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Now that it's fall and the apples are ripe in my neck of the woods (New Hampshire), I thought I'd share a recipe for home brew hard cider. It's a very simple first-time home brew and it's very rewarding. I've never liked the taste of beer or any other alcohol for that matter, but a good cider is hard not to like.
Firstly, this Instructable will explain the process for producing all natural, organic, 100% hand made hard cider, an alcoholic beverage made through fermentation of apple cider.
This is for instructional and educational purposes only and should not be attempted by anyone under the age of 21. State laws may prohibit home brewing in your are. Brewing cider involves the use of active yeast culture, which may cause some food allergies and, as always when home brewing, there is always the possibility of contamination. Sterilize all containers and tools and use only fresh ingredients. And always drink responsibly.
Now that that's out of the way, let me explain the basic process. First you get a lot of apples and juice them/press them, etc. or buy a lot of apple cider (this recipe is for 1 gallon of cider). There are two basic methods after you've procured fresh, unpasteurized apple cider:
1. Put the apple cider into a container with a vapor lock and let the wild yeast that occurs naturally in apples ferment the juice into booze. (This takes a very long time and yields unpredictable results, but if you want simplicity, it doesn't get much easier than this. My instructable will deal mostly with option 2)
2. Pasteurize the apple cider with heat or Campden Tablets and then add brewers yeast (champagne yeast works well) with yeast nutrient and put it in a container with a vapor lock (takes less time to ferment and will yield a more stable cider)
In addition, just to clarify, there are 3 primary apple beverages that will be discussed here (not including applejack or apple brandy)
Apple cider - Unfiltered apple juice that contains oxidized pulp, resulting in brown coloration. Comes in many pasteurized and unpasteurized varieties.
Hard Cider (Or just Cider) - Alcoholic beverage fermented with yeast from Apple Cider
Apple Juice - In this country, Apple juice refers to ultra-filtered apple-cider that has been watered down and supplemented with other sweeteners (Such as Motts, Juicy Juice, etc.)
Terminology varies from place to place, which is why it is important to specify.
Firstly, this Instructable will explain the process for producing all natural, organic, 100% hand made hard cider, an alcoholic beverage made through fermentation of apple cider.
This is for instructional and educational purposes only and should not be attempted by anyone under the age of 21. State laws may prohibit home brewing in your are. Brewing cider involves the use of active yeast culture, which may cause some food allergies and, as always when home brewing, there is always the possibility of contamination. Sterilize all containers and tools and use only fresh ingredients. And always drink responsibly.
Now that that's out of the way, let me explain the basic process. First you get a lot of apples and juice them/press them, etc. or buy a lot of apple cider (this recipe is for 1 gallon of cider). There are two basic methods after you've procured fresh, unpasteurized apple cider:
1. Put the apple cider into a container with a vapor lock and let the wild yeast that occurs naturally in apples ferment the juice into booze. (This takes a very long time and yields unpredictable results, but if you want simplicity, it doesn't get much easier than this. My instructable will deal mostly with option 2)
2. Pasteurize the apple cider with heat or Campden Tablets and then add brewers yeast (champagne yeast works well) with yeast nutrient and put it in a container with a vapor lock (takes less time to ferment and will yield a more stable cider)
In addition, just to clarify, there are 3 primary apple beverages that will be discussed here (not including applejack or apple brandy)
Apple cider - Unfiltered apple juice that contains oxidized pulp, resulting in brown coloration. Comes in many pasteurized and unpasteurized varieties.
Hard Cider (Or just Cider) - Alcoholic beverage fermented with yeast from Apple Cider
Apple Juice - In this country, Apple juice refers to ultra-filtered apple-cider that has been watered down and supplemented with other sweeteners (Such as Motts, Juicy Juice, etc.)
Terminology varies from place to place, which is why it is important to specify.
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Signing UpStep 1Ingredients and materials
Ingredients:
Apples (about 20 lbs, preferably of several varieties)
Champagne yeast (from a homebrew market or online shop)
Yeast nutrient (homebrew shop)
Campden tablets (optional)
1 cup Brown sugar
1 cup White sugar
Tools:
-Juicer or apple press (if you don't have either, just buy fresh cider from a local orchard)
-Glass Carboy/fermentation tank (I used a 1 gallon jug of Chianti left over from a party)
-Vapor lock (You can use a length of tubing and a cup with water, but I recommend just picking up the real thing for 1.25)
-Rubber stopper to fit your jug
-Bleach
-Funnel
-A large stock pot
-rubber hose
Apples (about 20 lbs, preferably of several varieties)
Champagne yeast (from a homebrew market or online shop)
Yeast nutrient (homebrew shop)
Campden tablets (optional)
1 cup Brown sugar
1 cup White sugar
Tools:
-Juicer or apple press (if you don't have either, just buy fresh cider from a local orchard)
-Glass Carboy/fermentation tank (I used a 1 gallon jug of Chianti left over from a party)
-Vapor lock (You can use a length of tubing and a cup with water, but I recommend just picking up the real thing for 1.25)
-Rubber stopper to fit your jug
-Bleach
-Funnel
-A large stock pot
-rubber hose
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You need to add an unfermentable sugar. When making beer we do this by adding adjuncts that contain sugars that yeast can't ferment. Two unfermentable sugars that we beer brewers us are: Maltodextrin and Lactose. Both will be available in extract form from your local homebrew supplier. The latter, Lactose, will provide a light sweet flavour, akin to what you would taste in milk. You'd want to stay in the 10% range (estimated from your specific gravity readings) and experiment from there. Hope this helps.
I am a first time brewer, and I decided (due to the recommendation of many brewers) to try three micro-batches the first time. Though the suggestion was to use multiple types of apples, we have Haralson trees in our back yard, so I used those for the juice.
After sanitizing the equipment, I filled each of my three gallon carboys with juice from the apples, added 1/2 tsp of pectinase, and a crushed campden tablet, with varying amounts of added sugars (as per other suggestions online).
Question 1: After I added the campden tablets, I covered the carboys (sealed); campden tablets release SO2, which is what kills the microbes. . . was I supposed to not cover them during this step?
For the sugar added, each of my containers were as follows:
A: 1 cup white, 1 cup brown sugar
B: 1 cup white, 1/2 cup brown sugar
C: 1/2 cup white, 1 cup brown sugar
I did not check the pH/gravity of the solutions, as I did not have pH strips, or a hydrometer.
After 2 days, I pitched the yeast (using a Wyeast sweet mead/cider yeast) into each of the 3 containers, after letting it sit for 3 hours (as per instructions) and confirming (by inflation of the bag) that it had been activated.
By the next morning, container C was bubbling at a noticeable rate (about 0.2 hz bubbles), while the other two had no pressure differential (as noticeable per an S airlock). After another day, I pitched additional yeast into both A and B, and waited a day to check them. (at which point C was at about 1 hz bubbles)
A day after the additional pitch, B has started bubbling at a rate of about 0.01 hz (almost unnoticeable) and A has yet to move.
Question 2: What could be causing A or B from taking the cultures?
(A few notes:
I pitched C first from the premade packet, which was made to treat 6 gallons, then B, then A;
though I had shaken the packet of Wyeast yeast, it sat for about 50 seconds before I pitched it;
the packet included nutrient for the yeast;
As I stated before, the S airlocks were in place immediately after the campden tablets were added;
My concerns were mainly that maybe SO2 was still in the environment when I pitched, and that maybe either the yeast or the nutrient in the packet was not evenly distributed through A, B, and C, though an even amount was delivered from the packet to each, due to quick separation (I haven't looked into their relative densities, or anything))
Thank you for your help! ~Steven
This year it is soooo dry and "alcohol" tasting. I used the same champagne yeast both years plus it was the last pressing of the season...the cider was really sweet! I don't get it? I used 5 lbs of sugar for 5 gallons of cider.
We drank 2 of the 5 gallons over the holidays, it was 4 weeks old and had 2 rackings. It yielded a great buzz w/no hangover but we ended up making spritzers with sprite to really enjoy it.
Is there any way to sweeten it up at this point? It's done brewing (needs to racked again!) and ready to bottle. I'd appreciate any help here! Thank you! :)
i have been making cider for years until like 3 years ago when they passed this stupid law where it has to be pasturized now. if i wanted apple juice i would buy it in the store.lol. anyway if you can press your apples on your own without having it pasturized you do not need any yeast or yeast nutrients at all. the bacteria in the cider is what makes it work and then the sugars you add turn to alcohol. i add 1 1/2 pounds of sugar per gallon of cider. i use a 14 gallon demilume glass jug so i add 12 gallons of cider then white sugar 12lbs and then brown sugar 6lbs and then a juice concentrate and a couple other ingredients. then place all in my jug put the bubbler on top and let it work. when its done bubbling i bottle it. i tried it with yeast and i didnt care for it at all. it worked way to fast and tasted like crap. so me and my uncle built a homemade press and now the hard cider making resumes. hope this helps.
I have been brewing cider and wines for a few years (perry, apple cider, peach cider). I strongly suggest that you use a cider yeast if you want to preserve more of an apple flavor. I have used various forms of yeast in the past, and none are as good as cider yeast, especially if you are making cider, not apple wine (i.e. as long as the alcohol content is under 8%). If you are making apple wine, use the champagne yeast or cote de blanc. Stay away from beer yeasts. Moreover, certain yeasts will die and not function once the alcohol content is over a certain level, so NO BREAD YEAST!!!
Wyeast has a great liquid cider yeast that includes the nutrient.
Hydrometers, PET bottles, air-locks, stoppers, and fermentation buckets are not expensive. If you are going to invest the time to make cider, you should invest the money. There is nothing like waiting months to drink cider, and having to pitch the batch because you cut corners. Trust me, my wife has complained about the amount of $$ that I pour down the drain being impatient/ cutting corners.
Making cider is fun and a hobby that will make you a superstar amongst your friends (trust me). Just keep notes, do sufficient research, and don't cut corners.
P.S. You can make your own equipment. However, it is difficult to do so if you do not have a sufficient frame of reference.
You have to stir up the cider after before you add the yeast. This ensures that oxygen is in whatever you are trying to ferment. Yeast need oxygen for the aerobic phase of fermentation. That's where they consume the oxygen and multiply.
Another important note is to make sure that the temperature of the liquid is 78 deg f or lower before you pitch / add the yeast.
I would not add table sugar or brown sugar. If you want to increase alcohol level I would add extra light dry malt extract which you can get at a home brew store. The yeast can handle this sugar a lot better than table sugar.
Am wondering about how the big boys do it. If they are limited to a volume of apples wont they make it into a high alcohol cider, let it mature then dilute it down to around the 5-8% mark??
Anyone any info on this???
For the alcohol content I assume that cider is similar to beer (and wine) in that it all has to do with the sugar content before and after the fermentation. I'm sure the big companies know exatcly what the sugar content needs to be to make a consistent product and they adjust it every time.
If you have a hydrometer you can measure the specific gravity before and after fermentation to calculate the alcohol content. I don't know how fermentable all the natural sugars are in cider. A beer with a starting gravity of ~1.05 will be around 5% alcohol when finished. To adjust gravity / sugar content - add 1 pound of sugar to raise gravity ~0.005.
If you have 4 batches to make - maybe try different starting gravities and see where they end up.
After pitching my yeast, I stored my carboy in my closet over night but the temps got a bit cold (mabe 65f max) now nothing is happening no bubbles in my airlock. What should i do?
I just bottled my first-ever four bottles of hard cider. Now that they're capped, the flavor will no longer change, correct? I'd like to try aging it longer, but if capping is the end of it, then I'll just go ahead and put 'em in the fridge! Thanks.
1) what can I use in place of "campden tabs" to carbonate my cider.
2) can I "make" a hygrometer?... or will I have to buy it on the internet?
3) when you say "entire" packet of yeast do you mean 10 grammes?
Please help gang... it looks like you are having an awful lot of fun and I would like to join in.
I have found the alcohol content and flavor can be amended simply by adjusting the amount and types of sugar and adding different types of fresh fruit. Trying to make everything too complicated tends to make everything, well...too complicated. Good luck!
Glad to hear you're getting into brewing cider in Brazil! Maybe you'll start a national trend. I'll see if I can answer your questions;
1. Campden tablets are used to pasteurize your cider, not to carbonate them. I think you're thinking of carbonation tablets sometimes used in beer brewing. You can use heat to sterilize your cider, as I suggested in the recipe, or you can order Campden tabs. For carbonation, you can use priming sugar or carbonation tabs, but you will want to calculate the specific gravity/alcohol content in order to use the right amount -- otherwise you'll have bombs on your hands. There are some good comments on carbonation and priming sugar on this thread and some even better resources out there online. It's a tricky business and I'm not necessarily the most qualified person out there :)
2. Making a hydrometer is relatively easy (http://www.ecawa.asn.au/home/jfuller/liquids/hydrometers.htm) , but it can be tricky to calibrate. I would recommend either buying one online, or simply winging it by following the recipe exactly :)
3. The yeasts that I typically use come in 5 gram packs and are good for 5 gallons of wort, but every yeast is different. If you don't have access to champagne or white wine or cider yeast, you can probably make do with something else, but I can't say from experience how much will be effective. Fortunately the amount of yeast that you use is not of great importance, as long as you're somewhere in the ballpark. Way too little yeast may take longer to get going, and way too much yeast will result in more silt/yeasty flavor, but unless you're way off, you probably won't notice a difference.
Hope that helped. My advice would be not to worry about it to much your first time. Cider is a very easy and cheap beverage to ferment and you can always improve your technique over multiple batches.
I'm making a list of needs now and off shopping for basic parts tommorow. I've got 5lit water jugs to start with and will end up making a vapour lock of some description (heh), but thanks a million for the Hydrometer site.
As far as yeast goes I've had to start with cooking yeast (which is bubbling away nicely) and one site that I looked at suggested a very heavy dose, but I like the idea of an approximate 1gram/ gallon of wort, that sounds more like it.
Am I right in thinking that with a yeast and "yeast nutrient" (please explain the difference) I'll be looking at about 3 months till I'm drinking it?... when can I start tasting it? ... heheh, sorry, a little too eager maybe!
I'm going to re-read your blog, but thanks again... you've opened my eyes to a whole new game ;)
Yeast nutrient is made of food-grade dehydrated urea. It's not needed, but it contains nutrients (ammonium ions) that keep the yeast healthy and productive. Probably something you'll want to pass rather than make yourself.
I haven't used cooking/baking yeast, but I know it can be done. Between 1-2 grams per gallon should do the trick.
Some friends are sending me some toys from the UK to help with the first couple of Batches. I hope to get the various campden tablet ingredient and Yeast types copied and batched by a pharmacy here... then we're off... till then baking yeast will do.
The apples gave me two half-gallons of apple cider and I've yet to rack and taste the results. I'm going to try pears next and will share the results, but I'll stain it first and leave the carboys inside a dark garbage bag or large cooler to ensure any blowouts are contained.
much appreciate your advice.
ps i have been advised to leave it in there for 5 to 9 days, any other suggestions.
The problem is that my cider tastes quite tart after two weeks and I am afraid it will turn into vinegar. Is this common? Will the cider get sweeter with time? Is there anything I can do? I did put about 7 cups of brown and white sugar into the cider before fermentation.