I’m planning on making some sweet, carbonated cider somewhere in the range of around 7-10% ABV that tastes like Christmas.
Well… that’s the ideal cider for me but I’m actually just after some crucial knowledge for cider making. I have the ability to force carbonate if need be (long time fermenter here, first time Cider-Maker by the way). I like reading up a little first so I don’t bring the funk my first time making a beverage. That being said…
I borrowed a copy of “Cider” by Annie Proulx &Lew Nichols. Northern sells it. To be honest, it didn’t give me the information I’m seeking (which I’ll mention below). It had a lot of info, just not very much on a simple “hombrewers” version of cidermaking. It’s wintertime in MN right now, so I don’t think I’ll be able to get my hands on any orchard cider, or fresh apples. Nor am I really interested in crushing apples my first time out. I am however interested in knowing if anyone can recommend a good book they’ve read on cider or provide a good source of information that focuses on or includes these questions:
What are some good store bought juices to start with?
What are some typical ingredients to add to fermentation, and what tastes do these ingredients result in?
Champagne yeast. Gotcha. But what can using other types of yeast result in?
Personal input is welcome, but what I’m really looking for are some some solid published sources; be they books or tried and true web sources (which can be rare IMHO).
I don’t have a book to recommend, just lots of cider experience. As you mentioned, its the wrong time of the year to get fresh pressed cider. Your best results will be achieved by using a mix of apples to balance the juice.
I do not like the characteristics that champagne yeast adds to the cider. I much prefer strains such as D-47, Cote des Blancs, Wyeast 4766, Wyeast 4184, Wyeast 4244, and a few ale yeasts.
At 10% you would be making more of an apple wine rather than cider. You need to keep the temp in the lowest end for the yeast strain that you have chosen. If you take it to 10% a honey will play nicely in the mix. If you add spices it will turn out like a nice spiced cyser.(Think apple pie)
Also, for anyone else out there on the same quest, here is a pretty decent website I found. Seems to have a lot of content. Still weeding through it myself…
Ben Watson’s book, Cider Hard & Sweet, is probably the best resource I have seen. There are others but Watson does it best.
The best cider is made from fresh juice from an actual orchard, not store-bought. Get non-pasteurized. You can add sulfite to kill the wild yeast and bacteria, or you can pasteurize yourself, but you really don’t want preservatives in your juice, and it’s not as good when from concentrate versus when fresh pressed. Look for the brownish cider with chunks of apples in it – that’s what you want!
Cote des Blancs is the best yeast I have found by far. I’ve also had good success with champagne yeast and the sweet mead yeast Wyeast 4184. But I really like Cote des Blancs. All of them will finish pretty dry and need backsweetening, but that’s alright.
I prefer not to jack up my ciders with any sugar. You can add sugar or honey or raisins, and spices and anything else you like. But my favorites are always the plain unadulterated stuff that ferments out to roughly 6.5% alcohol, made from fresh pressed cider in October. Yum.
Be patient with your cider. Give it a good couple months to finish fermenting. You can’t rush it like you might try with beer – you’ll end up with gushers. Take your time, and you’ll be rewarded.
Damn. Found it on Amazon, used, for $40! Is it worth the dough? If there is a good section on ingredients (such as cinnamon sticks, etc) I’d consider it. Also, thanks for the personal input so far guys. Good stuff, hope more cider-makers come out of the woodwork for this post.
I took some notes on BTV’s Episode 67 (http://youtu.be/4tDP1ubIci8), very good stuff. Now I’m totally wishing fresh cider was in season. Oh well, I’ll do a batch or two with some store-bought to try a thing or two out. With any luck by next harvest I’ll be more educated on the subject, and the orchard cider won’t go to waste!
Any recommendations on store bought brands of juice? Or is any 100% pasteurized juice with no preservatives the same as the next?
Good golly – 40 dollars!? Buy it used or skip it I guess. It is not THAT great.
If you must buy commercial juice, my first choice would be Simply Apple brand, which might not have preservatives if memory serves, and it is brownish with chunks of apples and wild yeast – that is what cider nerds like to see and will get you the most authentic and flavorful result possible with commercial juices.
Motts occasionally has a “Fresh Pressed” version of their cider; it is a pasteurized commercial version of what Dave is talking about. Is has apple pressings in it and has the dark cloudy appearance. As far as what I can find around here in the coastal south (where fresh pressed apple cider is hard if not impossible to find), it’s not so bad and made a decent batch.
I really like “Craft Cider Making” by Andrew Lea. It’s very thorough and covers some technical matters, w/o being boring.
I too like ben Watson’s “Hard & Sweet”. Not as detailed by briefly covers an array of topics, apple brandy, apple jack, ice cider, vinegar, cooking w/ cider & recipes.
Both of these books emphasize “traditional” cider making and ignore the prison hootch style ciders which are so popular these days.
Damn. Found it on Amazon, used, for $40! Is it worth the dough? If there is a good section on ingredients (such as cinnamon sticks, etc) I’d consider it. Also, thanks for the personal input so far guys. Good stuff, hope more cider-makers come out of the woodwork for this post.
I took some notes on BTV’s Episode 67 (http://youtu.be/4tDP1ubIci8), very good stuff. Now I’m totally wishing fresh cider was in season. Oh well, I’ll do a batch or two with some store-bought to try a thing or two out. With any luck by next harvest I’ll be more educated on the subject, and the orchard cider won’t go to waste!
Any recommendations on store bought brands of juice? Or is any 100% pasteurized juice with no preservatives the same as the next?[/quote]
books a million has it new for $21 just ordered it today along with the andrew lea book got both for $31
Thanks for sharing the info, Baratone. I’ve done a few ciders (7) and I agree that the Cote des Blancs is a good yeast. Stay AWAY from champagne yeast, IMO. It just dries it way out and leaves very little flavor.
This cider forum is all over the place, with people seeking info and not a lot of solid threads, it seems. Maybe we need to start a sticky on Best Practices or something?
On recommendation from my HB store, I used Safale S-04 for my cider.
I just bottled it the other day after fermentation then aging on oak chips that had soaked on bourbon.
I added a pound of dark brown sugar to the mix prior to fermentation. It went pretty quickly for most of the time, then very slowly from about 1.010 to 1.000, when I racked to secondary for the oaking, and then to bottle.
I suspect the slowness was part due to the temperature, it was mostly around 60 at that point, then I warmed it up and it started dropping better.
Taste testing at bottling time seemed to be very good, a nice dryness, still with plenty of apple flavor, and a hint of oak. I put a bit more straight bourbon in for a bit more of that flavor.
I did a cider experiment a couple of years ago, and S-04 made the worst cider of all. Good old Cote des Blancs is still my go-to yeast, although it does require back sweetening. US-05 wasn’t bad.
