Simple cider?

[Viking_Brewing]

Anyone have a simple cider recipe I can make in a regular 5 gallon pale? I have a preference for pear, but I'd try whatever is easiest. And ideally I'd like to use "Lalvin EC-1118" yeast.

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[wooda2008]

Add 5 gallons of cider to the bucket.
Rehydrate and add the yeast.
It's really that simple.

If you want to complicate things, get a SG reading of your juice, decide what ABV you want to end up with and add sugar to get to get there.

 

[MindenMan]

IIRC, Gerber has some 100% juice Pear juice in quarts. Others have mentioned using it and I don't remember any negative comments about final products.

 

[Viking_Brewing]

Thanks to both of you! So I literally just pour juice into a pale and add yeast? Do I need to sanitize the must or anything?

 

[sd_brewbie]

Today I bought a 1 gallon glass jug of pasteurized preservative free apple cider, added a little less than a quarter cup of brown sugar and a packet of champagne yeast. Put a stopper in with a blow of tube and dropped it in my ferm chamber (to join a few friends already fermenting). 5 minute brew day

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[Viking_Brewing]

So if I just x5 that recipe, that should work great! Thank you!

 

[sd_brewbie]

I have absolutely zero idea if my sugar add is good, but it felt good

 

[mredge73]

My favorite recipe is super simple and the ladies love my backsweetened version.
Important: pasteurized apple cider and ascorbic acid (vitamin c) is acceptable. If anything else is added for preservation do not buy.
I use Musselmans Apple Cider because it has a good taste and is out in every Walmart in my area this time of year.
As usual you need to do a good job sanitizing; acetobacter loves apples and likes to magically turn alcohol to vinegar.
No cider is safe but you can keep them at bay with good sanitizing and starting with pasteurized juice.

Dry Cider:
For every 1 gallon of cider add 1 can of apple juice frozen concentrate (cheap walmart version works, whatever you use make sure it has no preservatives).
This will give you a OG of 1.055 - 1.06; more concentrate or sugar can be added if you want a higher OG. Sugar thins the body, frozen concentrate is a good way to add sugar without thinning the body as much.
Ferment with clean Ale yeast (S-05, S-04) for best results; EC-1118 will make it super dry with a very light body.
Finishes at close to 1.0 at 8% abv. If you want to carbonate it bottle like beer; if not you will need to add some potassium sorbate after cold crashing.


Sweet cider (like woodchuck, carbonation requires kegging system):
Ferment as above. After cold crash transfer off of yeast and add potassium sorbate. Back sweeten with 1 can of frozen concentrate per gallon.
Force carb with kegging system, enjoy.

 

[scm81]

This is what I do and have had great results with it.

Fist make sure the juice you get doesn't have any preservatives in it. Absorbic acid (vitamin C) is ok as an ingredient. I use Meijer brand apple juice as it is 100% juice, not from concentrate and the ingredients listed are apples + absorbic acid.

Make sure you sanitize the fermenter / airlock / anything that will touch the fermenting juice just as you would with beer. I use starsan personally.

Pour in 3 gallons of juice + 32 oz of any other fruit juice you want in the cider. I have had really good luck with dole pineapple juice, though I have no idea if you would want to change the ratio with pear.

I aerate with a sanitized whisk and then add in 2 teaspoons of yeast nutrient.

I have always used rehydrated Notty, but have heard that many wine yeasts will work well. A wine yeast wont leave as much residual sugar so it will be drier than an ale yeast.

The fermenter sits in my basement where it stays about 63-66 degrees for 2.5 weeks then I rack to secondary.
before transferring to secondary I add potassium sulfite and potassium sorbate into the secondary and let it sit for a couple more days.
After that I rack into a keg that has 2 cans of frozen apple juice concentrate and an 8 oz can of pineapple juice in it. Carb it up on gas and serve a sweet sparkling cider.

 

[Weezy]

I use a blend of jugged cider:
Generic apple juice (1 gal) with zero ingredients besides concentrate and water. No ascorbic acid or anything. This is plain Jane juice.
Martinellis apple cider (58 oz) pure pressed apples. Nice and rich and zesty.
Whole Foods or Trader Joes Gravenstein (64 oz) tart.

This blend gives a nice balanced hard cider. One of each gives you a little less than 2 gallons. Get two of each for nearly 4 gallons.

I use Mangrove Jacks cider yeast.

 

[mredge73]

I may try some blend this year and see how it goes.
Finding good juices without preservatives around here isn't very easy.
What are you guys using to bring up the OG; most juices sit about 1.045 - 1.05 OG and would make a weak cider on their own.

 

[kgressler]

I may try some blend this year and see how it goes.
Finding good juices without preservatives around here isn't very easy.
What are you guys using to bring up the OG; most juices sit about 1.045 - 1.05 OG and would make a weak cider on their own.

Depending on if you let it ride to 1.00 or slightly short of that that still results in a 5-6% abv or so. I have been raising my Sg to around 1.060-1.065. I have used honey and I have also used a turbinado/dextrose mix with success.

If you want to make apple wine then bump of the fermentable sugars but from what others have said expect a longer time period before its decent to drink.

 

[bernardsmith]

Hi Viking Brewing. Good luck with your cider...No need to sanitize the juice if it has been commercially prepared but if you are pressing your own juice then you may want to kill the wild yeast and lactic bacteria in the juice. You ought to sanitize your fermenter and equipment - K-meta is good for that (campden tabs are the pre-packaged version). But why your preference for an aggressive champagne yeast? That is a useful yeast to use to restart a stalled fermentation or to prime in a bottle, but less aggressive yeasts like 71B, D47 or QA23 work well with apples (71B is perhaps best as it handles the malic acid in the apples really well)

 

[churst]

I use Mangrove Jacks cider yeast.

Mangrove Jack's FTW!

 

[Viking_Brewing]

Thank you all so much! I'll start some tonight

 

[DurtyChemist]

My first recipe is 4 gallons Apple juice with a pack of yeast. Apple juice is 1.052 OG. The last gallon will go in the keg for sweetness and kept cold so the leftover yeast don't destroy anything by eating all that sugar.