Simple Cider

[Budron]

Hey guys,

Just wanted to rub it in and let you know that I just cracked my simple cider that I put on a few weeks ago.
And it's fekking good. :icon_cheers:

It was only
21 litres of woolies apple juice
and a wyeast 4766

OG 1040
FG 1010

Kegged it a couple of days ago and poured a glass tonight.
I must say I'm very impressed from such "simple" ingredients
It's not too bitter and quite cloudy. Would have been nice to run it through a filter, but all is good.
I think a few more batches might be on the cards with summer coming up and SWMBO finally appreciating all the money I've put into brewing/kegging.

Cheers,

Budron.

 

[pdilley]

Just wanted to rub it in and let you know that I just cracked my simple cider that I put on a few weeks ago.
And it's fekking good. :icon_cheers:

Beauty Budron!

Congrats on the cider, it only can get better from hear on out! Once you are up for a different taste you can try moving towards malty ciders like a graff or move up to adding other juices in like pear juice or even moving up to freshly pressed apples. And you always have simple cider to fall back on when you want something quick and easy.

Keep on brewin'

Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[InCider]

Great work Budron!

What ABV% does it work out to be? I've made a few (no kidding with my nickname!) But have yet to get around to an all juice 'zoider'

As Brewer Pete said, pear juice is a great thing to add. I add it most of the time.

BP - what is this graff you speak of! I have added malt before, but with no success...

Cheers,

Sean

 

[Budron]

It ended up being about 4.5% if I remember correctly.

I think I will definitely try the pear juice too next time. What about apple & raspberry juice?

 

[InCider]

It ended up being about 4.5% if I remember correctly.

I think I will definitely try the pear juice too next time. What about apple & raspberry juice?

So many juices to try! Thanks for that Budron - I don't use a 'thingy' when I brew ciders, I just set, forget and keg. I wanted to make sure it wasn't too weak or strong. Sounds fine.

Cheers,

Sean

 

[Scruffy]

BP - what is this graff you speak of! I have added malt before,

I'm dabbling with some DME.
I'm on two and a half apple, two and a half pear and a couple of Nelson Sauvin flowers (yeah I know!!) and 300g of Amber or Light DME boiled in 'some water' - bumps up the OG and leaves some sweetness (the cheaper juice tends to finish a little tart...). I'm using the Craftbrewer version of WLP001/1056... but having said that, I've got some 1214 left from an experiment...

I'll let you know (1st Aussie Cider)! It's only a gallon, what could possibly go wrong?

 

[pdilley]

BP - what is this graff you speak of! I have added malt before, but with no success...

Cheers,

Sean

Sean and others interested in a next venture after simple ciders,

Graff is a slightly hopped malty cider and a recipe for it can be found in this post.


Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[Stagwa]

Hi Guys,



I have put down a simple cider (and my first cider only ever done Beer):



10 l Coles apple Juice (99.9% pure yeah right)

Sachet of Coopers kit yeast



Pitched on Wednesday night and have some signs of fermentation condensation and airlock activity but no Krausen. Will cider form a krausen? How does the cider fermentation differ from beer?



Cheers

 

[manticle]

Pretty similar. Fermenting lower and longer is better and you may get some sulphur smells during ferment. You can condition these out or they will dissipate with ageing.

 

[crinos]

I'm in the process of making a "simple cider" at the moment, but mine seems to be coming out way more potent...

21L Coles apple juice($1/litre... not bad) + 1 sachet crappy Coopers kit yeast

The OG was 1046, and it's now down to 1004(possibly with further to go!), so about 6%. It's made some pretty funky sulphur smells during fermentation, but tastes pretty good already considering it's still in the primary. Fermented at 16-18 degrees, and it's had over a week, and gravity is still dropping slowly.

Unfortunately I don't have the option of adding malt, because it's for my coeliac wife, who's off lactose now as well(!!!) so might look to the pear juice next time for some extra body/sweetness if this one is a bit thin/dry.

Stagwa: sounds like we made an identical recipe, right down to the crappy Coopers kit yeast. Mine didn't krausen at all, but the airlock bubbled like mad after a couple of days, and the gravity has been dropping consistently, so I wouldn't worry about a lack of dirty old foam on the top

My n00bish guess would be that the total lack of protein in the apple juice would prevent the krausen from forming, same reason cider doesn't hold a head. I'm sure an expert on the matter will correct me if I'm wrong

 

[Scruffy]

There.

 

[Airgead]

Unfortunately I don't have the option of adding malt, because it's for my coeliac wife, who's off lactose now as well(!!!) so might look to the pear juice next time for some extra body/sweetness if this one is a bit thin/dry.

Stagwa: sounds like we made an identical recipe, right down to the crappy Coopers kit yeast. Mine didn't krausen at all, but the airlock bubbled like mad after a couple of days, and the gravity has been dropping consistently, so I wouldn't worry about a lack of dirty old foam on the top

My n00bish guess would be that the total lack of protein in the apple juice would prevent the krausen from forming, same reason cider doesn't hold a head. I'm sure an expert on the matter will correct me if I'm wrong

Spot on with the reason for the lack of krausen. I dunno about the pear juice adding body and sweetness though. It will ferment down just as much as the apple juice will. If you keg you always have the option of back sweetening (honey works well). If not its pretty much down to the choice of yeast and the management of fermentation (keeving, nutrients, temp, etc) to get the sweeter finish.

Cheers
Dave

 

[crinos]

Spot on with the reason for the lack of krausen. I dunno about the pear juice adding body and sweetness though. It will ferment down just as much as the apple juice will. If you keg you always have the option of back sweetening (honey works well). If not its pretty much down to the choice of yeast and the management of fermentation (keeving, nutrients, temp, etc) to get the sweeter finish.

I can't remember where I read it, but I remember reading someone saying that pear juice made it a little less dry than 100% apple juice. Might be total crap, but I read it somewhere(possibly on this forum)!

I think I might need to find a lower attenuation yeast next time, came out a bit stronger(and probably drier, but can't verify that until it's bottled) than I intended... are there any cheaper options than the Wyeast cider yeast? Part of the appeal of this recipe is that it's pretty cheap and cheerful...

 

[Stagwa]

Hi Guys,

My simple cider has been going for about a week now - I haven't had any samples yet.

Manitcle: I haven't had any sulphur yet but the fermenting fridge smells like apples - did have a bunged up nose so couldn't smell much.

Crinos: You could sweeten with some lactose next time? How dry is it say compared to a commercial cider?

 

[Airgead]

I can't remember where I read it, but I remember reading someone saying that pear juice made it a little less dry than 100% apple juice. Might be total crap, but I read it somewhere(possibly on this forum)!

I think I might need to find a lower attenuation yeast next time, came out a bit stronger(and probably drier, but can't verify that until it's bottled) than I intended... are there any cheaper options than the Wyeast cider yeast? Part of the appeal of this recipe is that it's pretty cheap and cheerful...

I've used one of the English ale yeasts quite successfully. Can't remember off the top of my head which one but I think it was wlp005. The pommy yeasts tend to be low attenuators but you have to be careful as we aren't dealing with wort here. The mix of sugars is different so even a low attenuating beer yeast can pull a cider down surprisingly dry.

I find back sweetening the easiest method but I keg all my ciders so I don't end up with bottle bombs.

Cheers
Dave

 

[crinos]

Crinos: You could sweeten with some lactose next time? How dry is it say compared to a commercial cider?

I don't have the option of lactose when it's for my wife, as she needs to stay away from that as well as gluten! If she develops a yeast intolerance, it's time to just give up

It's still in primary, so I can't say yet... but going by how much gravity it's eaten it's way through, I'm guessing that it will be pretty dry...

I've used one of the English ale yeasts quite successfully. Can't remember off the top of my head which one but I think it was wlp005. The pommy yeasts tend to be low attenuators but you have to be careful as we aren't dealing with wort here. The mix of sugars is different so even a low attenuating beer yeast can pull a cider down surprisingly dry.

I find back sweetening the easiest method but I keg all my ciders so I don't end up with bottle bombs.

Sounds like we might have to put up with dry ciders until I get the kegging setup. I might try S-04 next time, just because it's cheap and readily available...

Making dry cider in general shouldn't be a problem, because both of our favourite cider is Mercury Dry. If I can get something similar to that, I'd be very happy. Just as long as it doesn't come out TOO dry!

 

[Airgead]

I don't have the option of lactose when it's for my wife, as she needs to stay away from that as well as gluten! If she develops a yeast intolerance, it's time to just give up

It's still in primary, so I can't say yet... but going by how much gravity it's eaten it's way through, I'm guessing that it will be pretty dry...



Sounds like we might have to put up with dry ciders until I get the kegging setup. I might try S-04 next time, just because it's cheap and readily available...

Making dry cider in general shouldn't be a problem, because both of our favourite cider is Mercury Dry. If I can get something similar to that, I'd be very happy. Just as long as it doesn't come out TOO dry!

I have the same problem as you with the lactose. The missus is allergic so that's out. Even mercury dry is pretty sweet compared to a really dry cider. A lot of yeasts will pull a cider down to 1.000 and that's bone dry. Some yeasts that are poor attenuators in wort will dry a cider right out.

The traditional way (in some areas) to do a sweet cider is to keeve the juice but that involves using home made juice. It can't be done with shop bought. I'll try keeving next year on one batch and see how it goes. There is a thread on it here somewhere. You can also find a yeast with poor alcohol tolerance and make a more wine style cider that pushes the yeast beyond its tolerance which will prevent re-fermentation and leave some residual sweetness. you are looking at a cider of at least 10% though. Probably stronger.

Back sweetening in the keg is easiest though. If this is for the missus you may have a good way of getting permission for a kegging system... "But honey, its to make your ciders better..."

Cheers
Dave

 

[komodo]

Berri 3L juice varieties are onsale at woollies at the moment 2 for $5. Cheap easy keg filler and great for the spring time!

 

[crinos]

Back sweetening in the keg is easiest though. If this is for the missus you may have a good way of getting permission for a kegging system... "But honey, its to make your ciders better..."

It might fly if I can convince her that it will make the cider specifically more like Mercury Dry or Artisan

Berri 3L juice varieties are onsale at woollies at the moment 2 for $5. Cheap easy keg filler and great for the spring time!

Great price! Even beats the $1/litre Coles price. 6x3L = $15 for 1 keg/2 cartons of pretty drinkable cider. I know from now on I'll be keeping an eye out for apple juice specials

 

[Airgead]

It might fly if I can convince her that it will make the cider specifically more like Mercury Dry or Artisan

It will let you dial the sweetness right to where you want it. Let it ferment out dry then pull of 100ml. Make up a sugar syrup of 50g sugar and 50ml water. Add it ml by ml and get the missus to taste each time. When she tells you its perfect you can scale up the mls/100ml to a mls/howevermuchyouhave and set it exactly where she wants it.

Go for it...

Cheers
dave