How to make cider at home?
>>7507746
>juice apples
>filter apple juice
>pour juice into a container
>allow it to ferment
Hopefully you'll have enough natural yeast on the apples.
1. Buy apple juice
2. Remove freshness seal
3. Forget you bought apple juice
4. Remember you bought apple juice after it ferments but before it turns into vinegar
>>7507752
should I add sugar?
pour a package of bakers yeast into a jug of motts apple juice and wait 2 weeks.
a la.
>>7507770
>>7507752
how to know when it's ready?
>>7507776
It will stop bubbling and gradually clear as the dead yeast sinks.
>>7507746
If you don't own a cider press and have access to apple trees (wild ones are fine), or want to buy like 100 pounds from a store, then just do what these other anons are saying
I got five of these for free the other day and I really want to make cider. Champagne yeast? 60*F warm enough? What alcohol % should I expect?
Would it be better to buy a big carboy and pour them all into it, or just do them all in their own 1.5L bottle?
>>7510655
That's good for cider.
My recommendation is if you have a trader joes near you buy a gallon of their 100% Macintosh apple juice and make your recipe at least 1/5th mac. I really like the flavor it adds.
Champagne yeast is great. Expect about 5-6% alcohol although it can vary by the juice. Your final product will be dry. Do not expect the sugar water from commercial ciders.
Put them in a carboy. Those bottle are too full to ferment in. After you pour out the top and leave the yeast cake/Apple pulp on the bottom when siphoning you will lose a lot of cider from each bottle.
>>7507762
Since this is your first time I recommend just Apple. You want get a baseline flavor and the more alcohol the longer you should age it. No one wants to age their first brew for too long.
If you want it stronger in the future I recommend adding honey.
>take apple juice
>add beer and vinegar
>>7511741
This is correct most Commerical American Ciders are back sweetened with added sugar after fermentation. I find them cloyingly sweet and disgusting. Stella had one that was nicely balanced but was still too sweet.
>>7510655
as others have said ferment in a carboy or 5 gal water jug. Honestly id say a five gallon jug is still too small for five gallons of cider. You want some head room in the container so that it doesnt bubble over when the yeast gets going. Ive brewed cider a few times and in a 5 gal jug I used to only put in about 4.5gal or so of cider. Ideally you will want 2 5gal containers, one to ferment in, then one to rack the cider into after its fermented. It will age in the second container. Also you are going to need some plastic tubing to decant the stuff
Also 60f is a little cool for them, but it will just mean your fermentation process will take a little longer.
>>7511964
In ideal circumstances you have a six gallon carboy and a 5 gallon. That way you make 5.1 gallons with enough headspace then rack it into the 5 gallon carbon filling up a glass or too for drinking with anything above 5 gals.
>>7511741
>>7511964
I'd prefer something dry / sour rather than the typical commercial ciders that are too sweet. So I could expect 5-6% alcohol without adding any sugar?
>>7511769
How much honey would you recommend? Is there a ratio for amount of sugar added to increased ABV? Without measuring the OG.
Thanks for the replies. I guessI should really start to research this a bit.
>>7514098
1 pound of honey adds about 5% alcohol to one gallon.
I suggest sticking with just Apple for your first batch. If you add honey add very little (1% alcohol) so you don't have to age it. Les be honest, no one ages their first batch.
>>7514098
>how much honey would you recommend
I found a recipe that really worked after adjusting it between the first few attempts, but it's been awhile and I honestly have no idea about amounts right now.
I would get 5 gallon jugs of unpasteurized, straight out of the orchard shit, and all I would add was the honey and yeast.
As this >>7514155 anon says, you might not want to age your first batch, but I'd been brewing beer for a few years prior to trying out cider, so I probably let my cider age for close to a year.
Cider is simple as fuck compared to all the extra variables involved in beer. Just make sure you start with quality ingredients. Ghetto shit is never going to turn out good.
>>7508881
>tfw the 100 year old orchard 1/4 mile from your childhood home was clearcut for a subdivision
Ingredients
5 Gallons 100% Apple Juice (No preservatives or additives) I use Tree Top Apple Juice
2 pounds of dextrose (corn sugar) in one pound bags
1 five gram packet of Montrachet Wine Yeast
Equipment
5 Gallon Carboy (I use a Better Bottle)
Carboy Cap or Stopper with Airlock
Funnel
First sanitize the carboy, airlock, funnel, stopper or carboy cap.
Open one gallon bottle of apple juice and pour half of it into the carboy using the funnel.
Open one bag of Dextrose and carefully add it to the now half full bottle of apple juice. Shake well.
Repeat Steps 2 and 3, then go to step 5.
Pour in the mixture of Apple Juice and Dextrose from both bottles into the carboy.
Add all but 1 quart of remaining 3 gallons of apple juice to the carboy.
Open the packet of Montrachet Yeast and pour it into the neck of the funnel.
Use the remaining quart of juice to wash down any yeast that sticks. I am able to fit all but 3 ounces of apple juice into a 5 gallon Better Bottle. You may need to be patient to let the foam die down from all shaking and pouring.
Put your stopper or carboy cap on with an airlock and fill the airlock with cheap vodka. No bacteria will live in vodka and if you get suckback, you just boosted the abv.
(taken from http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=14860)
OP here. I used very sweet apples for my first batch, is that bad?
Also I used rubber glove as airlock, is that bad too?
I pressed yesterday and now have 21L of must for fermenting. I mixed campden tablets in to the must to kill off wild yeasts / bacteria.
I also made a yeast starter separately using some excess must. Last night there was a good inch of foamy yeast on the surface of the starter. Currently most of this foam has disappeared, and there are some solids at the bottom of the beaker with small bubbles rapidly rising to the surface. Is this good? Also, should I mix in the starter 24 hours after sterilising the must?
