Primitive cider (again)

Here's my Cider.
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The first bottle of CD’s Cider has been poured, and it is alright, in a good way. In her glass, my wife says she smells sulfur, but I don’t. We both like the flavor, though it is a little bland. At FG 0.992, it is plenty dry. She says it could be a touch sweeter. The aftertaste is straight up apple. We will definitely make another batch!
You can always add a little sugar when pouring.
Or some sorbitol...
 
Ben, that's with the Lallemand, right? Gonna visit the LHBS tomorrow and still need to decide between that, cider yeast or a fruity-ish wine yeast. Looking for a good apple sweetness.
Na I used framgarden kviek I find the framgarden kviek compliments the fruity flavours.

I back sweetened this in the keg with 10% apple juice.
I also used calcium sulphate and some lactic acid at end of term to give it some zing.

When I do my next batch
I'll leave the acid out and use some calcium chloride more rounded I found in my experimental batch I did.

I'll stick with Framgarden.
 
So my primitive cider came out great! Thanks to everyone in this thread for the knowledge and engouragement.

Doesn't get much more primitive than this. Aldi apple juice, a couple tablespoons of S04 slurry, a tap of yeast nutrient, covered the bottle with foil and left the cap a little loose as it sat in the cellar. No measurements, no sanitation, no nothing. After a week or so, transferred to a PET bottle and carbonated.

Smells apple-y, tastes like weak fizzy apple juice. No idea of the ABV or anything. Very refreshing!

And no, it didn't spill. BF rotates my iPhone photos for me...

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Looks great Don! Doesn't BF also flip profile pics if the resolution is too high? Maybe your iPhone takes too high quality of photos?
 
Looks great Don! Doesn't BF also flip profile pics if the resolution is too high? Maybe your iPhone takes too high quality of photos?
When picking the image, you can choose lower resolutions (which I do). I think it might automatically select landscape. Let me see if I turn the phone sideways...

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Yup, that did it. Morning Joe, fresh-ground beans with a touch of cinnamon.
 
I've also tried to make a hoppy cider by just adding hop to the batch, by adding hop to boiling water (with sugar sugar for an extra punch) and boiled for 5 minutes, but I haven't been able to taste any bitterness.
I used 5 gr of 4% aa hop.
Any clues/tips/advice here?

Just tuning in as I think that aspect was kinda burried in the thread so far lol. To my knowledge, the bitterness requires a process where you boil water with hops for a much longer time. For further info you would have to look up on isomerisation and such. Just this: for a medium bitterness of around 20 IBU for example with your 4%AA hops you would have to boil 2 grams/liter for 60 minutes. I would suggest also taking some hops and adding it at the end of the boiling, when it allready cooled down, so that you have the bitterness but also get some herbal/fruity flavours into the mixture. You might take the same hops or use a special aroma hops of your liking.

After making only beers so far I am also trying my luck in making some cider right now...really interested to see how it goes. Ofcourse I thought about hopped cider as well, I might do that if my normal cider turned out okay (used 1 liter of apple juice with 0,5 l of water, and some top fermenting yeast that was left over from making beer).
 
My wife picked up a one-gallon bottle of Martinelli’s apple juice today to make our next batch of cider.
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She wonders about fermenting in this bottle, which I see @Sunfire96 has done. She is also curious about adding spices/flavorings (cinnamon stick, vanilla bean, ginger, etc.). Do these additions require sanitation? At our disposal, we have EC-1118, S-04, slurries of US-05, and the lhbs is near my work.
 
My wife picked up a one-gallon bottle of Martinelli’s apple juice today to make our next batch of cider.
View attachment 15393 She wonders about fermenting in this bottle, which I see @Sunfire96 has done. She is also curious about adding spices/flavorings (cinnamon stick, vanilla bean, ginger, etc.). Do these additions require sanitation? At our disposal, we have EC-1118, S-04, slurries of US-05, and the lhbs is near my work.
I've done 3 batches of cider in the jug that it comes in (2 w/ martinelli's), and it definitely works as a fermenter. I poured out about 1/2 a quart of juice and then added "a bit" of yeast nutrient, gypsum, and S04 slurry (I forgot the nutrient and salt last time, it still made cider :)). Make sure to leave the lid loose enough to let gas escape (unless you want to use an airlock, but the lid has worked fine for me). Last batch I added "a bit" of aroma hop pellets after a few days of fermentation. If you let the yeast ferment out fully, it will likely be very dry (2 my batches ended below 1.000 SG). There are several methods for making it sweeter if that's your goal.
 
I've done 3 batches of cider in the jug that it comes in (2 w/ martinelli's), and it definitely works as a fermenter. I poured out about 1/2 a quart of juice and then added "a bit" of yeast nutrient, gypsum, and S04 slurry (I forgot the nutrient and salt last time, it still made cider :)). Make sure to leave the lid loose enough to let gas escape (unless you want to use an airlock, but the lid has worked fine for me). Last batch I added "a bit" of aroma hop pellets after a few days of fermentation. If you let the yeast ferment out fully, it will likely be very dry (2 my batches ended below 1.000 SG). There are several methods for making it sweeter if that's your goal.
Ditto, with Aldi juice. Removed a half cup, tossed in S04 slurry and nutrient, left the cap loose enough to vent. Put in a dark place for a week, racked into a PET bottle and carbonated it... done.
 
My wife picked up a one-gallon bottle of Martinelli’s apple juice today to make our next batch of cider.
View attachment 15393 She wonders about fermenting in this bottle, which I see @Sunfire96 has done. She is also curious about adding spices/flavorings (cinnamon stick, vanilla bean, ginger, etc.). Do these additions require sanitation? At our disposal, we have EC-1118, S-04, slurries of US-05, and the lhbs is near my work.
Yeah even juice of a lemon when making cider from whole apples I used to add two lemons pealed goes well with ginger.
Now I havnt tried ginger I apple juice but I've tried pineapple which was great! The acidity really complimented it and I'm imagining pineapples would be comming on soon where you live (I grow them around the house here).
And fruit skins have wild bacteria yeast on them peal them and they should be good want to go a step further steam them in the steamer basket for a minute or two and of course clean and sterilize the pealer.
I've added ginger this way to my beers with good results.
Pasturisation is tricky as it can lead to flavour loss.
I've done freezing as well but as @Nosybear found sometimes that don't work but I've tasted them frozen fruit and there is always a wrong one in the packet...
 
I'm waiting for my bottles to carbonate.
It's taking long this time
Kveik vos seems real sensitive to temperature.
Shook the bottles, now waiting patiently....
 
My cider is taking forever to carb.
Kveik Vos really oesnt like the cooler weather (as all else is the same)
Cool is relative: 15-17 oC night temp, 30-33 oC day time.
Since we are going towards winter and I don't have control options (yet) except for a coolbox: what would be another good yeast to use for cider?
Winter temp will be around 20-24 oC day time, 6-10 oC night time.
As a rough guess, I figure the coolbox will be able to keep the night temp to about 15 oC?

And I have put 2 bottles of the current batch in the fridge, despite not yet happy with the carbing
 
My cider is taking forever to carb.
Kveik Vos really oesnt like the cooler weather (as all else is the same)
Cool is relative: 15-17 oC night temp, 30-33 oC day time.
Since we are going towards winter and I don't have control options (yet) except for a coolbox: what would be another good yeast to use for cider?
Winter temp will be around 20-24 oC day time, 6-10 oC night time.
As a rough guess, I figure the coolbox will be able to keep the night temp to about 15 oC?

And I have put 2 bottles of the current batch in the fridge, despite not yet happy with the carbing
Oh gee I wish 34/70 went ok or id suggest this I got that idea from Brulosophys recommendation on his cider so Maybe it was just a single outcome for me that put me off.

Maybe a clean ale strain like S05 or Nottingham ale yeast I've herd is clean I've not used it.
 
I followed @Sunfire96 's lead and used S04. The result was apple-y and slightly sweet, quite pleasant, but no idea about ABV. Fermentation was in the cellar at about 19 C.
 
I like S04 in cider, I've used it 3 times. I've wanted to try experimenting with some of the dried cider yeasts available, I know Mangrove jack and Fermentis each make one, in addition to the Lallemand strain Herm is using
 

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