Apple cider anyone?

[WoodChuckDad]

Malolactic fermentation is when the very tart malic acid converts to a softer feeling/tasting lactic acid. Basicly it is the aging of wine that gives it a smoother body with less tannin taste. Depending on your apple blend and yeast/style this may or may not be desirable for your cider.

 

[WoodChuckDad]

THANKS for the quick lesson! Three more questions (for now )...

1) how much yeast per gallon of cider
1A) do you have a particular brand of yeast that you like

2) How can you make it fizzy?

3) what's the best way to bottle it? Or, what should I keep it in while waiting to drink it?

OK, so maybe that's five questions...

One packet of yeast will work for a gallon or five gallons. Doesn't have to be exact.
I have used red star and all in for dry ciders. For slightly less dry I like all in D47 white wine yeast
Fizzy can be done by bottle conditioning with dextrose. You add a bit of corn sugar and bottle it. This gives remaining yeast some small amount of sugar to convert to alcohol and create co2 as a byproduct. You need to be exact or you will blow up the bottles. It takes about a month to get a good carbonated bottle. There may be some residual lees (spent yeast ) at the bottom of the bottle. Pour carefully.
You could also buy co2 tank and regulator and a corny keg and carbonate it but that is a bit more money. And then you need a tap.
I have even heard of people using a soda stream buy you need to be careful. That can be messy.

Easiest way to bottle is flip type grolcsh style bottles. But beer bottles with a hand capper or wine bottles work too. If you are drinking it still you could just put in a bottle in the fridge

 

[Jstpssng]

I tried making two gallons last year by simply dumping sweet cider into jugs with airlocks. When it stopped fermenting I found that I had something which worked great for freshening up my pipes as I dumped it down the sink. This year I will try it while following the directions more closely.

 

[Jstpssng]

This was tsken from Midwest Supplies - Homebrewing and Winemaking Midwest Supplies a few years ago. I can't find it on their website now, though.



Optional for creating a starter: one additional 16-ounce bottle of preservative-free, pasteurized apple juice
Optional for sparkling cider: 3/4 cup honey or brown sugar
Find the Ingredients
Choose Your Juice. The best hard cider is made from sweet apple cider fresh from the cider press whether
your own, or a local cider millç—´. If youæ±*e buying sweet cider, start by checking the label to be sure the cider
doesn稚 contain chemical preservatives, because these will kill your yeast and your cider will not ferment. (The
cider is chemically preserved if sodium benzoate or potassium sorbate are listed on the label.) Your best bet for
preservative-free cider is to buy it in season from a local orchard. In a pinch, you can also make hard cider with
grocery store apple juice, as long as it doesn稚 have preservatives.
Also, be aware that most commercial cidermakers are required to pasteurize their cider, and the process they use
will affect the flavor. Preferably, your sweet cider should be ç”°old pasteurized, which kills microorganisms with
ultraviolet light. The usual method of pasteurization kills microorganisms with heat, which affects the flavor of
the juice. If youæ±*e not sure which method a local cider mill uses, it doesn稚 hurt to ask.
Choose Your Yeast. A variety of dry and liquid brewing yeasts will do the trick, and you can find them here.
Although you can buy specialized liquid yeast packs for fermenting cider, dry wine yeasts do an excellent job and
are much cheaper.
Make a Starter. The day before you brew your cider, make a starter. This step is optional, but it ensures that
your yeast is proofed (i.e., alive) and will start fermenting your cider right away. To make a starter, open the
bottle of room-temperature preservative-free apple juice and pour out a few ounces. Pour the contents of one
yeast packet into the bottle, reseal it and shake for a few seconds. Within five or six hours, you should see a
bit of bubbling within the bottle. Once you do, release the pressure within the bottle, reseal it and put it in the
refrigerator. Get it out a couple of hours before you brew.
Start Brewing
On brewing day, if your juice is unpasteurized, pour your cider into the brewpot and simmer it over medium
heat, keeping the temperature at about 185ｺ for about 45 minutes. This will kill most of the wild yeasts and
bacteria in the cider. Bolder cidermakers will forgo this step by pouring the sweet cider directly into a plastic
bucket and then pitching in the yeast. If you follow this strategy, wild strains of yeast will still be in the sweet
cider when it begins fermenting. This will alter the flavor of the cider. (It may or may not improve it.) If you do
heat the cider, don稚 let it boil! Boiling causes pectins to set, which creates a permanently hazy beverage. While
simmering the cider, you can add the optional 2 pounds of brown sugar or honey. This will boost the fermentable
sugar content in your cider and up the alcohol content.
Next, pour the cider into a sanitized fermentation bucket an unsanitized bucket may spoil the cider. Follow
the instructions on your bottle of sanitizer. Let the cider cool to nearly room temperature, then add your
yeast or starter, if you chose to make one. Stir the mixture for a minute or two with a clean stainless steel
or plastic spoon to aerate, then seal the lid and affix the airlock. Place the bucket in a room or closet where the
temperature is 65 to 75 degrees the closer to 65 degrees, the better. Stay within this range if you can: At
lower temperatures the cider won稚 ferment, while higher temperatures will speed up fermentation, but may also
change the flavor.
Let it Ferment. Within a day or two you should see the airlock start to bubble. The gas itç—´ releasing is carbon
dioxide, a byproduct of the fermentation process. Congratulations, your soft cider is on its way to becoming a
delicious, inebriating elixir of the gods! This bubbling should subside within two weeks, signifying an end to the
primary fermentation. After that, let the cider sit another week to allow the yeast to settle out.
Options For Bottling
There are a couple of different ways you can go at this point:
Option 1: Bottle the Cider Now. If you want to bottle the cider immediately, affix the rinsed food-grade tubing
to the spigot on your bottling bucket and pour the cider off into sanitized jugs or bottles. (Be gentle when moving
the bucket full of cider. Sloshing can disturb the yeast sediment at the bottom of the bucket and cloud up your
cider.) Seal the jugs or bottles. Let the bottled hard cider sit for another two weeks and then it will be ready to
drink. Your cider will probably be 都till (i.e., not fizzy) unless you let it age for several months. Hard cider is
more like wine than beer, and the flavor will improve as it ages.
Option 2: Let it Clarify. If you only use one fermenter, your cider will taste fine, but may not be perfectly clear
because it will probably still have some suspended yeast. To reduce cloudiness, siphon your cider into a glass
carboy. Sanitize the carboy before filling it with cider. Once you致e siphoned your cider into the carboy, put a
sanitized stopper and airlock on it and place it back in a dark and, preferably, cool location. A month should be
ample time for the cider to clarify. After itç—´ aged for as long as you can stand, bottle it as above. This cider will
most definitely be 都till, with no bubbles.
Option 3: Make Sparkling Cider. Regardless of whether you decide to bottle immediately or let it clarify in a
carboy, if you want 都parkling cider, you値l have to add a couple steps at bottling time. First, boil 1 cup water
with three-fourths cup honey or brown sugar. Pour this mixture into a sanitized bottling bucket. Then, siphon
your cider over from your fermentation bucket or carboy to the bottling bucket. The honey or brown sugar syrup
and cider should mix together naturally, but stir slowly with a sanitized spoon if you feel it is necessary. Then,
bottle as you would normally. You値l have to let this sit a bit longer than the still cider, so the residual yeast will
have time to ferment the sugar you added and carbonate the cider inside the bottle. Usually, 2 weeks is enough.
Drink the Cider! At this point, itç—´ time to start drinking your cider and thinking about brewing your next batch.

 

[MossRoad]

The basics of making hard cider are easy. Take your unpasteurized cider and add yeast. Don't use bread yeast. Use white wine yeast or champagne yeast. You can find those at a brewing or wine making store or on Amazon for about a buck. You will need a stopper and a water lock. You need something to put it in. I have seen lots of people make test batches with the plastic milk jug it came in. Glass gallon jugs are a little nicer since you can see what is going on. If you want larger batches you can spend the money on a glad Carboy or do your fermentation in a food grade 5 gallon bucket with lid. You will need a water lock or blow off tube.

Take your cider. Add yeast. Put the water lock on it and watch the show. It will start fermenting in a day or two. You can tell because it will be bubbling thru the airlock. After a week or two( usually 2 sometimes more) the bubbles will stop. You can test the achohol level with a hydrometer but you don't have to. Siphon the cider off the yeast deposit into another sterilized jug. Put a clean sterilized water lock on it. Let it sit for 2 weeks while it clears. At that point you can drink. It won't be fizzy but there are ways to fix that.

Its called and air lock, not a water lock, but it has water in it.

Gallon jugs at a brew/wine making supply store are cheap. So's the rubber plug and air lock. Buy two jugs, a plug and an air lock, a couple packets of champagne yeast and it'll run you about $15.00 to get started. :thumbsup:

 

[WoodChuckDad]

Its called and air lock, not a water lock, but it has water in it.

Gallon jugs at a brew/wine making supply store are cheap. So's the rubber plug and air lock. Buy two jugs, a plug and an air lock, a couple packets of champagne yeast and it'll run you about $15.00 to get started. :thumbsup:

Thanks. it's an airlock and don't go adding brown sugar on your first batch or so. Keep it simple and produce something drinkable first. Personally I hate fermented honey in any form. I think it tastes like glue. YMMV

 

[MNBobcat]

You don't want to make a starter yeast the day before. It can consume all the sugars and die. Liquid yeasts you break the pouch inside the bag and let sit 3 hours before pitching. Dry yeast you add to warm water to activate it and you can add a little juice to it to feed it. Then pitch.

 

[Got2BTru]

Tagging this post...we'd love to try this and get some trees planted next year when we get onto our 32 acres!

 

[buckeyefarmer]

bought some cider today, no preservatives. good stuff, I like it after sitting a week.

 

[TomSeller]

bought some cider today, no preservatives. good stuff, I like it after sitting a week.

I can't sit that long and wait. The cider would be long gone by then. Yum.