Hopped Cider

Cider
1

Hey All,

Was watching an episode of Drinking Made Easy last night (why do so many of my experiments come from television? I’m so easily influenced) and the crew was in Portland ME. Great beer town. One stop was to taste some Hopped Cider. Got me thinking. With this 5 gallons of cider I have aging in the carboy right now, what if I dry hopped a portion of it. Anyone tried this? What hops do you recommend? Any risks here. I’ve dry hopped beer on plenty of occasions. Just wondering if it’s a good idea with Cider.

Also, I would imagine you’d want to carbonate this style (either forced or in the bottle) rather than serve flat.

2

I see no reason you couldn’t hop a cider like a beer.
What hops do you like? Something fruity or flowery would probably blend best.

3

Can’t say I’ve settled one particular varietal. Love the heavy aroma, lower bitterness. Got any recommendations? Based on recent brews, I’ve been hitting cascade, summit, NB, willamette. Love willamette.

4

I found this recipe on HomeBrew talk for Brandon’s O’s Graff. Have not tried it but planning on this as my first brew of 2012.
See notes on hop.
Hoppy Brew Year - StFrancis.

Materials needed for a 5 Gallon Batch:

Clean fermenting yeast I have used Nottingham and Safale-05, both are good

.5 lbs of Crystal 60L If you use cheap store brand juice, I recommend 120L.
Cheap juice tends to turn out a tad tart and this will balance it.

1 oz of torrified wheat ( head retention, I’ve never used more than 2oz)

4 Gallons of apple juice.

1 gallon of water

2 lbs of DME ( I use 1 lb. amber and 1 lb. light DME)

0.5 oz of you favorite hops ( right around 6% AA, I have used 18.5% AA summit hops before and it took a month after kegging for strong bitterness to blend nicely)

WARNING! IF YOU ARE GOING TO CHANGE THE AMOUNT OF HOPS USED,
MAKE IT LESS NOT MORE, it’s really just too bitter with any more.

Directions for brewing:

Steep the 60L and torrified wheat in .75 gallons of water @ 155 degrees for 30 mins.

Sparge with .25 gallons 170 degree water and throw away grains.

Add DME and bring to a boil.

Add hops when boiling starts and boil for 30 mins.

(St. Francis’ note: Irish Moss @ 15 mins.)

Cool down the wort (if you choose not to cool the wort and just let the AJ do the cooling then your cider won’t be as clear). I don’t care about clarity so I just let the AJ do the cooling, but if you stick your pot in the freezer and let this get down to 70 degrees or so your cider will clear fairly easy. Pour the wort and apple juice into your carboy and pitch yeast.

Ferment 2 weeks at 64-68 degrees then keg or bottle.

I keg, and this stuff is VERY drinkable as soon as it is carbonated.
SUPERB taste and drinkability after 2-3 weeks of aging.

People bottling, it will have SUPERB taste and drinkability after the standard 3 week bottling period for carbonating.

5

Brilliant. Much obliged StFrancis. Slainte!

6

I dry hopped my cider with cascade. During bottling it smelled great. It has been aging 3 months now, I will taste one this weekend. Im betting/hoping its great.

7

I bottled a hopped cyser about a month ago, and it’s turned out great. I used 1oz of Sorachi Ace for the last 7:30 of boiling, and dry hopped with another 1oz of Sorachi Ace for about the last 36 hours before bottling.

8

Sorry to revive an old thread. I used this recipe recently. It just hit 3rd week and is still popping every 20-30 seconds.

I want it carbonated. Should I bottle now and not do any priming sugar or is it still too active?

Thanks,
TK

9

Way too active. Let it go until it’s all done fermenting, then wait another week, then prime as normal as you would for beer.