This post is the recap of this year’s hard cider making day.

I picked up my 5 gallons of pressed juice from Beer & Wine Hobby on Friday.  I had a little bit of an issue with the juice but I will discuss what my problem was in a future post.

Pressed Apple Juice

I took one gallon of the pressed juice and put it aside for the cyser.

I took another gallon jug and poured the contents into a pot.  Using a little heat, I dissolved the sugars, honey, and malt extract into the juice.  Once it was finished, I poured it into my 5 gallon carboy.  Check out the New England hard cider recipe here.

The other three gallons of juice were poured into the carboy.  I shook it up to mix it well and to aerate a bit.

Carboy of apple cider

I took a gravity reading.  I sorta missed my 1.060 target but a little stronger cider won’t hurt anybody.

Hard cider starting gravity reading

I guess a half pound of white sugar when added to all the other adjuncts was too much.  With two packets of Nottingham yeast proofed, I pitched it and shook the carboy again for a good 5 minutes.

Right now the carboy is in my beer fridge with the thermostat set at 54° F.  It’s a colder fermentation temperature than I am used to, so the airlock really isn’t clacking but foaming/bubbling is.

Low and slow is how I am going this year.  We’ll see how the results are in the spring.