# First Cider Brew



## nuggetron (18/9/11)

so its my second brew ever
ive put down a brigalow apple cider as per instructions however i added a lil honey to increase the alcohol and some flavours, i added the yeast supplied when the temperature was at 21 degrees, its been 2 days average brewing temp 18 degrees
the back of the can read that it takes more time than a beer to brew which i expected however 2 days and no fermentation at all?
when should i be expecting to see some sort of fermentation?
i noted that when i added the yeast it fell straight to the bottom and its remained there so far
i had an OG of 1.040
im using the diy beer coopers home brew kit, the one without the airlock
any ideas?


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## manticle (18/9/11)

What signs of fermentation are you looking for?

Have you measured the gravity again? If it's dropped, it's fermenting.


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## nuggetron (18/9/11)

same signs as beer
bubbles foam etc
havent measured the gravity yet figured it was too soon for that


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## manticle (18/9/11)

Cider will foam less than beer, if at all. The only surefire way to know is a gravity measurement. If it's still 1040 after 2-3 days, you may need to pitch more yeast but if it's lower then she's started.


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## nuggetron (18/9/11)

so i took a reading and it returned 1.050! then took it out and did a second reading and 1.040, so might have to buy some white champange yeast? a whole packet? do i need nutrient or should there be enough sugar?


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## manticle (18/9/11)

Nutrient is a good idea in cider.

1050 was probably unmixed goop caught in the tap so good that you took a second reading.

Buy the yeast. Before you add it, take another reading - if it's still 1040 then pitch the new stuff.

Next time consider buying 20 L of cheap preservative free juice (Safeway have a very cheap one) and adding white wine yeast to that. Will taste better than brigalow although it will be drer too (no aspartame)


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## dr K (18/9/11)

Simple cider is so easy to make its like cheating.
10 x 2 litre preservative free (Aldi is great) apple juice, keep the goons to bottle in.
Dry Cider = 11gm US05
Fruity Dry Cider = 11gm Windsor Ale
Funky Cider = 11gm Munich Wheat Yeast (IMHO best choice)
All these variants are dry, if you want alco-pop buy 5 seeds.

K


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## manticle (18/9/11)

dr K said:


> Simple cider is so easy to make its like cheating.



Agreed. Simple cider and FWK with yeast added straight to the cube give better results than any KK for far less effort.


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## nuggetron (18/9/11)

yer i brought that can mix before i found the site
few more questions
when is it too late to add more yeast? like i wont be able to get any tomorrow which will be day 3 is day 4 too late to add more yeast
do i add a whole packet of yeast since i already go a packet of yeast in there

cheers guys this is a awesome site


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## nuggetron (19/9/11)

all good
took another reading and its dropped 5 points
i hate taking readings and pouring it down the drain


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## manticle (19/9/11)

Taste test each sample and get to know your brews and how they change.

You shouldn't need to take any readings for at least a couple of weeks now anyway.


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## Airgead (19/9/11)

nuggetron said:


> all good
> took another reading and its dropped 5 points
> i hate taking readings and pouring it down the drain



Never let a hydrometer sample go to waste. Drink that sample. You learn so much about how the brew is going (thats what I tell my missus anyway when she sees me hooking into the samples before breakfast...)

Cheers
Dave


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## nuggetron (19/9/11)

oh sweet sweet so we can drink it
ive tasted it once or twice (beer) and tasted wierd and though maybe we arent ment to do it


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## pk.sax (19/9/11)

Kit beer hydro samples taste gross sometimes. Dunno about souped up kits but coopers lager tasted gruesome.


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## nuggetron (20/9/11)

practicalfool said:


> Kit beer hydro samples taste gross sometimes. Dunno about souped up kits but coopers lager tasted gruesome.



hahaha i agree, thats when i thought maybe its not ment to be drunk but im slowly learning

also the cider has gone a really cloudy yellow
good or bad?


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## hsb (20/9/11)

I dropped my first cider yesterday. Just 3L of Bilpin preservative free clear Apple juice, 40g of lactose I had lying around and a sprinkle of S04.
This morning it's doing it's thing and very cloudy, murky like banana juice.

Cloudy sounds good - means the yeasties are doing their thing. It'll clear up once they finish and it is chilled.
I'm going to wait 3-4 days, as per the other big cider thread, and chuck mine in the fridge door with the cap on to carbonate.

No hydrometer on this little experiment for me, ignore that for your proper ferment/bottling, your hydrometer being your friend and all and definitely drink those samples.

After 8-10 hours of knocking out two batches of AG beer in the last 2 days it was bliss to just crack a bottle of apple juice and sprinkle yeast in. Here's to a summer of zyderrr drinking!


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## nuggetron (20/9/11)

hsb said:


> Here's to a summer of zyderrr drinking!



here here man
hoping she will be perfect come summer, sit in the pool drinking home brew like theres no tomorrow


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## wynnum1 (20/9/11)

The cider kits have artificial sweeter makes it taste foul best is the home brand apple juices juice with no added sugar is about 5% alcohol when fermented can drink quickly when you up the added sugar needs longer to get best taste .


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## pk.sax (20/9/11)

@hsb if the cap on ur bottle looks suss, just wrap a red rubber band, the thick ones like what posties use on the cap a couple of times before you put in fridge. Hopefully the damn thing won't crack. lol. If it does it's flat cider but o well. 'Extra juicy' juice bottle caps are what I keep, they're stronger.


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## Wolfman (25/9/11)

When bottling the cider do you need to use priming sugar, like beer? First time i've made cider.


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## hsb (25/9/11)

@practicalfool - thanks. I sealed it up after 4 days, fridge door and 24 hours later, bottle was rock solid exactly as predicted. Cracked and poured a glass - yum! Nice sparkle, and lovely dry but not bone dry cider - too easy! I added Lactose so that might have helped. No ABV numbers, didn't use the hyrdo on this one.

Recapped and 24 hours later, bottle is nice and firm again, ready for another refreshing hit shortly.

Cider is too easy! A hit with the SWMBO as well, even interested to follow what was happening. Apple Juice has gone on the weekly shopping list, will drop this in my 9L Party Keg I think as a regular serving.

@shan0066 - If it has fermented out properly, then yes, same principles apply. Just be careful it has completely finished fermenting and you might find advice somewhere on here to use a little less priming sugar?

@nuggetron - how's your cider coming along?


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## manticle (25/9/11)

shan0066 said:


> When bottling the cider do you need to use priming sugar, like beer? First time i've made cider.



Same principles as beer.

Allow fermentation to finish properly, add calculated amount of sugar for priming, bottle and let carbonate.


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## Miro73 (1/10/11)

Hi guys, I started my first ferment ever yesterday,im using a kit Wals cider i think it was called. it seemed to be water based with some sort of apple concentrate, im a bit unsure about this it did not seem to smell correct. After reading some posts here i probably should have tasted it. Has anyone used this kit before? 
What i want to achieve is a Bulmers style cider is there a recipe or is it trial and error til you get the taste you like.
Cheers Miro


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## pk.sax (2/10/11)

Smell correct is a bit broad. It could just be sulphury. Lots of people get that.

Besides that, a kit is a kit. It's made outta you don't always know exactly what. I've never made cider from a kit. Only ever did 2 kits of beer. The joy of being able to control exactly what goes in my drink just does it for me. Use juice or crush apples next time and more help might come forth as people will be more familiar with what ur trying to do.

PS: don't give up on the cider though. If u followed directions and didn't ferment too hot, you should be able to drink the fermented result. No idea if kit cider improves on aging though.


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## Miro73 (3/10/11)

Thanks for the help, i did not do enough research, next time i will definitely use juice or apples.


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## d3vour3r (11/10/11)

hey all, i also have my first cider brew currently 1 week into conditioning in bottles.

sooo easy

3x3L just juice apple
3x3l just juice apple & pear
1L of strong tea
juce from 2 large lemons
500g honey
1 pkt nottingham yeast

OG 1052 FG 1010 alc 6.2%

got the recipe from AHB sumwhere, not sure where tho so if anyone knows who created it please post so he/she gets credit.

EDIT: found the post i got inspiration from: http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...showtopic=38846
thanks to msheridan69 

Had one bottle last night and was lightly carbed and tasted kinda nice. still could use another week or 2 to mellow out a faint yeast flavour. after 1 tally I was quite light head and didnt taste alcoholy and was quite easy to drink. i think its gunna be ripper!


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## mrTbeer (11/10/11)

Just finished my first cider. Much easier than beer.

I got Berri Apple/Pear juice poured it all into the largest waterbottle I could find 5L. Transparent bottle was emptied, drilled and an airlock and grommet fitted. Used 1/2 a packet of Woolies ale yeast and it was bubbling in 2 days time. No nutrient required.

In the clear bottle you can see the tiny bubbles rise through the liquid, there are no skunking problems and you can see when it clears up. Took almost 3 weeks to slow up and clear. Slightly more entertaining than fermenting beer??

Siphoned straight into a 9l keg and added a bit of stevia to taste and a nip of sugary elderflower cordial for fizz for 3 weeks. (Was my first siphon as I wasn't using a fermenter with tap so i spilt (tasted) some). All at room temps of about 19c and it tastes great. Used an online calc for carb @ ~2.2volumes and not using stevia before i guessed about 40 drops? Will chill and bottle this weekend. My (sweet) wife likes (sweet) Rekorderlig so that was the clone basis.

Including the (no preservative 100%) juice ,airlock, grommet, yeast and fermenting vessel it was still only $2/litre. Next time using same gear and just buying juice i'd guess about $1.25/litre. Rekorderlig Pear Cider is about $12/litre by comparison.

Next step for me is AG beer. I tried some of Ross's beers on Sunday and am now ready to buy a kettle/stock pot. While not dissapointed with extracts I have seen the light with AG. Just a pity I need to drive 100km+ to get ingredients.


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## komodo (11/10/11)

Australia post will do the driving for you


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## RdeVjun (11/10/11)

mrTbeer said:


> Next step for me is AG beer. I tried some of Ross's beers on Sunday and am now ready to buy a kettle/stock pot. While not dissapointed with extracts I have seen the light with AG.


Awesome! There's loads of guides around both here and other home brewing sites, should be no biggie which way you decide to go. Personally, I recommend BIAB for novice all- grain brewers, either in an urn or a big stockpot, but your own constraints will be different from my own. Don't be afraid to sing out if you're not sure. 


mrTbeer said:


> Just a pity I need to drive 100km+ to get ingredients.


  No, please don't do that. I presume you're talking about CraftBrewer? Use the Fastway pre- paid label, under $10 for up to 25kg, so unless you're buying multiple sacks of grain in one order it is very economical and they're always prompt with despatch and delivery. I've never been disappointed in dealing with CraftBrewer this way for delivery in over two years.
You can also lodge an "Authority To Leave" with Fastway, that way if you're out at delivery they'll leave it where you nominate, which is particularly handy if you don't want your CB order with liquid yeast sitting in a transport depot all weekend (worst case scenario). :icon_cheers:
Edit: Or as Komodo points out, AusPost can help with the driving part!


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## mrTbeer (11/10/11)

AusPost and FastWay, noted.

Low mileage / Full Flavoured beer coming up.


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## pk.sax (12/10/11)

I wish CB was 100km to me


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## Yogi85 (16/10/11)

I have recently tried my first cider as well, just used one of those brigalow kits with 2 x 2l of aldi apple juice and 2.4l of berri apple juice and supplied yeast and nutrient, 2 weeks primary, then bulk primed with dextrose and added 300gm of natural sweetener, after two weeks in bottle tastes pretty good, just have a strong taste of artificial sweetener first sip or two then fine.


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