super_simian
Well-Known Member
I recently made my first cider, and my experience was very positive in fact it seems almost foolproof and very drinkable. The "recipe" was ridiculously simple:
10 litres apple juice (5x 2l Aldi preservative free, $1.89ea)
tsp Yeast nutrient
1 packet Coopers dry yeast (re-hydrated in water)
I poured out 1/3 of each bottle as I added it to the fermenter, then re-capped and shook the hell out of it to aerate, then continued to pour. In went the tsp of nutrient, then the re-hydrated Coopers yeast. 1.040 OG. Covered with gladwrap and left for ~10 days.
This was just a spur-of-the moment brew, and my fermenting fridge was occupied, so the fermenter just sat in the kitchen at ambient, which probably ranged from 18-28 degrees. The initial ferment went off like a rocket and threw a massive foamy head, along with some Coopers-esque pear and banana smells in addition to the overwhelming apple aroma.
The plan was to bottle at around 1.010, allow bottle carbonation to take place then pasteurise, to leave the finished product semi-sweet. Lack of attention on my behalf and a few hot days in a row had it down to 1.000 from 1.015 very fast. An additional litre of the original juice brought it back to desired sweetness, at which point I bottled in a mix of 330ml and 500ml glass bottles.
Because of the rapid drop from 1.015 to 1.000 in the fermenter, suspicion got the better of me after just 4 days. I cracked a 330ml to check carbonation and the 330ml bottles were verging on over carbonation, so I decided pasteurisation was needed ASAP.
A big stock-pot of water was brought to 80 degrees on the stovetop, and I gingerly and gently placed as many bottles as I could into the water, without overcrowding. One of the bottles was a control bottle, capped in alfoil to allow me to monitor the internal temperature with a stick thermometer. I would be lying if I said I wasnt packing my dacks on some level, but none of the bottles cracked and only one made a psssht sound, although the indentation my bench capper leaves on the crown seals went from innie to outie! I watched the control temp climb up over the 65 degree mark to around 70, then I placed a lid on the pot and left it for an hour+.
On the weekend I had a BBQ, to which some friends brought Bulmers, so I figured it was a great time to crack some and see how they had worked. The first thing I noticed was the clarity the cider had cleared somewhat in the fermenter, but at bottling and even at pasteurisation it still had a faint level of opaqueness - this was entirely gone, and a layer of almost bone-white sediment sat at the bottom of each bottle. The sediment settled very rapidly even when stirred up, which Im taking as a good sign that all the yeast is indeed dead. In the glass my cider was a much lighter colour than the commercial one, but both had a similar level of spritz breaking the surface.
The aroma was pretty much the same as the original juice, with a slight peary Coopers edge no trace of a cooked or stewed smell from pasteurising or any off smells from fermentation. Taste-wise mine had a slight acidic edge and less sweetness to the commercial, but maybe lacked the complexity (for want of a better word) of the Bulmers. There wasnt anything in the way of an alcohol taste. The group was split roughly 50/50 in preference, but everyone agreed they would drink it again, and one even wants to make his own, after I explained how simple (and cheap) it is to make.
At this point, Im saying the home pasteurisation was a success, however handling hot bottles of pressurised liquid was a bit hair-raising. It would be better to have the bottles in an insulated container (i.e. an Esky) and then pump in 80 degree water without having to remove the lid, leaving to cool and then removing the bottles, just in case. Also I will be keeping at least one bottle all summer, leaving it in the shed just to see if it turns into an eventual bottle-bomb (i.e. the pasteurisation didnt work.)
My final thought is that this gives a pretty fast turn-around, around two weeks from the supermarket to your glass, since I think there wouldnt be an advantage bottle aging on dead yeast. Ill definitely be doing it again.
10 litres apple juice (5x 2l Aldi preservative free, $1.89ea)
tsp Yeast nutrient
1 packet Coopers dry yeast (re-hydrated in water)
I poured out 1/3 of each bottle as I added it to the fermenter, then re-capped and shook the hell out of it to aerate, then continued to pour. In went the tsp of nutrient, then the re-hydrated Coopers yeast. 1.040 OG. Covered with gladwrap and left for ~10 days.
This was just a spur-of-the moment brew, and my fermenting fridge was occupied, so the fermenter just sat in the kitchen at ambient, which probably ranged from 18-28 degrees. The initial ferment went off like a rocket and threw a massive foamy head, along with some Coopers-esque pear and banana smells in addition to the overwhelming apple aroma.
The plan was to bottle at around 1.010, allow bottle carbonation to take place then pasteurise, to leave the finished product semi-sweet. Lack of attention on my behalf and a few hot days in a row had it down to 1.000 from 1.015 very fast. An additional litre of the original juice brought it back to desired sweetness, at which point I bottled in a mix of 330ml and 500ml glass bottles.
Because of the rapid drop from 1.015 to 1.000 in the fermenter, suspicion got the better of me after just 4 days. I cracked a 330ml to check carbonation and the 330ml bottles were verging on over carbonation, so I decided pasteurisation was needed ASAP.
A big stock-pot of water was brought to 80 degrees on the stovetop, and I gingerly and gently placed as many bottles as I could into the water, without overcrowding. One of the bottles was a control bottle, capped in alfoil to allow me to monitor the internal temperature with a stick thermometer. I would be lying if I said I wasnt packing my dacks on some level, but none of the bottles cracked and only one made a psssht sound, although the indentation my bench capper leaves on the crown seals went from innie to outie! I watched the control temp climb up over the 65 degree mark to around 70, then I placed a lid on the pot and left it for an hour+.
On the weekend I had a BBQ, to which some friends brought Bulmers, so I figured it was a great time to crack some and see how they had worked. The first thing I noticed was the clarity the cider had cleared somewhat in the fermenter, but at bottling and even at pasteurisation it still had a faint level of opaqueness - this was entirely gone, and a layer of almost bone-white sediment sat at the bottom of each bottle. The sediment settled very rapidly even when stirred up, which Im taking as a good sign that all the yeast is indeed dead. In the glass my cider was a much lighter colour than the commercial one, but both had a similar level of spritz breaking the surface.
The aroma was pretty much the same as the original juice, with a slight peary Coopers edge no trace of a cooked or stewed smell from pasteurising or any off smells from fermentation. Taste-wise mine had a slight acidic edge and less sweetness to the commercial, but maybe lacked the complexity (for want of a better word) of the Bulmers. There wasnt anything in the way of an alcohol taste. The group was split roughly 50/50 in preference, but everyone agreed they would drink it again, and one even wants to make his own, after I explained how simple (and cheap) it is to make.
At this point, Im saying the home pasteurisation was a success, however handling hot bottles of pressurised liquid was a bit hair-raising. It would be better to have the bottles in an insulated container (i.e. an Esky) and then pump in 80 degree water without having to remove the lid, leaving to cool and then removing the bottles, just in case. Also I will be keeping at least one bottle all summer, leaving it in the shed just to see if it turns into an eventual bottle-bomb (i.e. the pasteurisation didnt work.)
My final thought is that this gives a pretty fast turn-around, around two weeks from the supermarket to your glass, since I think there wouldnt be an advantage bottle aging on dead yeast. Ill definitely be doing it again.
