Comments on: Making Hard Cider

By: 2011 Hard Cider First Tasting | Brew Dudes

2011 Hard Cider First Tasting | Brew Dudes — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 13:40:27 +0000

[...] hours in the fridge, it was ready for Thanksgiving dinner. My target audience thought it was much, much better than my first attempt at making cider two years [...]

By: baynej

baynej — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 23:01:11 +0000

I HAVE MADE HARD CIDER FOR MANY YEARS….I ALWAYS USED A PRODUCT CALLED “CIDER FIX”….IT ACTED AS A CLARIFIER…..I HAVEN’T BEEN ABLE FIND THIS PRODUCT LATELY….DOES ANYONE HAPPEN TO KNOW ABOUT THIS PRODUCT AND IF IT’S STILL AVAILABLE baynej@webtv.net thanks!!!

By: Apple Cider First Tasting | Brew Dudes

Apple Cider First Tasting | Brew Dudes — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 03:02:33 +0000

[...] we made a hard cider last fall. You can read more about the making of the hard cider if you are keeping score at [...]

By: Ali

Ali — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:37:21 +0000

you can use sulphite to sterilize the juice rather than pasteurizing it. Boiling the juice can result in a pectin haze developing, which will look like little blobs of jelly around the yeast in suspension. Best avoided, but it can be treated later.

By: John

John — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:12:42 +0000

@Nate -

We will definitely be posting more information as this cider progresses.

@Chris -

Cool idea. I will have to think about the setup of a garbage disposal fruit mill. With the kids running around, I would need to make it safe.

@Sean -

Thanks for your input. Now that we have the press and have our first attempt under our belt, we can experiment with the larger amounts of sugar and the flavor additions.

John

By: sean

sean — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:58:27 +0000

I’ve been doing hard apple ciders for a little while now. If all you did was apples and only 2 cups of sugar, with champagne yeast you’re going to end up with a dry, white wine, similar to a Chardonnay, maybe somewhere around 4% alcohol. If you want more alcohol, *and* sweetness, you have to go big on the sugar. I have personally found 3lbs of sugar to 1 gallon of juice is good for my uses.

If you want a more complex flavor, boil some raisins, mash up some pears, keep the apple skins, and throw it all into a mesh bag that you steep in the must during primary fermentation. The skins will provide a lot of aroma. Be careful with how many pears you use, they go a long way when contributing flavor and aroma to an apple cider.

After fermentation is complete, I’ll use a fining agent to clear it, and potassium sorbate to kill off the yeast. Just before I bottle, I’ll also add straight cranberry juice to take some of the edge off of the hot alcohol flavor (I’m thinking the cane sugar produces a higher-than-average amount of fusel alcohols), give it some color, and balance out the sweetness. Straight cranberry juice is kind of hard to find, usually stores only sell cranberry juice cocktail.

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 05:18:46 +0000

I heard a great idea from someone that lives by me. What they did was take an old stainless sink and attach an dispsal to the bottom. Viola, instant apple grinder. All you need is wooden spoon to move thing along from time to time. You don’t even need to cut up the apples if they are small enough to fit into the drain. (Please if you are reading this: DONT EVER USE YOUR HAND TO CLEAR THE JAM). I’ve made a couple of batches of hard cider and i’ve found that a little acid blend from the get go really adds a nice touch to the batch if you like it a litle more on the sweet and tart side.

By: Nate

Nate — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 04:50:25 +0000

Very interesting a neat to see. I made a hard cider last year but it was from store bought apple cider. I’ve wanted to do my own press and all of that, but with the results of my last cider experiment still up in the air, I can’t put a good reason as to why I would push further. Hope yours comes out well!