CIDER 101

[Will_D]

I would recommend this thread be pinned, it's a very comprehensive guide and you could perhaps edit your op to include pasturising and kegging.

Hi Dave,
Yes the thought has crossed my mind. Just need the time to do it!

Consider it added to my "To Do" list

At least it doesn't inolve leaving the house as in: "Where ARE you going NOW?"

[bigvalen]

A friend pointed me to this http://www.gweep.net/~abate/Ferm/index.html - guy doing experiments with different yeasts etc.

[molc]

So, getting prepped for the group buy and trying to come up with a recipe. I want to get a medium dry cider, which has a nice apple taste and not too tart. What you think:

20L Apple Juice
EDIT: 600-900G Maple Syrup for a smokey flavour, added in secondary
Champagne Yeast or Notty (TBD)
EDIT: Yeast nutrient

* Pop in some campden to get the PH down and kill the natural yeasties, then pop in the yeast 24 hours later.
* Ferment for 3 weeks @ 16C
* Transfer to corny (to get out of plastic) and condition for 4 months
* Then, to sweeten, 300G Maltodexterin, transfer to clean keg and force carb. Not pasturing, as I want the yeast to stay active in case there is anything in the keg.

With the rest of the juice, I'll probably just do a natural ferment for a compare and contrast.

[Will_D]

Sounds like a great idea.

Will the Maple syrup holds its flavour or will fermntation outgasing leach the smoke?

Maybe better to add it end of primary when you rack into the Cornies.

I ferment my GB juice outdoors (due to lack of space) and so it ferments low and slow over the winter. I get it started indoors at 18C or so and as soon as its started out they go!

BTW to avoid the H2S: add some yeast nutrient!

[molc]

Ah cool. Ok I'll add the Maple to the secondary in that case, as that will have a nice slow ferment over the 4 months and give it something to do Thanks for the tip on the nutrient.

A slighlty stupid question, but if it's fermenting that much in secondary, will the keg be happy with the pressure buildup? I know they're rated quite high but I've never fermented without an airlock. I guess if I burp it the first 3-4 weeks, all will be fine anyway.

[Bubbles]

A slighlty stupid question, but if it's fermenting that much in secondary, will the keg be happy with the pressure buildup

I don't think that's a stupid question at all, or maybe I'm just stupid too...

I've often wondered this. It's called a pressure release valve, does it have the ability to vent pressure on its own, if the pressure gets too high?

[molc]

A slighlty stupid question, but if it's fermenting that much in secondary, will the keg be happy with the pressure buildup

I don't think that's a stupid question at all, or maybe I'm just stupid too...

I've often wondered this. It's called a pressure release valve, does it have the ability to vent pressure on its own, if the pressure gets too high?

Mechanically, it's a spring that holds the valve closed, so I'm guessing it's rated to give before the keg does. I don't feel brave enough to be the one to test that though
The other option if it was really needed would be to install an airlock instead of the release value, but I don't want too if I don't need it.

[Shanna]

A slighlty stupid question, but if it's fermenting that much in secondary, will the keg be happy with the pressure buildup

I don't think that's a stupid question at all, or maybe I'm just stupid too...

I've often wondered this. It's called a pressure release valve, does it have the ability to vent pressure on its own, if the pressure gets too high?

Mechanically, it's a spring that holds the valve closed, so I'm guessing it's rated to give before the keg does. I don't feel brave enough to be the one to test that though
The other option if it was really needed would be to install an airlock instead of the release value, but I don't want too if I don't need it.

According to this it allows the keg automatically vent the excess pressure or else allows a person manually release the pressure.

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0245/4467/files/Cornelius_Kegging_Systems.pdf

Shanna

[molc]

That's a great Pdf. Saving.

[RichC]

Has anyone here pasteurised bottle conditioned/carbed cider as per HBT? I see Wills first post recommends pasteurising and then force carbing if you want bottled carbed cider. My only worry is the safety aspect of it. Any experience with this anyone?
Sorry if its been covered but I havent read the complete thread!

Thanks

Richard

[Bubbles]

Great thread, thanks to Will, good to resurrect it.

I'm thinking of going "au natural" (no, not like that..) this year with the apple juice. That is, letting the natural yeasts on the skins do the work of fermenting my cider. Did anyone do this last year and what were the results like?

I like the idea of a bit of barnyard funk. I like my cider dry as bone, and bit rough.

Last year I did one drum with Youngs cider yeast and the other with English ale yeast. Both turned out well, but I preferred the Enlgish ale version. Surprising amount of body in the finished cider, even though it was bottle-conditioned and fermented to dryness.

Thoughts?

[nigel_c]

I let it do its own thing last year. More accurately I forgot to do anything and didn't get to it in time.
let it do its thing for a few months and racked to keg early this year.
Tapped the keg lastnight for its first pour. Very dry but not puckeringly sour. Still a nice apple taste but I may add some reduced AJ and keep it in the fridge.

[Bubbles]

Anything "funky" about it? Anything that might tell you it was fermented with commercial yeast?

I was very happy with last years juice, but I do think it was lacking a bit in apple flavour. So I'd like to use whatever yeast is going to retain the maximum amount of that apple flavour.

Btw, the health food shops do a concentrated apple juice product that's very good quality, if you don't want to reduce it yourself. I made an applewine with it a couple of years ago. I tried searching for the brand name, but I can't find it..

[molc]

Thinking of using wlp002 this year. Also, need to figure out some way to store the extra 5L that I don't keg, as all the bottles I made turned into small explosive devices as they kept fermenting away.

Also, has anyone done a demi with fruit with any of the cider? How much fruit do you use and how long do you leave the cider sitting on it? Have raspberries from the garden that I want to mess with...

[Bubbles]

Thinking of using wlp002 this year. Also, need to figure out some way to store the extra 5L that I don't keg, as all the bottles I made turned into small explosive devices as they kept fermenting away.

Odd. How long did you give it in primary?

Also, has anyone done a demi with fruit with any of the cider? How much fruit do you use and how long do you leave the cider sitting on it? Have raspberries from the garden that I want to mess with...

I've done a 5 litre turbo cider with supermarket frozen mixed berries. About 500g per demi-john would be a good start. Lot of acidity in them though, so you might want to compensate with some extra sweetening.