I need a brief rundown of making cider. There’s an apple orchard up the road that sells cider (I’m assuming not pasturized, no preservatives or anything like that) Simple as buying 5 gallons and dropping in some yeast or do I need to add apple juice too?
It’s almost as simple as that but not quite…
You need to get your OG where you want it and add some campden tablets to kill any wild yeast.
Have you visited Jack Keller’s site? Good info.
Cidering for dummies:
Fresh pressed cider - no preservatives - may be flash pasteurized or not
1 campden tablet per gallon, crushed and added to cider
After 24 hours add cultured yeast of you choice or not
add fermentable adjunct of your choice to raise SG or not
Campden will kill bacteria but only stunt the wild yeast. If you choose to not use a cultured yeast the wild yeast will take over and do the job. I use this procedure exclusively and have made BOS cider this way. I use Maple syrup, Brown sugar, or honey as adjuncts. The Maple syrup needs 2 years to meld properly, Brown sugar is ready in 9 month and Honey (2#/gallon) take about a year. You can make it as easy of complex as you like. I have even used cinnamon sticks for an added dimension (BOS 2008 Amber Waves of Grain, Western New York Hombrew competition Meads and Ciders).
wilypig, How much cinnamon did you add? Did you add it to the primary? How long did you keep it in?
Cidering for dummies
Fresh UNPASTUERIZED Cider
Add 5 gallons to 5 gallon carboy
Put in 60-65 degree area
Attach air lock
WALK AWAY
DONT TURN AROUND, WALK AWAY
- obtain unpasteurized apple juice.
- adjust gravity with table sugar (boil in a little water to dissolve then add to juice)
- Add rehydrated Nottingham ale yeast
- Add pectic enzyme to help with clarity and yeast nutrient to help fermentation.
- wait
- wait
- wait.
- bottle or keg.
I’ve made 8 or 10 batches of cider. For the last two, I’ve skipped the campden tablets entirely and suffered no ill effects. In fact the campden free cider is the best cider I’ve made. It may be a bit of a gamble, but I don’t like the flavor that the sulfate adds to the cider.
I’ve also taken to cold-crashing the cider before kegging it. When the SG reaches the residual sweetness you want (for me, that’s 1.012 to 1.015), rack the cider off the yeast and rapidly chill it to as close to 32 F as you can get. This won’t work if you’re bottling as the residual sugar will ferment if the temperature comes back up.
One thing no one has mentioned is to keep your cider topped up at all times once initial ferment has subsided and you have racked it clear of the gross lees!
If you don’t, especially if you are gambling with not using sulfites you risk infections from film yeasts, cider sickness, mousiness (smells and tastes like the bottom of a mouse cage!) acetification and oxidation.
Cider seems to be much more perceptible to in infection with air in the headspace then beer I have found. Could be the lengthy storage aging times I suppose.
Leaving it on the lees can be beneficial if you wish to promote a malolactic ferment to reduce acidity but watch it as it can also lead to other problems such as ropiness and oiliness if left to long and not monitored.
This is my method as well, but for the record I’ve found that even pasteurized cider ferments spontaneously, sometimes in the fridge.
Ever had it taste any good?
Sorry about the long time delay. I use about 4-5 ounces of cinnamon for a 6 gallon batch.
The first time I used cinnamon I had a gallon growler of cider with the sticks in it that was blended back to the main batch. This one ended up dry with a hint of cinnamon - took BOS Meads/Cider at the local HB competition in 2008. Next batch I added the sticks to the main fermenter (no overflow growler), the sticks acted as a flocculant and all the yeast dropped out leaving me with a sweet highly spiced apple pie like cider. This also took BOS Mead/Cider - 2010, in the local HB competition. I added the cinnamon a bit earlier than I really wanted which stunted the yeast. I prefer my ciders dry but this one is a great dessert beverage. I also force carbonated to about 2.5 volumes for a very spritzy presentation.
How much brown sugar do you use per gallon? Thanks.
I generally go 1-2 pounds per gallon depending on my mood. The natural yeast in my area are very robust and will ferment pretty far.
Thank you.
I smell an experiment!
Split the batch in two… spontaneous ferment one, add campden and a neutral, alcohol tolerant yeast to the other (not champagne yeast).
Or… split it in three. prepare 1st two as above and add an abbey ale / belgian ale to the third… mmmm.
Pick the one you like best, do it again and age it on raisins, cinnamon, cloves, orange peel, or any combination.