Thinking of blending/making my own hard cider

Ken Light

JSaint

I literally just purchased yeast from Northern Brewer to do such a thing. I am going to be using unpasteurized apple and pear cider from a farmer where I work. I guess the apples are 9 varieties and the pears have 3 but that doesnt matter. Its organic and has a good amount of pulp like the stuff you usually get from the orchard. From what I have read all you need is the cider or juice, some yeast nutrient, maybe some sugar (helps produce sweetness and a little more alcohol), and the yeast. Everyone is saying champagne yeast is the best but it comes out like white wine. Not a fan of that. Either WLP002 or WLP775 from Whitelabs is what I would recommend. 002 just won their contest for cider but 775 is a dry English Cider yeast which is what I like and want for my cider.

roland_7707

No idea how to make it, but i wouldn't mind being a taste tester.

kuzi16

Ken Light

JSaint:

I literally just purchased yeast from Northern Brewer to do such a thing. I am going to be using unpasteurized apple and pear cider from a farmer where I work. I guess the apples are 9 varieties and the pears have 3 but that doesnt matter. Its organic and has a good amount of pulp like the stuff you usually get from the orchard. From what I have read all you need is the cider or juice, some yeast nutrient, maybe some sugar (helps produce sweetness and a little more alcohol), and the yeast. Everyone is saying champagne yeast is the best but it comes out like white wine. Not a fan of that. Either WLP002 or WLP775 from Whitelabs is what I would recommend. 002 just won their contest for cider but 775 is a dry English Cider yeast which is what I like and want for my cider.

This sounds like a good way to start too, like using a pre-made beer recipe. From what I've read you're going to want to heat that up to something like 165 for a bit to kill off wild yeasts and bacteria if it's unpasteurized. A friend of mine did this with Trader Joe's jug of apple juice with decent results. The great thing there was it's pasteurized and the jug was it's own carboy so he just pitched yeast and popped on an airlock. Let me know how those yeasts work out, I tried one from I think woodchuck actually at a beer festival a couple years ago with an english ale yeast that was really good.

Ken Light

JSaint

Ken Light:

JSaint:

I literally just purchased yeast from Northern Brewer to do such a thing. I am going to be using unpasteurized apple and pear cider from a farmer where I work. I guess the apples are 9 varieties and the pears have 3 but that doesnt matter. Its organic and has a good amount of pulp like the stuff you usually get from the orchard. From what I have read all you need is the cider or juice, some yeast nutrient, maybe some sugar (helps produce sweetness and a little more alcohol), and the yeast. Everyone is saying champagne yeast is the best but it comes out like white wine. Not a fan of that. Either WLP002 or WLP775 from Whitelabs is what I would recommend. 002 just won their contest for cider but 775 is a dry English Cider yeast which is what I like and want for my cider.

This sounds like a good way to start too, like using a pre-made beer recipe. From what I've read you're going to want to heat that up to something like 165 for a bit to kill off wild yeasts and bacteria if it's unpasteurized. A friend of mine did this with Trader Joe's jug of apple juice with decent results. The great thing there was it's pasteurized and the jug was it's own carboy so he just pitched yeast and popped on an airlock. Let me know how those yeasts work out, I tried one from I think woodchuck actually at a beer festival a couple years ago with an english ale yeast that was really good.

Its crazy these days because all of the big name ciders you find are owned by the macro beer companies. Crispin, Strongbow, Woodchuck, Angry Orchard, and on. I think they jumped on that boat because the craft beer movement is too well developed. With that being said they still make some damn good cider. Love Crispins Bownslane. Awesome English-style cider. With the pasteurizing I am not sure if I want to heat it up. I think I want to allow the wild yeasts to also ferment in there. My friend thinks it would be more authentic because most of the English ciders he tasted over seas had a hint of Lacto and Brett and he really enjoyed it. This is merely an experiment anyways so why not! lol. I saw someone do the exact same thing with some apple cider but it was from Whole Foods. Was it a 5 gallon jug?

JSaint

Ken Light

JSaint

kuzi16

JSaint

Just did mine today. Unpasteurized Pear and Apple Cider. 1 gallon each. The OG was about 1.043 so I added about 4 teaspoons of sugar. Should have measured it but I didnt have time to dump all of the cider into another container and mix the sugar. I also added 1 1/4 teaspoon of yeast nutrient. Put all the cider, sugar, and nutrient in the fermentor. Aerated the cider then added the yeast. Hopefully by tomorrow night it will be going crazy. I'll check in on it on Monday and post an update.

Martel

JSaint

So looks like this was an utter failure. Barely any fermentation. Yeast just dropped right to the bottom. There is no way after 3 days it is finished. Oh well I will try it again with store bought cider and dry champagne yeast. At least it is cheaper throwing this out than a 15 gallon saison.....which I just did recently too.

Ken Light

JSaint:

So looks like this was an utter failure. Barely any fermentation. Yeast just dropped right to the bottom. There is no way after 3 days it is finished. Oh well I will try it again with store bought cider and dry champagne yeast. At least it is cheaper throwing this out than a 15 gallon saison.....which I just did recently too.

What happened with the saison?????

JSaint

Ken Light:

JSaint:

So looks like this was an utter failure. Barely any fermentation. Yeast just dropped right to the bottom. There is no way after 3 days it is finished. Oh well I will try it again with store bought cider and dry champagne yeast. At least it is cheaper throwing this out than a 15 gallon saison.....which I just did recently too.

What happened with the saison?????

Fermented at 90 degrees. Got a heavy bandaid flavor with a bean smell lol. Won't do that again. I was going to try and just put some Lacto and Brett in there to see if that will eat away at that but decided against it and will hold onto the Lacto and Brett for a Belgian Blonde.

kuzi16

JSaint:

So looks like this was an utter failure. Barely any fermentation. Yeast just dropped right to the bottom. There is no way after 3 days it is finished. Oh well I will try it again with store bought cider and dry champagne yeast. At least it is cheaper throwing this out than a 15 gallon saison.....which I just did recently too.

did you add any corn sugar to kick start it? or yeast nutrient? the proteins in apples are very different than in grains so its more difficult for the yeast to digest.

JSaint

kuzi16:

JSaint:

So looks like this was an utter failure. Barely any fermentation. Yeast just dropped right to the bottom. There is no way after 3 days it is finished. Oh well I will try it again with store bought cider and dry champagne yeast. At least it is cheaper throwing this out than a 15 gallon saison.....which I just did recently too.

did you add any corn sugar to kick start it? or yeast nutrient? the proteins in apples are very different than in grains so its more difficult for the yeast to digest.

Yea I added some sugar and yeast nutrient. About 5 tsp of sugar 1 1/4 nutrient.

Ken Light

JSaint:

kuzi16:

JSaint:

So looks like this was an utter failure. Barely any fermentation. Yeast just dropped right to the bottom. There is no way after 3 days it is finished. Oh well I will try it again with store bought cider and dry champagne yeast. At least it is cheaper throwing this out than a 15 gallon saison.....which I just did recently too.

did you add any corn sugar to kick start it? or yeast nutrient? the proteins in apples are very different than in grains so its more difficult for the yeast to digest.

Yea I added some sugar and yeast nutrient. About 5 tsp of sugar 1 1/4 nutrient.

Did you make a starter or just pitch it dry?

JSaint

Ken Light:

JSaint:

kuzi16:

JSaint:

So looks like this was an utter failure. Barely any fermentation. Yeast just dropped right to the bottom. There is no way after 3 days it is finished. Oh well I will try it again with store bought cider and dry champagne yeast. At least it is cheaper throwing this out than a 15 gallon saison.....which I just did recently too.

did you add any corn sugar to kick start it? or yeast nutrient? the proteins in apples are very different than in grains so its more difficult for the yeast to digest.

Yea I added some sugar and yeast nutrient. About 5 tsp of sugar 1 1/4 nutrient.

Did you make a starter or just pitch it dry?

Just dumped the vial in. Figured I wouldnt need a starter for just a 2 gallon batch. The vial is for 5 without a starter.

Ken Light

JSaint:

Ken Light:

JSaint:

kuzi16:

JSaint:

So looks like this was an utter failure. Barely any fermentation. Yeast just dropped right to the bottom. There is no way after 3 days it is finished. Oh well I will try it again with store bought cider and dry champagne yeast. At least it is cheaper throwing this out than a 15 gallon saison.....which I just did recently too.

did you add any corn sugar to kick start it? or yeast nutrient? the proteins in apples are very different than in grains so its more difficult for the yeast to digest.

Yea I added some sugar and yeast nutrient. About 5 tsp of sugar 1 1/4 nutrient.

Did you make a starter or just pitch it dry?

Just dumped the vial in. Figured I wouldnt need a starter for just a 2 gallon batch. The vial is for 5 without a starter.

If it wasn't a dry yeast packet you probably didn't need one at least with 2.5x the supply necessary. Thought maybe I was on to something there, but I doubt it.

Ken Light

Gonna get a few varietals of apples at the farm tomorrow and start making some regular cider to taste.

JSaint

Ken Light:

JSaint:

Ken Light:

JSaint:

kuzi16:

JSaint:

So looks like this was an utter failure. Barely any fermentation. Yeast just dropped right to the bottom. There is no way after 3 days it is finished. Oh well I will try it again with store bought cider and dry champagne yeast. At least it is cheaper throwing this out than a 15 gallon saison.....which I just did recently too.

did you add any corn sugar to kick start it? or yeast nutrient? the proteins in apples are very different than in grains so its more difficult for the yeast to digest.

Yea I added some sugar and yeast nutrient. About 5 tsp of sugar 1 1/4 nutrient.

Did you make a starter or just pitch it dry?

Just dumped the vial in. Figured I wouldnt need a starter for just a 2 gallon batch. The vial is for 5 without a starter.

If it wasn't a dry yeast packet you probably didn't need one at least with 2.5x the supply necessary. Thought maybe I was on to something there, but I doubt it.

Im just going to buy some store bought cider. Much cheaper. I will also try Lalvin EC-1188 as the yeast this time around.

Ken Light

Ken Light:

Gonna get a few varietals of apples at the farm tomorrow and start making some regular cider to taste.

Went to the nearest farm today and got Gala, Fuji, Macintosh, Cortland, and Summer Rambo. Cleaned, cored, puree'd and strained them all separately and put them in mason jars in the fridge. On my way, one small step at a time.

JSaint

So I chose to measure the SG of the Cider before dumping it and it looks like it actually did ferment! From an initial reading before adding sugar it was at 1.043. When I took the reading it was at 1.000! Very excited. Tried the cider very tart on the front and dry on the back. Need to back sweeten just a tad I think.

Rob1110

JSaint

Found some Musselman's Cider today at a Walmart for $4.48 a gal which is pretty decent. Going to use about 4 cups of it to back sweeten the cider..... At least I hope that will work. I plan on racking it off of the yeast on Thursday. At that time I will transfer into a keg and carb it up. Next experiment will be a cider with champagne yeast and then after fermentation add a cinnamon stick in a neutral grain alcohol tincture. Let it sit for about 5 days then rack off to a keg.

JSaint

Did the addition of soft cider to the hard and racked into a keg today. Hooked it right up to some CO2 in my fridge. Hoping that sweetened it enough. We will find out soon.

Martel

JSaint:

Did the addition of soft cider to the hard and racked into a keg today. Hooked it right up to some CO2 in my fridge. Hoping that sweetened it enough. We will find out soon.

CO2...anyone have a line on a good still cider available in stores? I can only find the carbonated junk that's sold with beer.

JSaint

Martel:

JSaint:

Did the addition of soft cider to the hard and racked into a keg today. Hooked it right up to some CO2 in my fridge. Hoping that sweetened it enough. We will find out soon.

CO2...anyone have a line on a good still cider available in stores? I can only find the carbonated junk that's sold with beer.

Its mostely all carbonated now from what I've had. There may be some French ciders that are still. Not sure though.

Rain

Necro...speaking of cider...I'd like to try some. What are a few good/decent offerings you can recommend to me?And how did your own brewing/crafting/whatever-you-call-it go??