Hard Apple Cider

[earl]

O.k. I have a question. The other night I was at a friends house and he let me try some "hard apple cider." It was carbonated like a beer and had a bit of yeast at the bottom of the bottle. It was absolutely fantastic!! He couldn't quite remember the recipe but he said it was something like this:


3gallons of Walmart brand apple juice


2 quarts of Walmart brand cranberry juice


2 quarts of Welches grape juice


1 re-constituted can of Welches frozen grape juice


2 lbs of brewers sugar, he normally makes beer, he said this is the sugar he uses to make beer.


1 pack of champagne yeast


He combined it all in a primary and let it go for 7 to 10 days. He bottled it directly from the primary, but before bottling he mixed up some corn starch and water and added a little to each bottle. He bottled it in large beer bottles.


Does this sound like a do-able recipe??


Are beer bottle built to withstand pressure like a champagne bottle?


earl

 

[jcnoren]

corn starch?? really? I would think possibly corn sugar..





JC

 

[NorthernWinos]

I agree...prime with corn sugar.
Beer bottles can withstand pressure like Champagne bottles....you could use both and use crown caps [beer bottle caps].
We are about to prime and bottle our first batch of Hard Apple Cider. We used a store bought apple juice and a Ale Yeast...it is tasting pretty good and has cleared nicely. We are going to prime 6 gallons with 3/4 cup corn sugar [like beer and ale] and bottle in beer bottles....tho we have had a good run on Champagne bottles lately and might bottle some of it in larger bottles too.
Good luck!

 

[bilbo-in-maine]

My son just bottled 3 gallons resulting in 48 bottles (beer bottles) of cyser
made with honey, primed with a pint of the beginning must held out at the
start. It was made pretty much as described, sat in the carboy for 3 months,
racked only once, and primed before bottling and capped with crown caps.
Early samples were very good, it will only get better

 

[Goslin]

Taken from another forum


**********************


Well this is as easy as it gets!
(called turbo as its so quick and easy)

Ingredients:
4.5L of pure apple juice
1tsp yeast

Method:
1. Place 3L of apple juice into a demijon (assumeing everything is sterile)
2. PLace 1tsp of yeast into the demijon
3. shake
4. leave for 36-48hrs to ferment then top with with the remaining of the juice (cant fill it right up at the start as it will foam quite a bit)
5. leave to ferment out
6. Rack off and drink (or if you like cider fizzy then prime as usual)

i thought i would try this out and i was very impressed with the results.

it is sssooooo easy

i used tesco value apple juice and SG was 1.042 so no sugar was necessary (to get to 5.5%ish) but if you want cider stronger add sugar/honey or whatever.

very good for a beginer and an expert alike!

good for trying out different yeasts also since the recipe is so simple and the ingredients vary so little.

 

[earl]

I received another recipe and have a question about it.


5 gallons apple juice


1 lb Light Barley Malt


Cinnamon sticks


Champagne yeast


Will this leave the primary o.k. afterward to do wine in?? Masta had said on another post that you should have two primaries, one for beer and one for wine. Would the Barley Malt leave a beer taste in the primary I use for wine??


earl

 

[masta]

Earl,


Using only a small amount of malt and no hops as with beer your primary will most likely not pick up a strong beer smell and be ok for wine but you will only know for sure after it is done.