Cider Time!!!

[chasemandingo]

Alright everyone, I am about to attempt to make my first hard cider using the recipe "Hard Cider" as it is found in the Recipe forum. I was going to shoot for a ABV of around 9%. I am looking for advice from those with experience in this area. My question goes as follows: Should I up the ABV to around 12%, stabilize and back-sweeten, then bottle? Or should I leave it at around 9% and carbonate in beer bottles? If I were to carbonate should I avoid stabilizing the cider? My goal is to get this done by Halloween and am starting it tonight. Any input, advice or observations are welcome.

Thanks,

Chase

 

[Pumpkinman]

i'd personally stay with a low ABV, I made mine strong, and it is still very hot 9 months later.

 

[seth8530]

I would consider keeping the abv around 5% and carbing if you want it done by then. Do you plan on force carbing it or bottle carbing?

 

[chasemandingo]

was gonna bottle carb it since if i am correct, force carbing requires equipment lol....

 

[seth8530]

Cool, nothing wrong with that. I believe you have two different paths to follow. The first one would be my recommended one.


Path 1)

A) Ferment it dry

B) Rack it till it is clear

C) Put in some EC1118 and enough sugar to hit your target volumes of CO2 make sure it is well mixed and bottle it into sanitized beer bottles.

Your cider will end up dry but it should still have good flavour. The choice of apples you use and the fermentation itself will lend you must of your flavours

Method 2) [Not my recommended method]

A) Ferment your cider dry

B) clear it as normal

C) add sugar to taste and add EC1118

D) bottle it

E) Open a bottle every day or so and test for carbonation once it hits where you want it, you then must pasteurize the cider quickly.

Some people recommend using a dishwasher others suggest carefully placing them in a large pot of boiling water for a certain amount of time to heat the cider high enough to kill the yeast.

What I do not like about this method is that I dont like handling bottles full of CO2 in hot boiling water. Also, if you leave it in the boiling water too long you risk damaging the flavour profile. Also, if you are not careful you could end over drastically over carbing the cider or making bottle bombs

The notable advantage is that you are not limited to a dry cider.


Those are the basics of the two methods I have seen practiced in cider making. I myself have used neither for cider making though I have bottle carbed beer before.

 

[SouthernChemist]

I can tell you from my cider making experience that you will want to keep the alcohol level low if you want it ready by around Halloween. Unless sweetened, a 9% or so cider will probably not be ready by then. The higher alcohol may be even more noticeable depending on your apple/cider source and how you ferment it.

You also have the choice of what yeast you want to use. Some people will swear by using yeast meant for beer making (the best cider I've made so far was made with a lager yeast). One thing I would recommend, though, is trying to do the fermentation relatively cool. It will take longer, but you will not lose some of the volatile compounds that will make it taste like it's from apples. If you do want it sweet, always backsweeten. Do not rely on the yeast simply giving up during fermentation as that is difficult to control.

Seth8530 mentioned two general ways to carbonate. I'd stick with the first one unless you have experience. Accidents can happen. Plus, a nice, crisp, dry, bubbly cider looks great being poured out of a bottle.

 

[chasemandingo]

Thanks for the input guys! So as of now I will be shooting for a lower ABV. The recipe calls for both cinnamon and cloves so it is spiced to a degree. I will be using cotes des blancs as the yeast. So we will see how it turns out. Hopefully good!

Thanks again,

Chase

 

[seth8530]

Thanks for the input guys! So as of now I will be shooting for a lower ABV. The recipe calls for both cinnamon and cloves so it is spiced to a degree. I will be using cotes des blancs as the yeast. So we will see how it turns out. Hopefully good!

Thanks again,

Chase

Cloves!! God no! not the cloves!

 

[SouthernChemist]

Keep us in the loop on how it goes. You might find that the cider will have just the right amount of sugar for the alcohol level you want.

 

[chasemandingo]

Well just as an update. The cider alone had more sugar than I thought and would have fermented dry at around 6.5 % or so. So....I ended up throwing in a half cup of dark brown sugar 2 cloves and 1 1/2 cinnamon sticks. The potential is now at around 9 or so. I am now understanding why Seth said, "Not the cloves!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The must has a very potent spice smell lol. I think it will mellow with time as all wines do. Furthermore, I used unfiltered cider and I have just read that it may take a very long time for the wine to clear. All that being said, I am going to start another batch as soon as this one is out of primary. Will be using filtered cider and no added sugar. One stick of cinnamon only and may cut the cloves out completely. Then I will bottle carbonate. What do you guys think?

 

[soccer0ww]

Sounds tasty. I don't think the clearing will be really bad even with the unfiltered cider. I agree that the cloves do add a bit too much to the cider. When I make cider I take it to dry, use sorbate and then back sweeten with apple juice to get a bit more apple flavor in the cider. The force carbonate. Look forward to hearing how the cider turns out.

 

[Arne]

If you didn't use it up front, throw some pectic enzime in after it is done fermenting. It will help it clear. On the cloves, I use about 10 in 5 gallon. They are there, but keeps it from being overpowering. Good luck with it, Arne.

 

[chasemandingo]

Well I'm going to start another batch as soon as this one is out of primary. My question is, should I leave it as is; i.e., unspiced? Also, should I add tannin to the mix? What do you guys think? Also, what s.g. should I raise one gallon of cider to in order to bottle carb without the bottle bomb effect?

 

[SouthernChemist]

Well I'm going to start another batch as soon as this one is out of primary. My question is, should I leave it as is; i.e., unspiced? Also, should I add tannin to the mix? What do you guys think? Also, what s.g. should I raise one gallon of cider to in order to bottle carb without the bottle bomb effect?

Spices are a more personal addition. If you like things like cinnamon or cloves in a cider, then feel free. You do have to be careful not to overpower the cider, however. I personally prefer not to add spices except for maybe cinnamon or a little molasses/brown sugar. I've never added tannins to my cider, and I wouldn't think you would want to do that if you were trying to make an easy, early drinking cider.

As for bottle carbonation, there are several calculators used by beer brewers online that will tell you just how much sugar source you need to add to reach a specific volume of CO2. You do not need to explicitly know the S.G. unless it did not ferment to dryness. Most beers have around 2 or so volumes of CO2, for example, and commercial ciders can be anywhere from 1 to 3.5 volumes of CO2. Anything around 2-3 volumes should work out fine and avoid a bottle bomb. In your case, if you had 1 gallon of cider stored at 72 degrees, it would require about 0.6 oz of table sugar to achieve 2 volumes of CO2 in the bottle. I planned for 2 volumes of CO2 the first time I bottle carbonated a cider, and that led to a nice carbonation level after a few weeks. Provided your yeast is still viable, it should just require time. If not, you will have to add fresh yeast to it.

http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html