Cider making

[Brew Cat]

I lowered the temperature a couple degrees
I don't want it to stall

 

[Ward Chillington]

i have never made a cider. I would assume that you would need to add nutrient and use specific yeasties?

I've made it a couple times...nothing special just some local untreated stuff from up in Biglersville ( home of Motts, Knoors and Snapple) using some Safale so4 or 5 and yes, nutrch. It came out very dry and still and very much to my host's pallette enjoyment at the party I took it to.

 

[Brew Cat]

I've made it a lot of times using different yeast and normally let it fly at ambient
This is the 1st time trying to slow it down maybe get a less dry finish and hopefully hold on to more aromatics
I'll have to say every batch is a little different
I do have some cider specific trees planted but the aren't on line yet
I have enough area to plant more dwarf species

 

[Ward Chillington]

This is the 1st time trying to slow it down maybe get a less dry finish and hopefully hold on to more aromatics.

I've read it in a few different places about how by its very nature, cider is going to always finish dry because of the amount of sugars in the juice. The way to get sweet into the finished brew is to back sweeten with a sugar the yeast is not going to eat like stevia. I bet the commercial producers put something artificial to get that strong apple aroma...not a fact..just my assumption since I've never in my limited consumption, had a super aromatic home brewed cider.

 

[Brew Cat]

That's where the yeast comes in
https://www.lallemandbrewing.com/en/united-states/products/lalvin-71b/
We shall see
Actually I've made some aromatic high abv apple wine

 

[Bigbre04]

i wonder if a bad attenuator like some of the english ale yeasts would be better? you could also add lactose. stevia as mentioned above is WAY too sweet for me. I HATE anything with stevia in it, gross. some of the other options like splenda or sucrolose might work and be easier to control sweetness wise.

i would not be at all surprised if the big boys have either special yeast that they use or add flavorings to add "apple flavor/aroma". i have seen apple flavorings for beverages sold in 55 gal drums or even those big ass square totes. so somebody is using a lot of it lol

 

[Ward Chillington]

To paraphrase someone on the board...ain't yeast amazing? Good idea there with a wine yeast... now does it let the apple taste shine through or is it an estery fruit quality that the yeast is imparting on the brew like what some kveiks are known to produce? Hmmmm...I think there's some experimenting with that jar of Voss I saved from my last brew waiting for me.
Do Norwegians grow apples or is it too cold up there for that?

 

[Brew Cat]

Not looking for any back sweetening
The plan is to stall it and keg
Keep it cold without adding CO2
It will keep fermenting slowly and I'll drink it like a Federwies while active fermentation is still going
If I don't like it I'll just let it ferment out

 

[Zambi]

To paraphrase someone on the board...ain't yeast amazing? Good idea there with a wine yeast... now does it let the apple taste shine through or is it an estery fruit quality that the yeast is imparting on the brew like what some kveiks are known to produce? Hmmmm...I think there's some experimenting with that jar of Voss I saved from my last brew waiting for me.
Do Norwegians grow apples or is it too cold up there for that?

They grow some varieties of apples

For what it is worth...
I used apple juice on the trub* of a batch of beer and that resulted in much better taste than apple juice alone

*Bit more than just the trub. Prob 2 litre trubby beer + 7 litre apple juice

 

[Brew Cat]

They grow some varieties of apples

For what it is worth...
I used apple juice on the trub* of a batch of beer and that resulted in much better taste than apple juice alone

*Bit more than just the trub. Prob 2 litre trubby beer + 7 litre apple juice

Yeah no limits
People add hops and you can mash some grain and add that


Unfortunately the gravity got lower than expected because a I was away
Tastes good still ,good aroma
Crashing it and will keg and get some carbonation in it

 

[Brew Cat]

Well I just received some books in the mail on making cider
What it looks like I'm trying to do is called keeping or French style cider
Since in France it's Forbidden to add sugar so it's keeved
You don't add pectin or nutrients to the juice
You macerate the apples but don't press right away
I delayed the pressing but did add pectin and half the nutrients
You wait for it to get brown then crush add yeast and calcium chloride
The must is supposed to separate into 3 layers
You siphon out the layer between the yeast Lee's and the jelled layer on top
This supposed to give a sweet finished cider
I have to read more about it

https://expertbrewing.com/keeving-in-cider-making-all-you-need-to-know/

 

[Brew Cat]

so I have this much left after filling the keg
It 11° and ended at 4° or 1.044 and 0.999 about 5.98% ABV
I'll monitor the jug since I can't see in the keg
I would have preferred to arrest it earlier but oh well
Doesn't taste super dry has a nice aroma and tartness. Tasty
Let's see where it goes
It will probably get clear but I'll start consuming as soon as I get some carbonation

 

[Brew Cat]

by the way it certainly doesn't leave much of a cake

 

[Brew Cat]

 

[Brew Cat]

this is out of Drew Beechems book

 

[Brew Cat]

Ok so
I added acid blend because I didn't have Malic acid
And it improved it
It was a little flat the acid made it more tart
Today I received some wine tannin and added some to a sample
It smoothed out the tartness but in a side by side can't establish which I prefer
I have a couple friends coming over to help me adjust
They each have a different level of tolerance for sour
Maybe we can come to a consensus
Cider is a great option for gluten watchers and those weird peeps don't drink beer

 

[Brew Cat]

By the way I will be pressing again soon
There is an orchard around here that specializes in heirloom varieties I'll grab some cider type apples there is an elderly lady around the corner that has a stand
She will trade me drops for baked goods
Isn't life great

 

[JVi]

Did 1st small batch of cider this year for my wife, she likes cider way more than beer and drinks only dry or extra dry cider.
We have our own apple trees, 3 different sorts of apples.
Used juicer for making apple juice, and used Browin dry cider yeast.
1.041 to 1.000, used little bit servomyces as yeast nutrients, prob not the best one for cider.
Fermented 3 weeks at between 17-19 C and after bottling it aged 3 weeks at 11 C before 1st tasting. Very dry as numbers say, apple on the nose and taste. Way too acidic for me, but wife liked so all good.