Cider Recipe

[Jeff_beazley]

Hi all.

So I've just got my first cider recipe going (Franko's recipe) and my only question is with the cooling and bottling part.

After 8-12 days of fermentation, do I literally put the whole wort in a fridge for 2 weeks? Does the bottling come in after this and is it similar to beer where there is a 2nd bottle fermention with priming sugar/carbonation drops?

Thanks in advance

Jeff

 

[technoicon]

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 have done this recipe be for and I think it's awesome. from memory it lasted about 4 hrs. I used the powder kit from kmart that they no longer sell.

will be doing another one soon!

 

[db73]

I have few questions.

This is the first cider I have done and have put down Frankos recipe but used S04 yeast with no nutrient, as it was all I had access to.

I use glad wrap in lieu of the lid and airlock.

Looking for signs of fermentation, I don't see the foam/krausen I'm used to seeing when I brew beer but the glad wrap is bulging at the top.

With cider does a krausen form?

Can anyone who used this recipe give me an SG as I forgot to take a reading when I put it down.

Thanks

db

 

[peterlonz]

New to Cider making myself so can't offer any practical suggestions.
However I have just put down a Black Rock Cider Kit on the recommendation of my LHBS.
They said "just follow the recipe it's the best of the cider kits".

Reading extensively here I can see I jumped in far too quickly.
For anyone interested:
I carefully established a wort temp of 23 which is the low end (23 - 27) according to the kit.
Pitched & stirred in two packets of kit yeast (long story here, somewhat embarrasing, I accidentally spilled the first can contents all over the floor).
Organised the "wet towels in water trough" with digital temp probe taped to outside of fermentor.
Waited & waited, 36 hours, temp hovering around 23 - 23.5 no observable fermentation, airlock & lid seal checked all OK.
12 hours later some bubbling from airlock.
This sluggishness to get started is worrying; admittedly I did not attempt yeast hydration, because I never, or very rarely use this technique.
I now have the fermentor uncovered as the weather has changed; temp is now around 23.5.
Has anyone experienced this slow start?
Hope I have a decent cider when all is finished, the kit cost $20 so it should be dependable.

 

[d3vour3r]

ive done the summerset gold cider, but i ramped up volumes to

3x2.4L apple
3x 2.4l apple pear
750ml strong tea
juice 2 lemons,
500g honey

just added the honey and lemon to the hot tea, then threw it all in fermenter and pitched yeast. was the easy brew of anything ive ever done lol.

tastes great (still have a few bottles floating around, been a couple months)

i noticed not a massive krausen appeared, just some foam. best way to cehck fermentation is the wort looks lightly carbonated ie small bubbles rising to the surface.

Sometimes i wish i knew these things when i was a teenager trying to get alcohol. probably a good thing i didnt...

hope it works out well for u

 

[JDW81]

When ever i make cider I always let it ferment for at least 3 weeks (always trying to maintain @20C) and in my experience they always take a bit longer for fermentation to kick off. I also never really get a large (or often any) krausen, even when fermentation is in full flight. If the glad wrap is bulging that's a sure sign of a good healthy fermentation.

I don't know if this is the same for all ciders but I've made quite a few and this has been the case for all of them (they've also all been ripper brews too)

If it tastes good then you're in business

JD

 

[Lurks]

I made this Somerset Gold recipe, ramping up to a 20L volume and with a bit more tea, honey and lemon.

It's great, but I'd prefer if it had a bit more bite to it. It's a nice drop but I like some tang.

Anyone got a suggestion how to achieve that?

 

[Cactus]

I made this Somerset Gold recipe, ramping up to a 20L volume and with a bit more tea, honey and lemon.

It's great, but I'd prefer if it had a bit more bite to it. It's a nice drop but I like some tang.

Anyone got a suggestion how to achieve that?

I'm a bit new to all this so nothing gospel here.

But, the couple of ciders I've done have had an excellent tang, I like very sharp and dry cider though, not to everyone's taste.

I added a wee bottle of apple shnapps base from the LHBS to the wort and primed with apple juice concentrate. The priming with conc seems to have given it an excellent apple tang/sharpness but do be careful, the maths isn't as easy as it seems. I have drastically overprimed and have some very fizzy cider. I worked out the total sugar content of 6 x 250 mL packs to be 160 (odd, don't have my book with me) gramms, that into a 23L brew shouldn't have been as exciting as it was, I'd definately drop it down to maybe 3 of them and 60 odd gramms of sugar or Dex. Bulk priming obviously.

 

[Rhodders]

Hi Guys
I have just joined AussieBrewer. I am actually Welsh!! HaHa!!
I am new to home brewing. A mate introduced me to it and we started off a Belgian Ale together and it turned out pretty nice and got even better with age. I got down to my last six recently and had a craving for some more. Also being 'between jobs' felt like the right opportunity to do so.
On three consecutive days I started off a Belgian ale, a European lager (ready made packs from local homebrew shop) and a cider.
The comments on this blog I have found very useful, encouraging and inspiring.
I bottled the lager earlier this week - hydrometer reading indicate its about 4% at bottling so I am not overly happy with that (being a typical 5.2% drinker usually) but nevertheless hopefully be a refreshing beverage.
I bottled the ale today - hydro readings indicate around 6% and I am hoping it turns out like the previous brew - TASTY!!
Turning now to the cider.....
Ingredients:-12 litres apple and black currant juice (woolworths home brand)8 litres apple juice (woolworths home brand)Yeast - "W Yeast 2049 7g"
I started this off on the 30/11 and it had starting OG of 1.048. It took a day to start bubbling. By 4/12 OG was 1.024. It was quite sweet. A nice cloudy pink colour and was bubbling quite aggressively. By 13/12 it was 1.008 indicating a nice alc content. I racked it to secondary on 14/12. On 17/12 it had OG of 1.004. Still tastes nice - not too dry. Looks like it is going to be around 6% - nice for cider!!
I intend to take a further reading tomorrow and have pencilled in a bottling session early fri morning. I am ummming and ahhing about introducing lactose to add a bit of sweetener. I like medium / dry cider. I think the yeast I used is a champagne yeast - these bottles could be quite lively.... Being my first cider brew I do not want bottle bombs etc!
For previous ale / lager ones I have used carbonation drops and intend to use the same with the cider.
Is there anything else I could / should be doing?
Otherwise I will let you know how I go in due course!!
My next project is going to be:20 litres apple juice (woolworths home brand)Wyeast 4766 cider yeast - upon your recommendations250g LDME
THANKS
RHODDERS

 

[negativesteve]

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

Have just laid down the above for my first cider attempt, went about 2 litres over the quantity due to buying 2.4 litre containers and not noticing it.
Only variation was around 200 mils of maple syrup. Here's hoping it all works out.