How to get started in Cider. The definitive(ish) guide to beginner&#39

[nathan_madness]

For all you guys heading down this route:

You can take your cidermaking to the next level by looking into making seasonal ciders from freshly picked and juiced apples. I do warn you though that madness lies down that road. Soon you will have a cider press. Then you will have an orchard. Cider will consume your life and you will die a broken man from sheer sexual exhaustion.

Have a good read of this http://www.cider.org.uk/frameset.htm and you will understand how much cider will consume your life.

 

[Airgead]

Indeed. It kind of takes over.

To the point that next year I'm getting my license, pressing a tone or two of fruit to make a thousand or so bottles and selling the stuff (hopefully).

750ml Champagne bottles with crown seals. Bottle conditioned.

I'll be using a mix of eating and granny smith for a while until the row of cider apple tress I persuaded an orchardist to put in for me next year are fruiting. A nice mix of traditional bittersweet and bittersharp varieties.

Cheers
Dave

 

[fletcher]

quick question.

if i have a cider that has potentially halted or stalled fermenting at 1.011 (the one i mentioned above), would it be possible to bottle now, leave carbonating at ambient until the PET bottles i use start to bulge slightly, and then keep at normal fridge temps to stop further carbonation? i'm using us-05 so fridge temps of 6C and below should be too low to keep it active. either that or i could keep it cold crashed at around 2C to be completely safe.

in this way would i be correct in assuming if the yeast then wakes up at ambient, the further fermentation would be what carbonates the cider? negating the need for priming sugar/carb drops.

 

[fletcher]

bah. i'll give it a go, and be very careful after bottling and report how i go

 

[JDW81]

quick question.

if i have a cider that has potentially halted or stalled fermenting at 1.011 (the one i mentioned above), would it be possible to bottle now, leave carbonating at ambient until the PET bottles i use start to bulge slightly, and then keep at normal fridge temps to stop further carbonation? i'm using us-05 so fridge temps of 6C and below should be too low to keep it active. either that or i could keep it cold crashed at around 2C to be completely safe.

in this way would i be correct in assuming if the yeast then wakes up at ambient, the further fermentation would be what carbonates the cider? negating the need for priming sugar/carb drops.

Is this the one you put down on the 5th?

Don't be so hasty. Give it another week at least, and then start to think about bottling. If your sanitisation is thorough then you can safely leave it in the fermenter for a lot longer. If you need the fermenter space go an buy another one, they're cheap.

I ferment cider for a month minimum.

JD

 

[fletcher]

thanks JD (yes it is). i'm too impatient for this hobby >.<

 

[JDW81]

i'm too impatient for this hobby >.<

Thats why you need a few things on the go at once.

 

[fletcher]

very true. so far it's only been my cider i've been too anxious for. all my beers i've been happy with waiting. weird.

 

[benen]

I can't help expanding. I got a 30L fermenter first. Then a week later a 5L carboy. Pretty keen on another carboy to use as a secondary for my small batches and to free up the first one for more experimenting. I think my bottle quantity will expand pretty quickly too. It's too hard to stop haha

 

[Mattco92]

Dave you are a gentlemen, and a scholar.
This was a much better love story than twilight

 

[pressure_tested]

So can one of you cider obsessed guys who are pleased with the results share a tried and tested recipe?

 

[Airgead]

Recipe using apples or using juice?

If its from apples then my standard is 85% eating apples (mix of sundowner and pink lady this year) and 15% granny smith. White wine yeast. This year I'll use 71B in half and CRU-005 in the other half.

Ferments out dry then I back sweeten a tiny bit in the keg.

I'll leave the juice recipes to those that use juice. There's really not much to a juice cider recipe though. At its most basic, juice+yeast=cider. The complexity in ciders comes when you start using apples and blending varieties to get the flavour you want.

Cheers
Dave

 

[pk.sax]

Juice, Coles brand cloudy apple from the cold shelf + champagne or white wine yeast. Ferment dry, no added sugar. Carbonate and age minimum 1-2 months. A bit like apple wine. Develops strong fruity flavours with time.

Long life juice, pres free + honey, guessing about 100g/l honey to juice, dilute honey with some hot water before adding or you'd have rocket fuel. Ferment dry and age 1-2 months. Lovely honey sweetness and a smooth aftertaste, sort of honey slickness. Actually, blend this with some Belgian saison for a truly kickarse drink.

 

[fletcher]

Juice, Coles brand cloudy apple from the cold shelf + champagne or white wine yeast. Ferment dry, no added sugar. Carbonate and age minimum 1-2 months. A bit like apple wine. Develops strong fruity flavours with time.
Long life juice, pres free + honey, guessing about 100g/l honey to juice, dilute honey with some hot water before adding or you'd have rocket fuel. Ferment dry and age 1-2 months. Lovely honey sweetness and a smooth aftertaste, sort of honey slickness. Actually, blend this with some Belgian saison for a truly kickarse drink.

the belgian saison yeast or the actual saison itself? sorry if this is a stupid question

 

[manticle]

pressing a tone or two

Sine wave?

Regardless as to whether it's sine or square, please let me know when and where it's available.

Cheers.

 

[bum]

I'll have a pint if it's a sawtooth. I'm just like that, you know?

Very keen to know if I'll be able to get some down our way when it is done though.

 

[Airgead]

frickin autocorrect

 

[manticle]

Doesn't matter. Make cider, sell it to me, problem solved.

 

[Airgead]

That's the plan. Well... not selling specifically to you. To anyone who wishes to part with coin for cider.

First step though... get license. I'll keep everyone posted on how that goes. I may even write a blog about it. Unless its really easy and straightforward in which case it would be a very boring blog.

Cheers
Dave

 

[bum]

That's the plan. Well... not selling specifically to you. To anyone who wishes to part with coin for cider.

First step though... get license. I'll keep everyone posted on how that goes. I may even write a blog about it. Unless its really easy and straightforward in which case it would be a very boring blog.

Cheers
Dave

If you can discover an easy way to do it then I am sure many will find it interesting.