple Cider, but I don't really think it makes a difference. I'd add the brown sugar after fermentation, as the sweetness gets completely stripped out and you end up with a tart/bitter taste from the remnants of the fermented molasses.

If you're set on brown sugar and cinnamon, I really suggest you check out UpStateMike's Caramel Apple Cider (under the Forums, not in Recipes). He has an updated recipe at the bottom of page 42. I just made a batch and SWMBO loves it, though I would increase the amount of cinnamon and cut down the backsweetening a little.

Alternatively, you could backsweeten with RW Knudsen juices. There's a Zombie Killer clone that uses their Just Tart Cherry and some Orange Blossom Honey (think the recipe was in the Mead Forums). When I stopped out to pick up the cherry juice, I saw they had a spiced pear juice with cinnamon and pears. I think I'm gonna try that in the next batch. Really, you can make whatever you want. My first cider, I played around with bits and pieces of different recipes and got stressed about it. Looking back, I should have just picked something basic and enjoyed it more. As long as you don't infect, oxidize, or go way overboard on flavors, its pretty hard to mess up.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

The only thing I can add that others haven't already covered is this: Use fresh, peeled ginger root; slice it into medallions. Use stick cinnamon & contain it with the ginger root in a hop sack. Weigh it down with a couple of sanitized marbles if you want. If you tie some fishing line to the hop sack you can easily remove it when your desired spice flavour profile has been reached. Avoid using powdered spices as they make a mess & cannot be removed without filtration.
Regards, GF.

 

[Maylar]

Grocery store apple juice tends to lose much of its apple flavor when fermented dry. If you bump the OG up with sugar it just gets worse. You end up with a champagne sort of thing. That's what's in my fridge right now, and I'm not liking it.

I suggest using concentrate if you want to raise the ABV and don't go above 1.050.

 

[Fossey]

My best cider yet was basically the apfelwine recipe. I used S-23 yeast and fermented at 12 degrees celsius for as long as you can handle waiting... I left it a year but not totally on purpose...
24L of store bought juice
1.25 kg dextrose
1 cup chopped raisins
1060 to 1008, giving me about 6.6% with great flavour and not too dry.
Bottled from primary...