Hillbilly Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Hey guys, I been having a read on here a little bit, and have learned there are many new things to learn about home brewing, but it's a learning consant learning curb. So part of my learning kerb is, making a apple cider from scratch. I don't want anything to hard, just a nisce basic mix. I have 3.5 litres of apple juice that I have juiced from the apple tree in my yard, there quiet tard, and have heard thats a good thikg for a cider. So if I add the juice, water and a wine yeast and some sugar, will this work????? I just want a point in the right direction. Cheers Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeorgeB Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Paul, I've made a few ciders over the years, although none recently. You are spot on with the basics there. The thing about cider is, you better enjoy a very tart beverage! My first few attempts were way too tart for my liking [read = sour] until a wine making buddy of mine clued me into potassium sorbate. If you like a bit of sweetness to your cider, let it ferment out, then add some potasium sorbate - this will kill the fermenation, and then you can "back sweeten" your cider with some simple syrup to sweeten it to your liking. The drawback to this method is that if to prefer a sparkling cider, you'll have to keg it and carbonate with CO2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyW Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 I make cider all the time in winter when i have a plentiful supply of fresh fruit. Heres a link to my cider making, this one store bought and on my page is a fresh apple/pear i made. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillbilly Posted January 2, 2012 Author Share Posted January 2, 2012 sweet I will get some yeast, And some sugar, anything recomemmed, in the way of sugar. Amount and type??????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyW Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 sweet I will get some yeast' date=' And some sugar, anything recomemmed, in the way of sugar. Amount and type???????[/quote'] I dont bother adding sugars but i have added 500g of Dex. If you start pumping up the sugars you need a good yeast to covert them. A straight up cider will give you about 5% after bottling. I have a sparkling grape cider/wine in the fridge thats 15% Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillbilly Posted January 2, 2012 Author Share Posted January 2, 2012 right, So the apple juice will have enough natural sugar in it. So next step, pop by the brew shop for some yeast, And i'm right to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyW Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 right' date=' So the apple juice will have enough natural sugar in it. So next step, pop by the brew shop for some yeast, And i'm right to go. [/quote'] Vintners SN9 is my preferred yeast for cider. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WayneR6 Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Would an Ale/Beer yeast work ok for a cider? Wine yeasts have a high alcohol tolerance so it will nuke all the sugars in the brew leaving you with a very dry cider... surely an ale yeast with a lower alcohol tolerance would peter out around the 7-8% and leave some residual sweetness (providing there is enough sugar in there to start with) Just a thought... I've made a few 'Apple Wines' using store bought 100% juice and they are nice, but i would like a proper cider... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Im sure Wine and Champainge yeasts are the prefered but any yeast will make a cider here is a link to a site i have followed for a few years they tried it also first time came out ok with just saflager us 05. Scroll down to Jan and feb 2011 http://www.basicbrewing.com/index.php?page=video Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyW Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 With champagne yeast you can use less but i ten to experiment wihth didfferent quantities, i have found about 2grams to 5 litres works best, i have even used bread yeast, ale yeast (i dont like the after taste) and wine yeast. Surprisingly the bread yeast worked well. My experiments with cider are for being able to make easy cider in remote places with the available resources, no homebrew shops out there but i i can have a couple of litres of cider made in days using store bought 2.4 litres juices and bread yeast. I have used cinnamon sticks organic vanilla extracts and lots of other flavourings including crushed strawberrys and also blueberrys. Experiment till you get the cider you like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WayneR6 Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 I wouldn't have thought using 'less' yeast would make a difference, after all the yeast will multiply and grow to the extent of the vessel & available food/fluids... if anything you just make the yeast work harder in the initial stages which could produce some funky off flavors... My experiments with Wine/Champagne yeasts using store bought 100% juices is it produces a very dry cider, which is ok but i want something a little sweeter... i did consider back-sweetening but i didnt have the right chemicals to stop re-fermentation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyW Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 I wouldn't have thought using 'less' yeast would make a difference, after all the yeast will multiply and grow to the extent of the vessel & available food/fluids... if anything you just make the yeast work harder in the initial stages which could produce some funky off flavors... My experiments with Wine/Champagne yeasts using store bought 100% juices is it produces a very dry cider, which is ok but i want something a little sweeter... i did consider back-sweetening but i didnt have the right chemicals to stop re-fermentation. Whatever you think is fine by me [cool] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillbilly Posted January 7, 2012 Author Share Posted January 7, 2012 Well, I went to the home brew shop and it was shut, so off to big W and got some brewers yeast, I add the 3.5 litres of apple juice, 500 grams of dextrose and some white sugar, about 200 grams as it did not taste sweet enough. Topped it up to about 18 litres, but it is still a little watery, so I think i might go and drop a litre of mango juice in there. I shall report to the action and taste[biggrin] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyW Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 Well, I went to the home brew shop and it was shut, so off to big W and got some brewers yeast, I add the 3.5 litres of apple juice, 500 grams of dextrose and some white sugar, about 200 grams as it did not taste sweet enough. Topped it up to about 18 litres, but it is still a little watery, so I think i might go and drop a litre of mango juice in there. I shall report to the action and taste[biggrin] Sounds like your putting out spot fires [rightful] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyW Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 I add the 3.5 litres of apple juice, 500 grams of dextrose and some white sugar, about 200 grams as it did not taste sweet enough. Topped it up to about 18 litres, but it is still a little watery, so I think i might go and drop a litre of mango juice in there. 3.5litres of juice and topped up with 18litres of water? if you want 20litres of juice you brew 20litres of juice you dont add water to it. Adding Dex and white sugar is not going to sweeten it only add the the ABV of the coloured water you will be drinking and maybe add a funky taste with the table sugar. Adding mango is not going to help (i hate mango but thats a personal thing). If you want sweetness you should of added maybe some lactose to it as that doesnt ferment.Another way is kill the yeast with some sodium or potassium met, then sweeten to taste. If you dont want to use chemicals then load up the sugar content +15% and use an ale yeast that cant eat all the sugars. In winter i can go to an orchard and he cold presses 23litres of apple juice for me into a FV to that i add my yeast and some blueberries/ strawberries or a few kilos of pears. Other ways i have sweetened my ciders are to add vanilla essence and honey to the FV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillbilly Posted January 8, 2012 Author Share Posted January 8, 2012 see learning all the time. I tastes it out of the barrel, taste ok so far. I guess it just experimenting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyW Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 see learning all the time. I tastes it out of the barrel, taste ok so far. I guess it just experimenting. Experimenting and learning is what we all do all the time, thats what ends up making us good beers and ciders [biggrin] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillbilly Posted January 15, 2012 Author Share Posted January 15, 2012 Ok, My cider has stopped brewing, and we give it a test taste out of the drum, and it has a very sour taste. Any ideas to sweeten it up a little, before bottling ?????? Paul. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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