# Successful First Cider



## super_simian (13/12/10)

I recently made my first cider, and my experience was very positive in fact it seems almost foolproof and very drinkable. The "recipe" was ridiculously simple:

10 litres apple juice (5x 2l Aldi preservative free, $1.89ea)

tsp Yeast nutrient

1 packet Coopers dry yeast (re-hydrated in water)

I poured out 1/3 of each bottle as I added it to the fermenter, then re-capped and shook the hell out of it to aerate, then continued to pour. In went the tsp of nutrient, then the re-hydrated Coopers yeast. 1.040 OG. Covered with gladwrap and left for ~10 days. 

This was just a spur-of-the moment brew, and my fermenting fridge was occupied, so the fermenter just sat in the kitchen at ambient, which probably ranged from 18-28 degrees. The initial ferment went off like a rocket and threw a massive foamy head, along with some Coopers-esque pear and banana smells in addition to the overwhelming apple aroma. 

The plan was to bottle at around 1.010, allow bottle carbonation to take place then pasteurise, to leave the finished product semi-sweet. Lack of attention on my behalf and a few hot days in a row had it down to 1.000 from 1.015 very fast. An additional litre of the original juice brought it back to desired sweetness, at which point I bottled in a mix of 330ml and 500ml glass bottles. 

Because of the rapid drop from 1.015 to 1.000 in the fermenter, suspicion got the better of me after just 4 days. I cracked a 330ml to check carbonation and the 330ml bottles were verging on over carbonation, so I decided pasteurisation was needed ASAP. 

A big stock-pot of water was brought to 80 degrees on the stovetop, and I gingerly and gently placed as many bottles as I could into the water, without overcrowding. One of the bottles was a control bottle, capped in alfoil to allow me to monitor the internal temperature with a stick thermometer. I would be lying if I said I wasnt packing my dacks on some level, but none of the bottles cracked and only one made a psssht sound, although the indentation my bench capper leaves on the crown seals went from innie to outie! I watched the control temp climb up over the 65 degree mark to around 70, then I placed a lid on the pot and left it for an hour+. 

On the weekend I had a BBQ, to which some friends brought Bulmers, so I figured it was a great time to crack some and see how they had worked. The first thing I noticed was the clarity the cider had cleared somewhat in the fermenter, but at bottling and even at pasteurisation it still had a faint level of opaqueness - this was entirely gone, and a layer of almost bone-white sediment sat at the bottom of each bottle. The sediment settled very rapidly even when stirred up, which Im taking as a good sign that all the yeast is indeed dead. In the glass my cider was a much lighter colour than the commercial one, but both had a similar level of spritz breaking the surface. 

The aroma was pretty much the same as the original juice, with a slight peary Coopers edge no trace of a cooked or stewed smell from pasteurising or any off smells from fermentation. Taste-wise mine had a slight acidic edge and less sweetness to the commercial, but maybe lacked the complexity (for want of a better word) of the Bulmers. There wasnt anything in the way of an alcohol taste. The group was split roughly 50/50 in preference, but everyone agreed they would drink it again, and one even wants to make his own, after I explained how simple (and cheap) it is to make.

At this point, Im saying the home pasteurisation was a success, however handling hot bottles of pressurised liquid was a bit hair-raising. It would be better to have the bottles in an insulated container (i.e. an Esky) and then pump in 80 degree water without having to remove the lid, leaving to cool and then removing the bottles, just in case. Also I will be keeping at least one bottle all summer, leaving it in the shed just to see if it turns into an eventual bottle-bomb (i.e. the pasteurisation didnt work.)

My final thought is that this gives a pretty fast turn-around, around two weeks from the supermarket to your glass, since I think there wouldnt be an advantage bottle aging on dead yeast. Ill definitely be doing it again.


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## Chookers (13/12/10)

could you pasteurise by putting the bottles in the water and then bring it up to temp?? or would that result in a cooked flavour?


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## super_simian (13/12/10)

I just didn't want them touching the bottom while I was applying direct heat. If I had a cake rack to fit the pot I could/would.


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## Tanga (14/12/10)

Does sounds a bit hair raising put like that *reminds self to invest in safety goggles if she decides to pasteurise*.

Any cider that can stand up to a test with Bulmers has got to be a bit of a win. 50/50 - good result. Lack of complexity compared to Bulmers means it still craps all over everything else. Well done!


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## BjornJ (14/12/10)

After reading this I want to try as well!

Well, I'll probably skip the bottle pasteurize step for now, but will try the cider making part.

Bought a 2 litre bottle of apple juice at coles today to test with.
They didn't have any pear juice though, I even asked the guy topping up the juice shelves.

Is pear juice not common in shopping markets here?
Do I need to go to a specialty shop or something?

I don't drink a lot of juice, but just assumed pear was as common as apple.
Obviously that was very wrong  

thanks
Bjorn


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## super_simian (14/12/10)

I'll be starting a new batch tomorrow with some pear juice, some dex and maybe a hit of strong tea. I'm hoping the tannin bitterness from the tea will balance out the extra alcohol and sweetness of the dex and pear juice. 

The pear juice is available in (sugar and preservative free) tins from the supermarket. Look low down, I saw Golden Circle at both Coles and Safeway.

I'm now comparing it to a mate's cider, which is practically still, and made from real un-anything fresh juice from the farmers' market - no preservatives, no sugar, no sulphites, no pasteurisation (pre or post ferment). His has minimal carbonation, just the odd little bubble now and then, which mutes the sour or acid flavours. The aroma is more "rural" and this follows through in tasting - a little bit hayshed like. There is definitely more complexity or layering in the apple flavour, less like a primary school Prima and more like a for real orchard type aroma. The dryness of full fermentation definitely reminds me of dry white wine (I'm not sure what yeast he used.) 

Ideally I would like to re-do my recipe using the fresh juice, but I'm never near the market, and it costs about 3 times as much... and I'm povvo. Basically I feel the complexity of fresh milled real apples combined with the post carbonation pasteurisation process would be ideal. Fun in a bottle all summer long. But that can wait till I've nailed this one.


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## BjornJ (15/12/10)

Hi Super_simian,
thanks for the tip, I didn;t consider that pear juice might come in cans.
Will have another look.

thanks
Bjorn


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## myles_3000 (15/12/10)

I have read in some other posts that lactose is good to add to cidar, as it does not ferment and keeps some of the sweetness. You could perhaps let it completely ferment out in the bottles with the use of lactose (?)


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## Chookers (17/12/10)

I was trying to make pear cider, and I used EC-1118. I forgot about it for a few too many days, so now I have pear wine.. I'll try for cider another time. Xmas makes me crazy :blink:


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## super_simian (17/12/10)

@myles 3000: I've heard that too, but I'm not keen on the idea till I taste one with the lactose in. Also, I am lazy and couldn't be arsed going to the brewshop, all the above ingredients are from the super.

@chookers: Yeah that's petty much what happened to me, so I sweetened it back up with some more juice and picked up the process from there.

PS the canned pear juice is actually Goldbourne Valley, not Golden Circle. New batch in the fermenter as of yesterday!


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## Pennywise (17/12/10)

super_simian said:


> A big stock-pot of water was brought to 80 degrees on the stovetop, and I gingerly and gently placed as many bottles as I could into the water, without overcrowding. One of the bottles was a “control” bottle, capped in alfoil to allow me to monitor the internal temperature with a stick thermometer. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t packing my dacks on some level, but none of the bottles cracked and only one made a “psssht” sound, although the indentation my bench capper leaves on the crown seals went from “innie” to “outie”! I watched the control temp climb up over the 65 degree mark to around 70, then I placed a lid on the pot and left it for an hour+.



You sir, are a ******* madman :beerbang:


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## Chookers (17/12/10)

yeh I used the Goldbourne Valley pear juice, only because it was 100% pear juice with no other additives or ingredients. It taste like pear, but is more a wine than a cider, and is not sweet, but also not as dry as I thought it would be.

It has not cleared, I did put in pectinase when I first put it together. I jut got it standing in a corner at the moment. I think I'll just watch it and see what it does.


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## Tanga (5/1/11)

I ended up with something similar using oztops (in fact the flavour description - like bulmers, except more acidic and less complex) is almost an exact match. It has since gotten drier though (even in the fridge), but some added juice brings it back. The acidity is still a little obnoxious though - it doesn't balance. I might try and get a malo-lactic fermentation happening as well and see if that's closer to the mark. Anyone tried that before?


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## bum (5/1/11)

I dunno, guys, how about you just do it the right way instead? You know - get the results you want?

"I did all this half-arsed, dangerous shit and can't work out why the cider turned out different? WTF, MAN?!"


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## BjornJ (10/1/11)

I bottled my little mini-batch today, 3 PET longnecks and a stubbie.

That was 2 litres of Coles brand juice and 1 can of pear juice (850 ml).
Afraid I didn't measure the OG but the FG now was 1.006.

So leaving some pear juice in there makes it finish sweeter than the FGs I've seen on here for 100% apple.

Had so little that I didn't want to spend a cup to get OG when FG what was I was after, so don't know the total alc%, sorry.

Does not smell or taste all that nice at bottling, wine-like and yeasty but hopefully it will be ok.

This is my first try at a cider and I don't drink wine, so maybe it's supposed to smell this way at bottling :lol: 

Will leave it a couple of months and try it out,






thanks
Bjorn


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## Tanga (10/1/11)

Congrats on your first cider Bjorn. It's all down hill from here. =p

The 2L just juices are great for experimenting with, aren't they. Fermenter and juice all in one, just add yeast and go! I highly recommend the apple and blackcurrant (highly carbonated) and a slight sweetness which balances well with the tartness of apple.

Be sure to post your tasting notes too - I'll be looking forward to them =).

EDIT: Apple and pear juice is on special at the moment at Woolworths (in SA at least). 3L for 3 bucks. =)


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## BjornJ (10/1/11)

Thanks Tanga,
Apple and black currants sounds like a nice combo as well.

Will let them carb up and have a taste,

thanks
Bjorn


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## BjornJ (12/3/11)

Cracked the first bottle of my first ever cider today.





I did a hydrometer reading, pouring from the bottle (fridge cold) and leaving it a while before reading.
Got FG 1.008, and that's not 20 degrees and with still some bubbles left so guessing the FG 1.006 at bottling was right.

Surprised the can of pear juice made that much of a difference after reading on there of ciders ending at 1.000 or lower.
But happy with that, I guess.


Aroma?
Somewhat bready, earthy? From memory this was with a coopers kit yeast, that probably has something to do with it.
Not unpleaseant but not as clean as I would think a cider usually is. 
Must be yeast since I had an alcoholic cider, so please forgive the sketchy comparisons at best.

Flavour is quite nice, somewhere between a wine and cider?
Not a big cider drinker but I would think this is sweeter than normal and a bit more earty, yeasty than the norm.

Very unclear, calling it cloudy would be making it a favour.

But not bad.
Quite happy with my first ever go at a cider.
Will chill a bottle and leave in the fridge for a week or two to see if it clears up before trying it on the Mrs Bjorn.


Bjorn


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