Apple Cider Recipe *carbonated*

[LoveTheWine]

This is a simple Cider I made this year. It will be carbonated in the bottle, taste slightly off dry and will make 22L of finished product.

Here is the recipe I used:

Ingredients
-24L fresh apple juice without additives (preferably fresh pressed)
-1/2 tsp grape tannin (If using high tannin apples omit this)
-pectic enzyme (follow directions on package)
-Kmeta
-Lalvin 1118 yeast
-Sweetner (splenda or other non-fermentable sweetner)
-SuperKleer
-3/4c of white sugar

How I made it:

Day 1-Crush and press 100lb apples or use 24L juice. Add tannin, enzymes and 50ppm Kmeta.
Adjust PH to 3.5 using acid blend or watering down.
Add white sugar to get juice up to sg 1.050
If it is a little higher that is ok.
Fill two 23L carboys 1/2 full plugging top with cotton. (open fermenter would work too)

Day 2- Reconstitute yeast and add to both carboys without stirring.
Let ferment for 4 days or more until sg 1.00, then rack both carboys into a single 23L, topping up. Affix airlock.

1 month later- Rack again and keep topped up.

3-4 months from start- Cider will be fairly clear now. Rack again and add 1/4-1/2 tsp Kmeta. Sweeten to taste using Splenda or another non-fermentable sugar or substitute (I made a syrup using 3/4 cup splenda and 1/2 cup water on the stove the night before).
(If you used white or corn sugar the Cider will start to ferment again!
If you add sorbate you won't be able to carbonate naturally later on.)
Add SuperKleer and top up. Put in a cool place.

1-2 weeks later- Cider will be brilliantly clear now. Make a sugar syrup: 3/4 cup white sugar and 1/2 cup of water on the stove.
The next day rack cider carefully into another carboy and mix in syrup.
Bottle using cleaned and sulfited beer bottles and cap.

1 month later- Chill and enjoy!


*The best ciders are the ones made from a variety of apples inc. a small amount of crab apples. Crab apples will add all the tannin you need and acid so you could omit the tannin powder addition.

 

[soccer0ww]

sounds tasty! Nice simple recipe.

 

[LoveTheWine]

This makes a simple cider

A few things I am doing differently in my latest batch to add a bit more flavour:
-Substitute brown sugar when bringing up SG to desired level at the start
-Forgo the SuperKleer. It may be a bit cloudier but hopefully have more flavor.
-When priming at the end to get carbonation use 1-3/4 cups of (not from concentrate) pure apple juice with no preservatives, add brown sugar to this until SG reads 1.1 (as opposed to using priming sugar). Then bottle immediately
afterwards.

 

[ckassotis]

If you drink this relatively quickly I suspect you would be fine. I would however like to point out that Splenda is NOT a non-fermentable sugar. It may start out that way, but over time it will break down into fermentable forms.

Here's a response with more detail:

There is nothing wrong with using Splenda to sweeten your wine, if the flavor is acceptable to you, however there are some things
you should know.

Splenda is made by taking sugar and altering its molecular structure so that it can not be metabolized by us humans. That is what makes it effective as a diet substitute for someone whose either a diabetic or someone whose just trying to watch their figure. It simply goes right through the body.

The same holds true for yeast. Yeast are unable to metabolize Splenda and ferment it into alcohol, at least while it is in its current altered state, but given enough time the enzymes that the yeast produce are able to break some of the Splenda back down into a fermentable sugar. It is usually a matter of weeks not days.

Caution needs to be taken when bottling Splenda treated wine. Potassium sorbate needs to be
added to the wine to make sure that the yeast cannot become active again and ferment the broken-down Splenda, just as if you
were adding regular sugar to it.

 

[LoveTheWine]

If you drink this relatively quickly I suspect you would be fine. I would however like to point out that Splenda is NOT a non-fermentable sugar. It may start out that way, but over time it will break down into fermentable forms.

Here's a response with more detail:

There is nothing wrong with using Splenda to sweeten your wine, if the flavor is acceptable to you, however there are some things
you should know.

Splenda is made by taking sugar and altering its molecular structure so that it can not be metabolized by us humans. That is what makes it effective as a diet substitute for someone whose either a diabetic or someone whose just trying to watch their figure. It simply goes right through the body.

The same holds true for yeast. Yeast are unable to metabolize Splenda and ferment it into alcohol, at least while it is in its current altered state, but given enough time the enzymes that the yeast produce are able to break some of the Splenda back down into a fermentable sugar. It is usually a matter of weeks not days.

Caution needs to be taken when bottling Splenda treated wine. Potassium sorbate needs to be
added to the wine to make sure that the yeast cannot become active again and ferment the broken-down Splenda, just as if you
were adding regular sugar to it.

What is the source of this info?
Probably in the bottle 2 months tops before being all bottles consumed.
Other people have recommended Splenda and apparently have had no further re fermentations.
I don't have much experience with it though... yet!
Is there any other way of achieving a sweet and carbonated cider (or wine) without kegging?

 

[ckassotis]

This forum really frustrates me sometimes. It seems to be kicking me off regularly now and *not* saving the entire post that I tried to submit, even though it claims that it is. Ugh.

So here we go again. The source is the manufacturer of Splenda actually. You can contact them directly to verify.

As for creating a sweet and carbonated wine, you could do a few things. First, use a truly nonfermentable sugar. The problem with Splenda and Sucralose, etc. is that they are all just modified sugar. They take sugar and chemically modify it so that in the time it takes to pass through the body it will not be broken back down into sugar again. However, in the presence of yeast for long periods of time it can do just that. (I can assume that 1-2 months you are probably fine. In 5-6 months you would begin to see issues I would suppose). So you could use something like Stevia/Truvia to back-sweeten, which is a natural sweetener and thus not something able to be broken down into sugar. Lastly you can pick a low alc tolerance yeast and pitch that with sugar, ensuring that when the yeast die off to alcohol % in the bottle, there will still be sugar left in there to make it sweet.

 

[LoveTheWine]

This forum really frustrates me sometimes. It seems to be kicking me off regularly now and *not* saving the entire post that I tried to submit, even though it claims that it is. Ugh.

So here we go again. The source is the manufacturer of Splenda actually. You can contact them directly to verify.

As for creating a sweet and carbonated wine, you could do a few things. First, use a truly nonfermentable sugar. The problem with Splenda and Sucralose, etc. is that they are all just modified sugar. They take sugar and chemically modify it so that in the time it takes to pass through the body it will not be broken back down into sugar again. However, in the presence of yeast for long periods of time it can do just that. (I can assume that 1-2 months you are probably fine. In 5-6 months you would begin to see issues I would suppose). So you could use something like Stevia/Truvia to back-sweeten, which is a natural sweetener and thus not something able to be broken down into sugar. Lastly you can pick a low alc tolerance yeast and pitch that with sugar, ensuring that when the yeast die off to alcohol % in the bottle, there will still be sugar left in there to make it sweet.

Interesting thoughts
Thanks

 

[LoveTheWine]

Trying another way this year.

I didn't care for the splenda taste last time so this time we will use sugar to sweeten and carbonate. To prevent bottle bombs we will use pasteurization

Started with a mix of: Crab apples, Gala apples, pears and some other varieties.
Pressed the apples, added pectic enzyme and K-META. Raised SG to 1.055 with white sugar.
There were lots of acids and tannins so no adjustment was necessary to these.
Fermented with Nottingham ale yeast and fermentation went really slow (Typical of cider). Co2 was being produced for 2.5-3 months!
Finally racked and cold crashed in a fridge.

Cider is a bit cloudy, which is fine as it tastes great and will clear in the bottle.
We then racked into a bucket, sweetened with table sugar until just off dry and balanced.


As I'm bottle conditioning (carbonating with yeast/sugar in bottle), another cup of sugar and d-47 wine yeast was stirred in and then cider was bottled in beer bottles with crown caps. As well I filled (1) coke bottle to monitor how much carbonation is going on.

As soon as the coke bottle gets hard I will chill and open a bottle to check carbonation levels. When the Carb level is perfect, the bottles will be carefully pasteurized to kill off the yeasts and stop activity.

Will post the final outcome in a few weeks

 

[reefman]

Aron,
Can you give us more details on the pasteurization process? I'm assuming you heat the bottles to a predetermined temperature to kill the yeast?
Thanks!

 

[LoveTheWine]

Aron,
Can you give us more details on the pasteurization process? I'm assuming you heat the bottles to a predetermined temperature to kill the yeast?
Thanks!

Heat water in a big pot to 190 deg Fahrenheit.

When the temperature reaches 190, turn off the heat and add the bottles carefully to the pot. Add 6 or 7 bottles at a time but don't crown the pot too much or the heat will go too low to accurately pasteurize.

Put the lid on and wait ten minutes. Repeat process until all the bottles are done.

This apparently is safe, works great and won't cook the cider.


If you google search 'cider forum', click on the first link and you will find all this info in great detail.

 

[BernardSmith]

But if you prime the cider with a known and specific amount of sugar after you have fermented all the initial sugar (taking the SG from 1.050 to 098 or lower) then not sure I see the need to pasteurize the cider. If you prime with 20 grams of sugar per gallon that is all the sugar that is available for the yeast and that will produce about 2.5 volumes of CO2. Not enough for a bottle bomb if you bottle in beer bottles or in bottles designd to hold sparkling wine. Obviously if you prime with more sugar and you want to create both a sweet and sparkling cider then pasteurization may be the way to go. But I guess I don't see the need to pasteurize otherwise.

 

[Putterrr]

If you read his post, they sweetened to taste and then added the priming sugar. Without the pasteurization, the yeast would eat up all the sugar not just the priming sugar.

Instead ot heating the water to 190, i use 175 and preheat the bottles to 100-105. everything else the same. This usually gets the internal temp up to 150+ for 2 minutes or so. I would suggest testing temps depending on the type/size of bottles. I use 500ml heavy glass beer bottles. Larger or smaller bottles would require adjustments.

As is stated in other forums, NEVER NEVER EVER PASTEURIZE ANY BOTTLE THAT IS OVER CARBONATED.

CHEERS

 

[LoveTheWine]

If you read his post, they sweetened to taste and then added the priming sugar. Without the pasteurization, the yeast would eat up all the sugar not just the priming sugar.

Instead ot heating the water to 190, i use 175 and preheat the bottles to 100-105. everything else the same. This usually gets the internal temp up to 150+ for 2 minutes or so. I would suggest testing temps depending on the type/size of bottles. I use 500ml heavy glass beer bottles. Larger or smaller bottles would require adjustments.

As is stated in other forums, NEVER NEVER EVER PASTEURIZE ANY BOTTLE THAT IS OVER CARBONATED.

CHEERS

Awesome advice... Thanks!

 

[BernardSmith]

mea culpa. Must have missed it

 

[Putterrr]

i started with the cider from this fellow. i like the idea of not going fully dry then backsweetening. Seems to have more flavour

http://www.singingboysbrewing.com/Apple-Cider.html

this was a slightly dodified method for pasteurizing than the origianal

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/another-way-bottle-pasturize-315499/

maybe this might help

Pasteurizing temperatures (cider temps)
at 53C = 128F minimum time to kill population 56 min
at 60C = 140F minimum time to kill population 5.6 min
at 67c = 152F minimum time to kill population .56 min

cheers

 

[Rosa321]

This is a simple Cider I made this year. It will be carbonated in the bottle, taste slightly off dry and will make 22L of finished product.

Here is the recipe I used:

Ingredients
-24L fresh apple juice without additives (preferably fresh pressed)
-1/2 tsp grape tannin (If using high tannin apples omit this)
-pectic enzyme (follow directions on package)
-Kmeta
-Lalvin 1118 yeast
-Sweetner (splenda or other non-fermentable sweetner)
-SuperKleer
-3/4c of white sugar

How I made it:

Day 1-Crush and press 100lb apples or use 24L juice. Add tannin, enzymes and 50ppm Kmeta.
Adjust PH to 3.5 using acid blend or watering down.
Add white sugar to get juice up to sg 1.050
If it is a little higher that is ok.
Fill two 23L carboys 1/2 full plugging top with cotton. (open fermenter would work too)

Day 2- Reconstitute yeast and add to both carboys without stirring.
Let ferment for 4 days or more until sg 1.00, then rack both carboys into a single 23L, topping up. Affix airlock.

1 month later- Rack again and keep topped up.

3-4 months from start- Cider will be fairly clear now. Rack again and add 1/4-1/2 tsp Kmeta. Sweeten to taste using Splenda or another non-fermentable sugar or substitute (I made a syrup using 3/4 cup splenda and 1/2 cup water on the stove the night before).
(If you used white or corn sugar the Cider will start to ferment again!
If you add sorbate you won't be able to carbonate naturally later on.)
Add SuperKleer and top up. Put in a cool place.

1-2 weeks later- Cider will be brilliantly clear now. Make a sugar syrup: 3/4 cup white sugar and 1/2 cup of water on the stove.
The next day rack cider carefully into another carboy and mix in syrup.
Bottle using cleaned and sulfited beer bottles and cap.

1 month later- Chill and enjoy!


*The best ciders are the ones made from a variety of apples inc. a small amount of crab apples. Crab apples will add all the tannin you need and acid so you could omit the tannin powder addition.

Thanks for the step by step recipe. I do have one newbie question.
What do you mean by "cleaned and sulfited beer bottles"? Do you mean you add something like Kmeta to the bottles, or that you sterilize the bottles before using?

Trying to learn the lingo....
Thanks!!!
Rosa

 

[LoveTheWine]

Thanks for the step by step recipe. I do have one newbie question.
What do you mean by "cleaned and sulfited beer bottles"? Do you mean you add something like Kmeta to the bottles, or that you sterilize the bottles before using?

Trying to learn the lingo....
Thanks!!!
Rosa

Yeah add kmeta/water mixture and then drain and rinse with purified water.

This is an improved method:

Ingredients
-24L fresh apple juice without additives (preferably fresh pressed)
-1/2 tsp grape tannin (If using high tannin apples omit this)
-pectic enzyme (follow directions on package)
-Kmeta
-Nottingham ale yeast
-Sweetner (splenda or other non-fermentable sweetner)
-3/4c of white sugar

Instructions:

Day 1-Crush and press 100lb apples or use 24L juice. Add tannin, enzymes and 50ppm Kmeta.
Adjust PH to 3.5 using acid blend or watering down.
Add white sugar to get juice up to sg 1.055 or 1.065
Fill two 23L carboys 1/2 full plugging top with cotton. (open fermenter would work too)

Day 2- Reconstitute yeast and add to both carboys without stirring.
Let ferment for 4 days or more until sg 1.00, rack into single 23L carboy, topping up. Affix airlock.

1 month later- Rack again and keep topped up. Put in cool place.

2-3 months from start- Cider will be fairly clear now. Rack again and sweeten to taste using Splenda or another non-fermentable sugar substitute (I made a syrup using 3/4 cup splenda and 1/2 cup water on the stove the night before).

Make a sugar syrup: 3/4 cup white sugar and 1/2 cup of water on the stove.
(This is the priming sugar to create carbonation).
Add this to cider and stir well. If wine is really clear add another 1/2 packet of yeast and stir well.

Bottle in clean and sterile beer bottles with crown caps.

1 month later- Chill and enjoy!


*The best ciders are the ones made from a variety of apples inc. a small amount of crab apples. Crab apples will add all the tannin you need and acid so you could omit the tannin powder addition.

 

[Rosa321]

ok..... one more question (For now! haha )

My SG is good and I'm ready to rack to a carboy + airlock, even though it smells quite stinky


I've never made cider before, so I don't have a stockpile. What do you use to top it off with? Could I use just plain unpasteurized cider? Or is that a no no? What else could I use if I don't have homemade cider on hand?

Thanks!

 

[LoveTheWine]

My SG is good and I'm ready to rack to a carboy + airlock, even though it smells quite stinky

What does it stink like? Yeast? Rotten eggs? Splashing while racking drives off a lot of bad odors.

I've never made cider before, so I don't have a stockpile. What do you use to top it off with? Could I use just plain unpasteurized cider? Or is that a no no? What else could I use if I don't have homemade cider on hand?

If it is still fermenting and throwing out a lot of Co2 then topping up can wait.
When you need to rack you could rack into a smaller containers and then topping up wont be needed or you can top up with cider or water if not adding too much I suppose. If you add more cider, it would simply keep fermenting until all the sugar is used up which isn't a bad thing. Adding water isn't great as it waters down the taste and alcohol content.

I usually make a little extra at the start and have enough to top up with later.

 

[Rosa321]

Yeah..... I'm gunna go with a rotten eggy kinda bad smell. Although my friend says it smells like 'crap'. Haha I've been stirring and it's giving off a lot gas and it's starting to smell better, but still doesn't smell palatable. :-(
Not alot of apple smell.....


What does splashing mean? Sounds fun and potentially messy!! ;-)