phug
Well-Known Member
I submitted this to the GTABrews Spring Showdown as a C1A New World Cider. It won Gold for the Standard Cider Category and took BOS Gold for Cider. I'm still waiting for the scoresheets though.
Going to put together this recipe on the weekend!
I'l be throwing this together tomorrow when I can get yeast from the LHBS. Just a 2.5 gallon batch though. Still need to add the can of juice riigt before kegging?
Interesting thought, I've never kegged this since I don't have any force carb gear.
You won't NEED to add the aj concentrate, since you'll probably throw it in the kegerator to carbonate. But if you do, you'll get to keep some sweetness and extra apple flavour. So I say do it, and toss in the whole can even though it's a 2.5 gallon batch. I'm guessing it'll be in the 1.006 1.008 range after that. Just remember to keep it cold or it will ferment that out. Heck, it's ec-1118 so it'll keep chewing away regardless, just much more slowly, you may lose some of that seeetness over time, but you'll still have a nice product in the end regardless of how long it takes you to drink it. Just don't bottle off that keg without stabilizing or pasteurizing.
Thanks for your input!!! Much appreciated. Do you think this juice will work okay?
I have six gallons of that very juice (and 12 oz of sugar, and just a little yeast nutrient) in the secondary, just about ready to bottle. It fermented just fine.
Thanks for your input!!! Much appreciated. Do you think this juice will work okay?
About a month ago, I made a 1 gal batch. Store bought apple juice and half a packet of S04.
Then waited and waited. Nothing. It never fermented.
Last week, I picked up a gallon of locally harvested (pasteurized) cider. This time, I hit it with yeast nutrient, O2 and same yeast. It's fermenting, albeit slowly.
It's a bit frustrating since hard cider seems foolproof, compared to making beer. I'll take a reading some time this week to make sure the gravity of dropping.
I know this is thread is old, I'm a long time lurker, but I had to sign up just to comment on this thread.
I read every page of this, full of great info and had several chuckles along the way, especially from @TheCADJockey and @kgressler stressing over their first batches - just as I'm doing! And of course @phug for his wealth of knowledge too
I'm following a similar simple recipe - 3 gal sunrype apple juice and mangrove jack M02 yeast.
I was told from my local brew shop that cider doesn't need as long to ferment/condition, although reading from here it doesn't seem to be the case - some of you had fermented for months!
@phug, you say to ferment until its clear, what happens if its 1.000 FG (w 1.050 OG) and still cloudy, should I transfer to a secondary or will that never happen as long as I ferment long enough?
I force carb. too. No priming sugar. But I wait 3-6 months in a secondary. Cider improves with time IMO.
Damn. Guess I need to go out and purchase some patience. I never transfer to secondary with my beers. Will this be okay if I transfer to serving keg after 30 days?
@phug I know this thread is a little old but I am interested in trying a small batch of this cider. Was curious if it was possible to just do a gallon of juice, add 1/5 or so of the EC-1118 yeast, allow it to ferment in primary for 4 weeks and then transfer to a secondary container and put it in the fridge and drink as is? Do I need to add any ajc to it after the 4 weeks of primary before I start drinking it or would it be ok not to prime it and not put in bottles (if I just wanted to keep in a 1 gallon container)?
As for transferring if you wait until it drops clear that would be the best time to do that. If you’re just going to serve from the one gallon jug in the fridge i wouldn’t prune with AJC as your gallon jug probably isn’t rated for pressure and may explode.
So your saying to keep it in primary until it clears which will probably be longer than 4 weeks?
And yes I was just going to serve from one gallon jug AFTER transferring to secondary container just to get the wine off of the bottom sediment, etc. Do you think it will still taste ok without adding the AJC?
Yes, but you will probably need to add a *little* sugar or Sucralose to get it to taste right. You can add that at serving time, or (assuming sugar or AJC) add it to the jug and keep it refrigerated with the lid slightly loose.
The yeast will wake up and start eating the sugar unless you add some sorbate preservative. But they will wake up slowly and eat slowly because of the cold. You'll drink it all before they get very far.
and don't worry about flavour differences from not adding AJC at the end, the AJC is really only there as a source of priming sugar for carbonation. As for 4 weeks or until clear. I'm sure you'll be fine to transfer it at 4 weeks, but if it's still hazy as all get out, then you might want to give it more time. Although cold temps help to speed up that clearing process. 4 weeks isn't exact, could be more, could be less. YMMV
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