Cider Making

[mttwhscott1]

I would like to know how to make a good crisp cider. If someone has a good easy recipe (this will be my first cider) I would be grateful for it.

Also, is there a difference between a cider and a light, flavored beer?

Best Wishes,
MSW

[danno]

ciders are actually extremely easy, unless you want something with some residual sweetness. then, things get more complicated... the last cider I made, two plus years ago, went like this: go to the grocery store, purchase five gallons of pressed cider, go home, dump it in a carboy, dump in some yeast. rack it off the trub a month later, wait some more, bottle (or keg), wait longer, then drink. this is a great method if by "crisp", you mean quite dry, crisp, and tart...

good luck! (and yes, this is quite a different animal than a light flavored beer, in many ways...)

[kevin]

and make sure there is no preservatives in the cider.

[Tweek]

ToneyC is the cider master iirc. I have had mixed results with ciders I have made.

I made one about 2 years ago. I hated it when it finished fementation. I decided to make it a "project". Over the last 2 years I have been spicing it and spiking it with brandy. I tasted it yesterday and it is freakin awesome. I am going to bottle it in the next month or so. Will be a great winter warmer type thing come Xmas.

[PFDarkside]

Is there any place to get preservative free cider before fall?

[Tweek]

If you have any health food type stores in your area, that stuff they sell in gallon glass jugs is preservative free.

[mttwhscott1]

Dear Mr. (or Mrs.) Tweek,

Could you indulge me a bit more with your "brandy-in-cider" theory?

Thank you.

Best Wishes,
MSW

[Tweek]

well, it is not so much a theory as me just tinkering around.

Basically my buddy had this apple tree. We picked a ton of apples and juiced them. This was a major pia btw.

The cider came out too crisp and tart for my liking. So I thought I would change it up a bit. I really got the idea of the brandy fromthis mulled wine that the wife and I make for holiday parties. Which is basically some jug of zin, whatever is cheap works, as long as it is wine and not wine flavored beverage. That is slowly heated over the stove with some mulling spices, which is like clove, nutmeg etc. Brandy is added for an extra kick. This is served warm and is quite tasty. I digress.

BAck to the cider. So over the last couple years I would step herbs in it (in a nylon bag so I could pull them out) and added brandy. This is important to do all these steps slowly. As you can always add more but taking some out is not going to happen. The way I would do it is add teh spices or brandy, let it sit a few days then go taste it. Depending on the result I would add more. For a while I would check on this every month or so, but it has all but been forgotten in the last little while. Quite a suprise to come to it in the state it is in. I am psyched.

Did that answer the qeustion or was that just rambling?

[toneyc]

Heh, I'm not a cider master by any means, but I found the same thing you guys did. My first batch of cider was dry and nearly flavorless. My second batch, I dumped a bunch of honey in and it was way too sweet. The third batch, I cut back on the honey and it wasn't too bad. There's still a bottle of that in the fridge, I should try it soon. I should bottle batch #4 soon. It has been in the fermenter almost two years. I kinda lost interest in cider. It may be too late for it.

:D
Toney.

[fatboy570]

I visited a friend this evening and tasted a cider that I made last fall. It was from a 2 gallon batch (my first). Being a rookie, I just purchased 2 gallons of fresh apple juice with no preservatives from a local orchard, added some wine yeast,and let it set for a month. I then racked to secondary and added cinnamon and allspice and let it set for another month. After bottling I would transfer it off the dregs every week or so, keeping it in the fridge seemed to help clearing. It has a nice sweet flavor, and the cinnamon comes through nicely. With the small batch size, I couldnt get a hydrometer reading, but guess it at about 5%. I plan to make a 5 gallon batch this fall, with a little nutmeg and brown sugar for a different taste and higher ABV

[hideouse]

I have four small childeren in my house so I don't make much beer anymore. But cider and wine, now,,, they don't need cooking, that cuts down on the headache considerable. Don't have to worry obout the kids getting hot wort on them. I have made a lot of cider these last few years and my only problem has been keeping the cider from going sour. I think the fruit flys are getting in somehow. Not every batch. It might be that I let the must sit in a carboy with too much headspace for too long. I get a lot of "flowers of wine" blooming; So perhaps that's where my sourness comes from. It is not entirely unpleasant though. The wife prefers sour to sweet anyway.
Someone commented that a too dry cider is a bit thin; I've found this to be true too, but it makes the beverage quite easy to quaff on a summer day so it's not all bad.
I mentioned that my house prefers sour to sweet; I just kegged five gallons of cider that I fermennted with a few pounds of cranberries in the primary. It turned out very nice. Not a lot of body, but again , very easy to quaff. The cranberries gave it a very subtle tartness, easy to miss. I usually go overboard with the fruit- normally i use six pounds or more for five gallons of cider. This time only used ,,, perhaps three pounds of berries. Maybe less.
The must came from the orchard of the local homebrew supply house's sister in law, here in Indiana. She juices four or five different varietys of apple each year to make a cider blend suitable for fermentation. The yeast was white labs pitchable, I think the "east coast ale" variety. I started it last october. It's been aging since, and just kegged last night.
It looked a little scary in the carboy; had a little skin growing on the surface of the cider but When I tasted it it was fine.

[toneyc]

What is "flowers of wine" blooming?

:)
Toney.

[fretlessman71]

It's a mold; a white film across the top. If you rack off of it in time it shouldn't affect your brew. (Did a google search.;))