Homebrew Hard Cider

[letinsh]

Just got in my first two batches of hard cider for this fall. This is my 5th year making cider. I did 15 gallons last year, and I'm going to shoot for 25 gallons this year - I found a couple new recipes I'd like to try, along with my tried and true stuff that SWMBO likes

The first batch will end up being a light caramel apple cider, while I'll be attempting to make Applejack with the second batch.

Batch one:
5.25 gallons of apple juice (Costco brand, this time)
3lbs of Dextrose (corn sugar)
Lalvin EC-1118 yeast

There are some steps, but mix e'rything together, put it in the carboy and pop an airlock on it.
Adjusted for temp, my OG was ~1.072 which should yield a 9.3ish% beverage when all said and done.
Once fermentation is done (14-21 days) rack into secondary, let sit for a few days.
Siphon into the bottling bucket, add 3 cans of frozen apple juice concentrate as well as the caramel syrup (2 cups of water, 2 cups of light brown sugar,2 tsp. ground cinnamon - bring to low boil and combine ingredients).

Bottle, carbonate, and pasteurize.


Batch two:
10 cans pasteurized frozen apple juice concentrate
2/3 lb brown sugar
3 lb table sugar (sucrose)
4 1/2 gallons distilled H2O
White Labs P715 yeast

Make a starter for the yeast with a little water, apple juice concentrate and sugar and set aside.

Combine apple juice concentrate, brown sugar, and sugar in a sauce pan and heat (do not boil). Stir till dissolved.

Put 2 gallons H2O into fermenting vessel (6 gal plastic bucket for this one), add the stuff from the stove, then add the rest of the water. Pitch the yeast into the bucket, cover and let ferment dry.

Adjusted for temp, OG was 1.063 which will yield an 8ish% beverage.

Once fermentation is done, siphon into 2L bottles and freeze, upside down. Leave in the freezer for a day, then remove. Take the caps off of the bottles and leave them in a bucket (upside down) to drain as they melt. Since the alcohol and flavors will melt first, you will be left with the concentrated Applejack in the bucket and the ice still in the 2L bottles. (Called freeze concentrating, freeze distilling, or fractional freezing).
I've never done this before, but I'm anticipating reducing volume by 2/3, leaving a beverage with an approximate alcohol content of 24ish%?

We'll see

[Streck-Fu]

I am a big fan of hard cider and make it most years. I need to get my batch for this year going but I do have a spiced mead (metheglin) sitting in the secondary (may be ready for Christmas).

I get fresh cider from a local orchard and add few spices like clove and cinnamon, a few cups of dark brown sugar, and use a cider yeast like WLP775.

Good stuff and doesn't stick around too long when ready.

I've never done this before, but I'm anticipating reducing volume by 2/3, leaving a beverage with an approximate alcohol content of 24ish%?

I look forward to hearing how this turns out!

[letinsh]

The first few years I got my spiced cider down, but the wife doesn't dig it as much as my caramel version.

My spiced is 5 gal of apple juice (or press apples - did that last year) and:
1 tbs cinnamon
.75 tbs mace
.75 tbs nutmeg
.5 tbs whole cloves
6 cups white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
7 tsp molasses
WLP775
Yields: 1.075 OG

It is HOT and you can't taste it....2 bottles and the floor gets hard to find....

[Streck-Fu]

It is HOT and you can't taste it....2 bottles and the floor gets hard to find....

As it should be during the holidays!

[Cake_14N]

Try substituting a gallon or two of the apple juice with cranberry juice and you get hard crnaberry-apple cider. More popular with SWMBO.

I used to belong to a board about homebrewing and they had a hugely popular recipe for Appfelwine that is very close to your first recipe. First batch I made ended up around 18% and after a glass or two it was difficult to walk!! It sure snuck up on you.

My best successes with cider have involved longer fermentations, around 2-3 months in primary, with another month or two in secondary. I kill the yeast off with potassium sorbate ( I think, could be wrong but any winemaker can correct me here) and back sweeten to taste with either apple juice concentrate or a commercial white wine sweetener bought from the brewing store. Keg it up and force-carbonate for a week or so and you have the most awesome appfelwine on tap.

Cake

[letinsh]

There are some great recipes out there for Apfelwein! I've never done anything longer than about 3 weeks in primary.

One of the recipes I want to try this season is a Bochet Cyser (cider with about 5lbs of "burnt honey"), but it sits in primary for 2 months, then bottle conditioned for a few weeks. I bought a second fermenting vessel just to get this one in. It's going in right after my Applejack gets done It's supposed to have hints of vanilla, some dark sugar flavors, and a bit of the apple coming through....pretty exciting

[Cake_14N]

Letinsh,

you have one of the best companies around in AHB.

While I was deployed they had a huge sale going on. I called and spoke to the owner, Forrest, and he offered to hold my order in the warehouse for 4 months until I got home so I could take advantage of the sale prices.

He told me that it was the least he could do for somebody serving our country away from home and away from good beer.

When I got home and called to authorize shipping of my order everything went very smoothly. I got my stuff about a week after I called. Forrest snuck in a bunch of freebies, siphon, racking cane, and a few other items as a personal thank you.

Great man, great company.

Cake

[mojaveman]

Interesting.

Homebrew Hard Cider is very popular with western expatriates in the Middle East because it is so easy to make. Everything is available in the stores there. Been there done that.

[letinsh]

Originally Posted by Cake_14N

Letinsh,

you have one of the best companies around in AHB.

Great man, great company.

Cake

Aint that the truth - I'm very fortunate to be able to drive 10 minutes to one of the biggest distributors in the US

Glad to hear they took care of you; that's great to know they're like that.
On a side note, if you ever visit their store, all the dudes that work there have pretty epic beards....

[BigJimCalhoun]

I did not realize that fresh apples were not required. I looked into doing this over 10 year ago when I lived in Mass. The apples that were required were not commonly found and I did not follow up with it.

I was also told, but can't verify, that when Ben Franklin said, "an apple a day...", he was actually referring to cider.

[letinsh]

I racked both batches into seconday on Tuesday. They've been done fermenting for about 12 days, just haven't had time to get at it.
Both had fermented dry to .990, leaving the caramel cider around 10% ABV and the applejack near 9%. I added an additional 2lbs of dextrose to the jack to restart the fermentation and up the ABV, before freeze concentrating. The fermentation's restarting slowly, so I may throw some yeast nutrient in to help out.

If all goes according to plan, I'll back sweeten the caramel cider this weekend and bottle. I'll upload some pictures when I get to that point.

[letinsh]

Alright - got 'em bottled and they're undergoing carbonation as we speak
I ended up with 54 12oz bottles.

Rack it into the bottling bucket.
IMG_20131013_165735_zpsc2a7645d.jpg

FG: .992
IMG_20131013_170917_zps0ebc3f00.jpg

Added the brown sugar/cinnamon blend and 3 cans of frozen apple juice concentrate.
IMG_20131013_165817_zps3b9b388c.jpg

New FG: 1.100
IMG_20131013_171554_zps97c6a415.jpg

Clean and sterilize all the bottles
IMG_20131013_161754_zpsd9cba570.jpg

Fill 'em up and cap 'em!
IMG_20131013_175005_zpsa8b5b282.jpg

In-bottle carbonation is done by allowing fermentation to happen after bottling. Fermentation is yeast eating sugar and crapping out alcohol and CO2. The CO2 is what we use to carbonate. This is one of the reasons I added the brown sugar/cinnamon blend and 3 cans of frozen apple juice. The other is for flavor.

If you notice in the upper left hand corner of the last photo, you'll see 2 coke bottles that have cider in them. I use these to evaluate carbonation levels. Once the bottle is at the proper carbonation (by squeezing the bottle and finding out), I'll pasteurize the bottles (put it in a pot of 160F water and hold for 10 min) to kill the yeast and stop fermentation. If you let it go, you risk making bottle bombs, which is not fun!