Is There A 'how To Cider' With A Beer Brew Kit Faq?

[pk.sax]

Get to a home brew shop and ask for white wine yeast or champagne yeast. It's lavlin something but lots of shops repackage... Reason for this is that this yeast continues to ferment at cold temperature, so, as you put it in the fridge after a relatively short conditioning time it will continue to ferment and re-carbonate between drinks

Obviously, what you taste at the start will be a slightly sweet cider and towards the end a completely dry cider.

I'm not a fan of artificially sweetening my food so this is a good compromise from me that is simple to do cider is great when drunk fresh. It's awesome when aged too but fresh cider is very nice if done nicely (I've never made a cider from a kit).

 

[fletcher]

thanks mate! i'm on the case. gonna be hitting up my store tomorrow - it's a good hike for me sadly/stragely - so i'll get all my gear then!

thanks everyone for their help. you guys are the best.

 

[fletcher]

i just attempted a quick cider with an apple and cranberry 2.4L berri juice. hopefully it'll be okay, although i'm not 100% on my calculations.

took out 2 cups of juice, added 1 cup of corn sugar, put in a few shakes of the yeast (not measured), champagne yeast and put some cling wrap over the top with elastic band.

it's fairly airtight, would this be okay?

how long should it be kept for before adding more sugar and carbonating for a day or two?

OG was 1072 - how much attenuation should i expect from that yeast? wyeast. any estimates on approximate final alc/vol? i don't want to destroy myself with an overly stupid %age. and given that, when is best to drink it so as to retain some sweetness?

sorry for the stupid questions. once i get it downpat i'm sure i'll be fine.

thanks in advance

 

[bum]

it's fairly airtight, would this be okay?

Yep. The gas will get out.

how long should it be kept for before adding more sugar and carbonating for a day or two?

Assuming that you're bottling and not naturally carbing a keg you should leave it until it is fermented out completely. Your hydrometer is your friend. [EDIT: I just noticed your volume properly, ignore talk of bottlng/kegging]

OG was 1072 - how much attenuation should i expect from that yeast? wyeast.

Never used Wyeast's champers variant (didn't know they had one) but dry champagne yeasts are known to get all-juice ciders down to 1.000 (lower is not unheard of).

any estimates on approximate final alc/vol?

Shit-tonnes. Over 9% is likely.

i don't want to destroy myself with an overly stupid %age. and given that

Too bad.

when is best to drink it so as to retain some sweetness?

If you're bottling forget the idea of stopping it early. Add lactose to the brew (at bottling (easy if bulk-priming) or secondary, too late to add it at the beginning now, obviously) or serve with a big splash of apple juice on serving.

 

[bum]

Yeah, I just went back and read the idea you're following. You're on your own here. Probably a good way to make cheap white wine-ish.

Each to their own, I guess.

 

[fletcher]

thanks for your fast reply mate, yeah i put too much sugar in...stupid of me there...i didn't wanna bottle, just drink it fresh after x days/week-ish, maybe add a little sugar and carbonate. by stopping it short of a full ferment i'm guessing then the alcohol won't be so high?

 

[bum]

Yeah, stopping it early will lower the alc content. Will also stop a few other thing the yeast does from occurring but maybe that's not an issue for 2L of cider(?).

Not sure what the benefit of adding priming sugar is going to be when the juice is not completely fermented out. If I were to undertake such a brew I'd just seal it up ever so slightly before I thought it was ready then when the bottle was tight I'd make it as cold as possible for a few days then drink it quick-sticks. Seems like such a ridiculous amount of guessing to me though and a lot of time for little return.

 

[fletcher]

Yeah, stopping it early will lower the alc content. Will also stop a few other thing the yeast does from occurring but maybe that's not an issue for 2L of cider(?).

Not sure what the benefit of adding priming sugar is going to be when the juice is not completely fermented out. If I were to undertake such a brew I'd just seal it up ever so slightly before I thought it was ready then when the bottle was tight I'd make it as cold as possible for a few days then drink it quick-sticks. Seems like such a ridiculous amount of guessing to me though and a lot of time for little return.

yeah i can see what you mean re adding sugar.

i'll chalk it up to trigger-finger stupidity, and now just an experiment, and see how it goes after a few days. thanks a bunch mate.

 

[pk.sax]

Yea, my Cider-goon takes no prisoners.. err... sugar! Just let it sort of half ferment out and put it in the fridge. Drink fresh-ish.

Original idea was from the German 'favourite' - apfel schorle (carbonated apple juice), fresh and very refreshing. Semi-fermented cider is very similar except for some alcohol kick. A nice regular low alc cider in the fridge if you're into that sort of thing.

 

[fletcher]

Yea, my Cider-goon takes no prisoners.. err... sugar! Just let it sort of half ferment out and put it in the fridge. Drink fresh-ish.

Original idea was from the German 'favourite' - apfel schorle (carbonated apple juice), fresh and very refreshing. Semi-fermented cider is very similar except for some alcohol kick. A nice regular low alc cider in the fridge if you're into that sort of thing.

Yeah...stupid putting the sugar in. I wasn't sure of the alcohol content for sugars in juice normal juice, and kinda wanted a bit more...then dropped in too much. I know it depends on yeast but OG of the juice was about 1040...what would this have ended up as?

 

[pk.sax]

Rocket fuel

What to do. What to do...

Let it ferment dry as Bum suggested. Or close to dry, cap and let carbonate and fridge.

Cut it with fresh juice in the glass if the high alcohol is detracting from the taste.

 

[fletcher]

Rocket fuel

What to do. What to do...

Let it ferment dry as Bum suggested. Or close to dry, cap and let carbonate and fridge.

Cut it with fresh juice in the glass if the high alcohol is detracting from the taste.

How many days is that? Haha,. It's bubbling with small bubbles now. I would guess about 3-4 days?

 

[pk.sax]

If you want a totally rough out of the arse visual indicator, when the bubbles stop.

Although, if you refrigerated now, after 5-7 days outside fermenting, it should give you a sweet cider anyway.

 

[fletcher]

If you want a totally rough out of the arse visual indicator, when the bubbles stop.

Although, if you refrigerated now, after 5-7 days outside fermenting, it should give you a sweet cider anyway.

haha, thanks. i'll pop her in the fridge now. and not put the original cap on right? or if i understand correctly, if i do, that should be ok, so long as it's refrigerated because that would slow fermentation quite a lot. right? sorry for all the questions.

i'll probably look to drink it tomorrow and test my luck hahaha. thanks for all your help. the next one i start tomorrow will purely be JUST the juice and no sugar haha.

what's the step by step for that?

1. take out a few cups of juice
2. pop in the yeast
3. leave with cling wrap for (how many?) days if i want a decent tasting, not too dry but not overly sweet (kinda in the middle) cider
4. after x days, refrigerate with normal cap, with maybe x amount of sugar for carbonation?
5. drink?

thank you for all your help practicalfool, it was your idea i followed and i know i can get it right i just got too excited haha

 

[pk.sax]

Hey fletcher

It is a ridiculously simple way of making cider. Keep it simple.

I don't even cling wrap the tops, use the original bottle cap from the start. I just release the gas a couple of times a day. When it stops going hard in half a day I stop doing this and put it in the fridge. Great things about using the original juice bottle:

Bottle, as bought from shop is sterile inside. Avoids having to sanitise.
Bottle is flexible, takes some blowing up or squeezing the air out.
Hard to create a bottle bomb with in the fridge.
It's effin simple to do!
Doesn't get boring with loads of girly juice tying up kegs or shelf space.

We don't have much cider apples available here anyway, without that the ciders everyone makes taste just the same anyway. I've been trying what I can, travelling, drinking from a small cidery or two, useless. If I want a complex cider, I'll buy it.

 

[fletcher]

Hey fletcher

It is a ridiculously simple way of making cider. Keep it simple.

I don't even cling wrap the tops, use the original bottle cap from the start. I just release the gas a couple of times a day. When it stops going hard in half a day I stop doing this and put it in the fridge. Great things about using the original juice bottle:

Bottle, as bought from shop is sterile inside. Avoids having to sanitise.
Bottle is flexible, takes some blowing up or squeezing the air out.
Hard to create a bottle bomb with in the fridge.
It's effin simple to do!
Doesn't get boring with loads of girly juice tying up kegs or shelf space.

We don't have much cider apples available here anyway, without that the ciders everyone makes taste just the same anyway. I've been trying what I can, travelling, drinking from a small cidery or two, useless. If I want a complex cider, I'll buy it.

i like the sound of that.

thanks mate. i'll hit that up next time i do one (tomorrow). you sound like the kinda man i'd have a great few too many with. thanks for the advice. i'm in the city myself, no cider apples here. couldn't be bothered. i'll just hit up the juice too. i'll let you know how the next one goes!

thanks again. drink on

 

[michaelcocks]

i like the sound of that.

thanks mate. i'll hit that up next time i do one (tomorrow). you sound like the kinda man i'd have a great few too many with. thanks for the advice. i'm in the city myself, no cider apples here. couldn't be bothered. i'll just hit up the juice too. i'll let you know how the next one goes!

thanks again. drink on

Just wondered how this one turned out

Apart from very very alcoholic...

Was it dry ?

What was the FG ?

Drinkable or rocket fuel ?



Thanks

 

[fletcher]

Hey mate, I had small sweetener sachets that I added to a largish glass, but the fact that I had to do that should indicate it definitely wasn't the nicest haha.

It was drinkable but I'll be honest and say I'll take much more care next time. I only drank it not to waste it and because even though it was bad, it was booze. Turned out to be about 10-11% next time I'd try a few more suggestions but for proper ciders next time I won't short cut and I'll ferment in a FV and add all the normal shit