Cider Recipe

[manticle]

Don't freak out too much. A lot of technical stuff is interesting and probably makes better brews but it's not always essential to being able to brew a tasty drop. Some demystification can be a good thing.

To make a starter from a smack pack of liquid yeast I smack and allow to swell. I go by the rule of 1/2 day for every month since manufacture so obviously buying fresh yeast is a good idea.
While it swells I boil the kettle and pour off approximately 2 litres into a stainless steel bowl. I add a couple of hundred grams of dme, whisk then cover with glad wrap and allow to cool to 18 degrees.

When the pack has swelled and been left the appropriate amount of time, I pitch into the dme mixture, whisk again (whisk is always clean and sanitised as is the thermometer), cover and leave again. When foam begins on the surface I consider it ready for pitching.

This method is not perfect but unless you're building up a lager starter (which is a larger starter ha ha ha) or building from a slant or building for a 1090 wort, I reckon this is sufficient. The only time it's failed me was when making a pilsner and I probably should have been making a double size starter for that. Smack packs are supposedly sufficient without starting for an average wort so any building is going to help.

With ciders, nutrient in addition to the yeast is recommended.

As I keep the yeasty wort around 18 I don't feel the need to pour off the top liquid. I also don't ferment right out which is recommended by some people. As with all things - just because a method works doesn't mean it's the best one around. Mine works - it may not be the best one around but it's simple enough to try for your first few until you're comfortable with everything.

 

[barneyb]

How important is this part:

Ferment for 8-12 days then chill for 2 weeks at 2-3 degrees or cold filter

I have no room to chill any large amount of anything, is this for clarity or for something unique to ciders?

 

[manticle]

You can do without it. I do it for all my beers and all my ciders and find it helps mature them and round out the edges. It also flocs out the yeast which helps with clarity.

 

[jbew7692]

Hi guys,
Great forum. Im very impressed with the quality of advice - better than any brewing book!

I think this is the most useful cider thread I have found to date! Just thought I'd add my own experiences to the mix in the interest of the collective good.

I based my first cider off Franko's version (terrific base recipe!):

Franko's:
12 Litres 100% Apple juice no added flavours or preservatives (Bought from Aldi)
8 Litres Apple & Pear juice no added flavours or preservatives (Woolworths)
250-300 grams LDME (light dried powdered malt)
3-4 Apples granny smiths or Pink ladys cut into quarters added to fermenter
Wyeast 4766 Cider Yeast (this is imperative)

Ferment for 8-12 days then chill for 2 weeks at 2-3 degrees or cold filter
Keg and enjoy

Mine:
24L Aldi 100% Apple Juice
500g LDME (sweet tooth)
Wyeast 4766 Cider Yeast

fermented ~2 weeks at 15 C' then bottle conditioned for 1 month.

To give some feedback, I found this cider fairly dry, but not overly so. The LDME prevents it from drying out more than my liking. Its not an aspall, but its 1000x better than a strongbow.

To tune the recipe, I split the fully fermented batch in two. I added 20g/L Lactose to one batch (to make a sweet cider) and nothing to the other (dry cider). Feedback at today's christmas party was mixed, half preferred the sweeter and half preferred the drier cider.

I think the next batch will be a compromise, sweetening a lesser amount (say 10g/L lactose) and adding more sour/bitter apple juice, to balance out the good-for-drinking-but-not-so-good-for-fermenting aldi apple juice. I plan to use blitzed crab apples to provide ~10-20% of the juice for the next batch, as they are in season (at least they are around sydney) and rampant across the burbs. Will let you know how it goes,

Cheers and happy christmas,
J

Edit: Come to think of it, the more the relo's had drunk the more they preferred the dry, opposed to sweet, cider. This may be a confounding factor...

 

[the_yobbo]

My recipe is ~20L of Berri Apple Juice and 4766 Wyeast smacker.

Fantastic and very simple

The juice is 99.9% apple juice with no preservatives. You can regularly get it for $1/L from the chain supermarkets in 3L bottles. It is reconstituted but I don't know if you could tell the difference.

btw - I rescued the trub from my last brew to repitch into the next one. Presumably any nutrients etc would have been consumed in the first brew, so does anyone know what/how much nutrient to add next time?

Cheers,

Tim

I'm looking at brewing a cider. Was there any feedback regarding using reconstitued apple juice from the local supermarket? Thats what I was thinking of doing (cheaper for a first attempt).
I beleive fresh apple juice from supermarkets have a shelf life. I assume using fresh juice 1 day before it's expiry is unwise. Therefore, what is the shelf life of a cider made with fresh or reconstituted juice?

Cheers

 

[boingk]

The shelf life will vary depending on the yeast used and alcohol in the final brew. I did an 11% cider (20L apple juice from + 2kg white sugar) with a champagne yeast that turned into a brilliant drop reminiscent of (surprise surprise?) champagne, especially seeing as I overcarbed it. Aged that one over 6 months I think before it was all gone.

Not sure what the shelf life of the lower alc stuff would be but I imagine that 6 months would be fine and perhaps up to a year in glass depending again on the specifics of the brew.

The chamapagne stuff was made with the reconstituted no-preservative stuff and came out fine.

Cheers - boingk

 

[JayDin]

Thanks for the good reading everyone. Only started any brewing recently, with this forum being my starting point. Did one about 6 weeks ago, and my 2nd is fermenting as I type:

First One:
22l Aldi reconstituted apple juice
EC-1118 champagne yeast
My opinion: tastes OK without being special. Dry, but to be expected given the yeast. Best drank with a glass full of ice cubes.

Second One (doing 10-12 litre per batch now til i find the "perfect drink" ):
11l 100% pure unflitered apple juice, bought fresh from Cedar Creek Orchard (no preservative, only pasteurised) in Sydney
WLP720 yeast
Still fermenting, so will update in a few weeks when bottled and carbonated. BUT, I'm keen to see how it ends up. Apart from this forum spent a good amount of time reading up on yeasts before option for the White Labs. And the juice tastes devine fresh. Will be a cloudy cider, but then it is what it is and some beers are too. Maybe because it was unfliltered the OG was 1052 (I also have their filtered juice and OG is 1045 or so).

My current intent is to make a new batch every month, with slightly different ingredients to see how the taste changes. But I'm pretty sure will stick to this juice, and if this yeast works as well as I hope will stick with it too.

Yeast took a long time to track down in Sydney. But can order it through: E.S.B. Brewing Supplies 1/ 11 Lorraine St Peakhurst NSW 2210 ph: (02) 9584 3372

 

[Stinky Nightgown]

Hi Guys........Got this one conditioning in the primary at the moment.

Somerset Gold 5Litres (1 Gallon) by msheridan69
========================
2.4L Apple (Just Juice)
2.4L Apple & Pear (Just Juice)
Juice of half a lemon
250mls strong Liptons tea
100gms Honey (diluted with hot water for easy mixing)
3.5 gms Favorite Yeast

1. Steep tea bag in about 250mls of boiling water, add juice of lemon and honey. stir honey until dissolved.
2. Cover with cling file and let cool down.
3. Fill fermenter with juices (this should equal 75% apple and 25% pear)
4. Add Honey Lemon tea liquid.
5. Pitch yeast - I used left over pack of Coopers kit yeast. Probably an ale yeast. If using a champagne yeast the end product may end up very dry.

Primary for 14 days (16-24C)

This tastes great straight out of the fermenter as a 'Scrumpy' but tastes even better when conditioned for 2-3 week

I used Nottingham yeast.
OG 1.050
F.G 1.012
Damn 5.8%.........just drinking the sample makes me want to go lie down.......but the taste makes me want to skull from the top of the fermenter..... :chug:
Very simmilar to Bulmers......not super dry.......not super sweet.......Just right

 

[jzani]

The browning of apples is due to oxidation (I'm not sure that the lack of it is attributable to the alcohol), so if they don't go brown for quite some time, you can be happy that your layer of CO2 is nice and steady. Perhaps we should all have a bit of apple in the top of our fermenters as an oxidation test?

The vitamin C in the apple juice may also prevent the (brown) Azo Dyes from forming. Acts as a reducing agent if I can remember my high school chemistry correctly.

 

[JestersDarts]

Hi Guys........Got this one conditioning in the primary at the moment.

Somerset Gold 5Litres (1 Gallon) by msheridan69
========================
2.4L Apple (Just Juice)
2.4L Apple & Pear (Just Juice)
Juice of half a lemon
250mls strong Liptons tea
100gms Honey (diluted with hot water for easy mixing)
3.5 gms Favorite Yeast

1. Steep tea bag in about 250mls of boiling water, add juice of lemon and honey. stir honey until dissolved.
2. Cover with cling file and let cool down.
3. Fill fermenter with juices (this should equal 75% apple and 25% pear)
4. Add Honey Lemon tea liquid.
5. Pitch yeast - I used left over pack of Coopers kit yeast. Probably an ale yeast. If using a champagne yeast the end product may end up very dry.

Primary for 14 days (16-24C)

This tastes great straight out of the fermenter as a 'Scrumpy' but tastes even better when conditioned for 2-3 week

I used Nottingham yeast.
OG 1.050
F.G 1.012
Damn 5.8%.........just drinking the sample makes me want to go lie down.......but the taste makes me want to skull from the top of the fermenter..... :chug:
Very simmilar to Bulmers......not super dry.......not super sweet.......Just right

G'Day mate -

First up it says you used the kit yeast, and then it says you used nottingham -
Which one did you use?
or is this two seperate attempts at the recipe?

 

[trax]

I am a first time brewer and I'm attempting Frankos cider recipe but their is still a few bits and pieces I'm not sure about mainly when it comes time to bottle. I have read a few recipes on the net and some people add a teaspoon of sugar to each bottle and some people don't why is this and should I do it any help would be great cheers.

 

[fergyle]

any of you guys know if it's possible to buy that wyeast that franko mentioned online? i'd love to give that recipe a shot, but i'm a bit of a n00b and haven't found somewhere that sells it...

 

[WilBier]

any of you guys know if it's possible to buy that wyeast that franko mentioned online? i'd love to give that recipe a shot, but i'm a bit of a n00b and haven't found somewhere that sells it...

I emailed Grain and Grape in Melbourne and ordered some of the 4766 Wyeast about 3weeks ago. They didn't have any in stock but were just placing an order. John got it in for me and a week and a half later it was 'in the meter box'. Excellent service.

I'm putting 2 cider recipes on tonight. One will be 20 litres of crushed apples - actually I'm going to use a typical high-speed domestic juicer tonight (it will be painful, but it's only for a triall) and in parallel I'm going to ferment 20l of store bought apple juice. Both with the 4766 yeast. I'll keep you posted.

Wilbier

(is back, recently moved house and now I have a double lock up brewery!!)

 

[Gormand]

I emailed Grain and Grape in Melbourne and ordered some of the 4766 Wyeast about 3weeks ago. They didn't have any in stock but were just placing an order. John got it in for me and a week and a half later it was 'in the meter box'. Excellent service.

I'm putting 2 cider recipes on tonight. One will be 20 litres of crushed apples - actually I'm going to use a typical high-speed domestic juicer tonight (it will be painful, but it's only for a triall) and in parallel I'm going to ferment 20l of store bought apple juice. Both with the 4766 yeast. I'll keep you posted.

Wilbier

(is back, recently moved house and now I have a double lock up brewery!!)

I did something similar recently with the juice. 22L apple juice +500g maltodextrin, US-05 yeast.
undrinkable :/ completely dry and tastless I found. A friend of mine added in some cut up apples and other things and it came out way better.

Im not sure if it was just the brand of juice I used or what, but I plan to experiment more later.

 

[WilBier]

I crushed my apples on Monday and added some campden tablets to clean up the juice after I finished. The mix has been resting for around 40 hours now. I have a smack pack swelling up at the moment and I was wondering if I should consider any aeration before adding the yeast tonight or just tip the yeast straight in?

 

[tomdavis]

Here is my tried and tested cider recipe that has cider drinkers quaffing for more

12 Litres 100% Apple juice no added flavours or preservatives (Bought from Aldi)
8 Litres Apple & Pear juice no added flavours or preservatives (Woolworths)
250-300 grams LDME (light dried powdered malt)
3-4 Apples granny smiths or Pink ladys cut into quarters added to fermenter
Wyeast 4766 Cider Yeast (this is imperative)

Ferment for 8-12 days then chill for 2 weeks at 2-3 degrees or cold filter
Keg and enjoy


Franko

Hi guys,

Sorry to dig up an old post but, I have been looking at Franko's trusted cider recipe, which I am keen to try, but I do not have kegging facilities.

I am experienced with bottle conditioning/bulk priming though. Also, I would prefer to produce a medium-dry cider rather than a bone-dry champagne style one.

I am interested to hear opinions on how would you tweak this recipe to suit a bulk-priming method instead?

 

[a1149913]

you wouldn't tweak it, once finished bulk prime with dex and bottle. The 250g of LDME should give you a medium dry cider, more = sweeter.

 

[a1149913]

After trying this cider i made with berri juice, i'm finding it to be quite bland. The front palate is very watery, while the back palate resembles somewhat of a dry cider. Is there any way to increase the apple flavor?

I also added 5 cut up apples and a vanilla stick to the primary. 4766 yeast

JT

 

[Tanga]

A. I am brewing my current experiment with Nottingham yeast. I'll let you know how it ends up, but so far I'm impressed. Much slower than 1118 (champers yeast). But a lot more flavour.

Is a 5 seeds style what you're after? That's a possibility with store bought juice. A Bulmers, however, is not. I know this is probably going to lose me some credibility (actually, scratch that I'm pretty sure I have none), but it works. Cordial (one made with real apples) used in place of priming sugar (it is just concentrated juice + sugar) will add apple flavour.

PS someone tell him about lactose. I don't know anything about it. I like dry ciders.

PPS. Contrary to common sense the apple flavour seems to come back (a little) with aging.

 

[The Giant]

I'm about to keg this tonight
21 litres preservative free apple juice from woolies
500g lactose
1 x 12 g pack of cider yeast from craftbrewer (dry yeast)

OG was 1054
FG was 1012, however I think it could have come down a bit more, I liked the taste of it and as i was kegging i dont have to worry about bottle bombs, so i chucked it straight in the fridge to cold condition as previously my ciders kept on coming down and became to dry

Very happy with it but as above I may have stopped fermentation early.