Making hard cider
My friend and I want to make a batch of hard cider, but our plan is based on what somebody told him they were drunk. And a week later he relayed it to me, while we were both drunk. I have a general idea of what has to be done because my parents used to make wine a long time ago, but I'm not sure about anything specific to cider that may be too different. What our plan is so far is something like; 1 gallon of apple cider put into a 5 gallon jug with 3.5 gallons of water (I don't know why he said that it was supposed to be diluted like this, actually, I don't think he knew why, I don't think that's right), one pound of sugar, and a handful or so of raisins for flavor/sugar. He says that the kid told him to put this all together in the big jug (making sense to me so far, except that much water) and cover with a bubble valve (not sure the real name, but I know what it is and how to make a cheap/effective apparatus) on the top to let the pressure from the gases escape but not let the fresh air in to make it into vinegar. He said to let it sit for two weeks (doesn't seem long enough to me) the you have about 5 gallons of hard cider (but it doesn't keep much longer than a week). I know to siphon it out into another container so the crap at the bottom stays at the bottom, but has anybody ever made hard cider with a similar or other easy method? What did he forget and what should we know?
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http://www.hauntedbay.com/entertaini...er/index.shtml
Hours of fun.....
Reminds me of my College Daze...
I shouldn't be telling you this, but continually brewing it up,& collecting vapour you end up making a pretty ruff but semi palatable bootleg.... Try adding orange & lemon peel..
Moonshine.....
Originally posted by BR
Google is your friend.
http://www.hauntedbay.com/entertaini...er/index.shtml
I spent a good 30 minutes scouring Google and never came across this page, just books to buy on the topic and half-assed directions worse than what I knew. Thanks
Originally posted by Scott
You have to distill it to get moonshine.
Yep...collecting...... " vapour trail " .....
Originally posted by Scott
You have to distill it to get moonshine.
Don't try distillation.
Making and drinking cider is quite different from the additional process of making and drinking moonshine from the brewed cider. If you do the first wrong, you just get some stinky cider. If you do the latter wrong - and it is easy to do it wrong - it can kill you. Go ahead and brew some cider, but stay away from distillation and moonshine. If you want distilled cider, buy some good Calvados in your liquor store.
As for brewing cider itself, I have had lots of experience with that. When I get a few more moments, I will share....
We made our cider from a ton of real apples, and then added 4 lbs of honey instead of sugar(white table sugar is nasty in brewing).
It is probably drinkable in two weeks,(thats about the time it takes to ferment) but ours was not really good until well after a year in the bottle. It turned out to be in the 12-13% Alcohol level, which accounted for the amount of honey used.
Ohh, and make sure to use Champagne yeast, as it can tolerate the higher alchohol levels much better than regular brewer's yeast.
If you are serious about this, I would look at some homebrew supply shops, as they will have things that you will need (hydrometer, airlocks, etc...) for pretty cheap.
And if you are really adventerous, try making Mead... (basically honey, water, and yeast) or one of its cousins melomel etc.. (mead mixed with different types of fruit)
Meads take well over a year though, as well.. (pretty much anything with a high alchohol level takes longer)
Have fun.
I grew up in the Apple Capital of the World: Wenatchee WA. (No, really, that's what it's called.)
Wait two weeks after picking, and go collect the semi-rotten apples still hanging off the trees, and the better ones on the ground.
Run them through a cider press. Do not filter.
Wait until Xmas.
That's it. All the yeasts you need are right there. Add some honey if you want a stronger kick, but for the most part, that's all you need to do. The extra time in the sun post-picking-season brings out the extra sugars, the natural yeasts gather, and it's all done for you.
Best hard cider you'll ever taste. Or curse the next morning.
Originally posted by Chinney
If you want distilled cider, buy some good Calvados in your liquor store.
For the one who are interested by Calvados, i will only make this simple recommendation.
If you are interested by the taste of Apple, buy a Calvados of not more than 6 years old. The older one have a more complex taste, but more near the taste of Cognac than the apple. 8)
So what is a simple way to make it....directions and material you can list.
Modify the following so it will work...
Lets say I'm using a 2litre bottle of soda
1)fill it with apple cider
2)add yeast and cover bottle with something to not let air on (balloon?)
3)let ferment for two weeks or (until not bubbling)
4)How do i get the apple cider and seperate it from the yeast on the bottom of the bottle?
5)add honey and put it in another 2 litre bottle to carbonate
6)wait at least two week or more and drink
are there certain ratios?
will my method work?
what do I need to do differently?
am I a retard?
Originally posted by iBrowse
I don't want anything too fancy, what Kickaha is talking about is the closest to what we're planning to do. There's an apple farm right down the road fro us and they have the best, wholesome tasting cider I've ever had in my life. What I was concerned about was the fact that we were told to water the cider we start out with to like 1:5, also we were told to use what was described as a CO2 ball for carbonating it. I figured the guy was a complete moron and disregarded what he said about 4 gallons of water and a CO2 ball. Again, we're not looking to get really complicated with this, we just realized how much money we have spent on booze the last few months and wanted to make something ourselves that we can get real shitty on. Also, I heard it makes the whole room that it's in smell like a two week beer fart, but I don't remember anything like that back when my parents made wine.
I have made a lot of cider. I still have not had a chance to post at length on this. But I will give you some preliminary pointers.
1. If you already have a source of natural juice, you do not need an apple press - the press is just to make the juice (you need natural juice of course, not the processed clarified grocery store juice).
2. Do not put water in your juice - it will just make watery cider. I would stay far away from the recipe you quoted previously.
3. CO2 is not necessary for a simple (flat) cider and is a cheap short-cut for a sparkling cider: don't bother! Flat ciders are fine, by the way.
4. Your cider will ferment and produce odours while it does (so does wine and beer) - they are strong odours, but not particularly unpleasant (to me) and not overwhelming. I have done it in an apartment, but probably would not do it in a dorm.
Originally posted by ast3r3x
Haha I don't have an Apple press (let alone know what it is)
A manual press. You place the apples in the bucket, and turn the crank to press the lid down into them. A tap in the side lets the juice out, generally somewhat strained. It's just that dirt simple.
There are also mechanized presses that are nice if you're doing bushels of apples, but for 5-10 gallons of juice, a manual will do.
Originally posted by ast3r3x
Haha I don't have an Apple press (let alone know what it is)
So what is a simple way to make it....directions and material you can list.
Modify the following so it will work...
Lets say I'm using a 2litre bottle of soda
1)fill it with apple cider
2)add yeast and cover bottle with something to not let air on (balloon?)
3)let ferment for two weeks or (until not bubbling)
4)How do i get the apple cider and seperate it from the yeast on the bottom of the bottle?
5)add honey and put it in another 2 litre bottle to carbonate
6)wait at least two week or more and drink
are there certain ratios?
will my method work?
what do I need to do differently?
am I a retard?
Don't add yeast, as the cider sits it will ferment naturally as the sugars turn into alcohol. Adding yeast could increase the fermentation time a little but for what it's worth your cider would taste better if it fermented on it's own.
The thing with covering it is that as it ferments it will create CO2 gas which needs to be released so that it doesn't blow the top off your jug, but if fresh air gets into your brew it's going to suck. You could use a balloon, but I wouldn't. What we have done in preparation is gotten our hands on a 5 gallon jug with a top that screws on that is about the size of the bottom of a soda can, in the top of that we drilled a 3/8" hole and bought two feet of 3/8" plastic tubing from the hardware store. We put the hose coming out of the top of the cap and hot glued it in place securely. The other end of the tube goes down into a cup of water so that the pressure can bubble it's way out, but air can't get up into the tube.
When the cider is done you get a jug/bottle the same size as what you made it in and siphon (careful not to stir up the bottom) the cider into the other container, staying at least a few inches up from the sediment at the bottom.
I wouldn't bother putting honey or anything in after it's done, what we're doing is putting in some brown sugar and a handful of raisins for flavor, and more sugar=higher alcohol content. You don't need to worry about carbonating anything, if you wanted to make a sparkling cider you could but it'd be more work than I've bothered to look into.
Thanks Chinney for reassuring me that we didn't need to add any water or CO2, I knew there was something about that recipe that sounded odd. From what he was telling us it sounded more like he was trying to make a very very very low grade cider champagne, we also found out today that the idiot didn't even use real cider, he used the powdered mix packets...
Thanks for your help everybody!
I have made cider at home before... (I am a homebrewer)
[i]We made our cider from a ton of real apples, and then added 4 lbs of honey instead of sugar(white table sugar is nasty in brewing).
If you are adding sugar you are technically making an apple wine. In this case you are making a type of apple wine called cyser (a cider fermented with honey). While table sugar is frowned upon in beer making it is perfectly acceptable when making a "cider" because it doesn't produce unacceptable "cidery" taste as it does in beer.
[i]It is probably drinkable in two weeks,(thats about the time it takes to ferment) but ours was not really good until well after a year in the bottle. It turned out to be in the 12-13% Alcohol level, which accounted for the amount of honey used.
This is often an issue with higher alcohol beverages and those made from whole fruit. It takes longer for the flavors to blend and mellow.
[i]Ohh, and make sure to use Champagne yeast, as it can tolerate the higher alchohol levels much better than regular brewer's yeast.
I would have to disagree here. Champagne yeast usually produces a flat, over attenuated, and uninteresting apple wine. It should be avoided for cider. If you are adding sugar to for a high alcohol content then you are better off with a premier cuvee, montrachet, or other fairly flavor neutral wine yeasts. For cider White Labs English Cider Yeast or even California Ale are good choices.
[i]If you are serious about this, I would look at some homebrew supply shops, as they will have things that you will need (hydrometer, airlocks, etc...) for pretty cheap.
Excellent suggestion. Also, depending on your area, resources like craigslist.com will often have classified ads for people unloading their brewing equipment for reasonable prices.
At the other end of the spectrum, an officemate of mine at the UW Applied Physics Lab (Hi Pat) decided to make 'hard' cider by dumping a package of *baking* yeast in a gallon of unfiltered cider and setting it on the heater. He dutifully burped it every day, and in a couple of weeks he had... the most godawful craptacular instant hangover you've ever tried. One sip and you had a headache within a couple of minutes. I still shudder to think what esters and byproducts were in that stuff.
I *tried* to tell him it wouldn't work, but would he listen? Noooooo...
Originally posted by Kickaha
I can't argue with the experts here with regards to the yeasts to add, but I still maintain that the best hard cider you'll ever have is naturally cultured. *IF* you are lucky enough to have access to an orchard post-picking, take advantage of it.
At the other end of the spectrum, an officemate of mine at the UW Applied Physics Lab (Hi Pat) decided to make 'hard' cider by dumping a package of *baking* yeast in a gallon of unfiltered cider and setting it on the heater. He dutifully burped it every day, and in a couple of weeks he had... the most godawful craptacular instant hangover you've ever tried. One sip and you had a headache within a couple of minutes. I still shudder to think what esters and byproducts were in that stuff.
I *tried* to tell him it wouldn't work, but would he listen? Noooooo...
Yes, bakers yeast is not a friend of the beverage maker. One issue with wild fermentation (just using the naturally occurring yeast found in the apple flesh, skin, and air) is that unless you are in an area with a cider history you'll often find that there isn't suitable numbers available for a reliable, infection free fermentation. In areas where there is an apple and/or cider industry natural and human selection has made acceptable yeasts common. The same situation may not be the case in another area. For example a person wanting to make cider in Southern California may be opening his/herself up for disappointment if making cider from store bought juice.
Another issue with wild fermentation is repeatability of results. While this is often a minor issue as many who consider themselves connoisseurs of cider appreciate the vintage differences if consistently good results are desired the addition of known yeast strains is desirable.
Before I get flamed by any purists, there is no gospel of cider. Making cider is not unlike making brownies. One set of ingredients and procedures may offer more or less advantages and disadvantages but no matter which route you take you usually still end up with a decent end product.