While researching different recipes for wine making I stumbled onto a website with a small blurb about making hard cider from apple juice. To my surprise this is a incredibly simple process:
- 1 gallon of apple juice
- 1 cup regular cane sugar
- 1 pack of wine or yeast ale (I used bakers yeast)
I simply poured off a glass to make room for the additives and put a balloon over the top. This should be ready to drink as hard cider in five days or less.
9 comments:
Whoa boy! I used to make my own beer and cider (with great results.) You might find that the balloon on top isn't enough to contain the great whoosh of aerobic activity the yeast will generate. For a little more control I would recommend a bung with a water lock (bubbler) on it. And if it goes sour you can always use it as vinegar.
xox
Another good airlock is to rig up a hose onto the cap and then have it go down into a cup of water. Its easy and you've probably got all the parts laying around that you would need to build it.
The best results will be with unpasteurized cider if you can find it.
If you want it carbonated:
After the 5 days of fermentation, try tossing in a pinch of sugar and then screw the cap on tight. Leave it for another week or so. That's basically what you do when you bottle homebrew beer to get it to carbonate.
5 days for hard cider is a tad optimistic. And use a better airlock as suggested.
please, and this is coming from one who makes hard cider professionally, research this more. A good place for info is:
http://www.cider.org.uk/
I don't mean to complicate your life :) but a little more knowledge will make a difference in your cider.
Alistair
to my surprise, my cider turned out quite tasty! i'm now sipping a non-carbonated, ~6.67% alcohol adult beverage that tastes like a blend between woodchuck brand apple cider and a mimosa. here are the details:
1 gallon (- 1 cup) grocery-store-brand cider, from concentrate
1 packet yeast, premier cuvee variety, red star brand
1 tsp yeast nutrient
~1 cup white sugar
start date: 1/29
start hydrometer reading: 1.072
end date: 2/3
end hydrometer reading: 1.004
airlock: 3/4" plastic tubing sanitized w/ bleach. one end stuck into a mason jar of water, the other stuck into a hole cut in the cider's lid
total cost < $5 per gallon. 1 gallon = 128 oz = 10.6 12-ounce beers. given the higher alcohol content than beer, this is equivalent to more than a 12-pack of pabst blue ribbon (what i'd be buying instead) and around half the cost. thanks for the recipe!
-luke
My cider came out drinkable, but not great. I've gone ahead and racked my initial fermentation into small plastic bottles and placed them outside. They are sealed so if they decide to pop (I don't think they will) it will at least be outdoors.
I was also tasting my wine which is now racked into its second fermentation container with a balloon on top. Even with bread yeast it was quite drinkable. I gave Wendy a sample and she refused to return the glass to me as she was actually enjoying it.
I feel incredibly drunk from just sampling the two drinks.
Excellent! I'm a noob on the journey of listening to ancient knowledge instead of depending on corporations, but alcohol is definitely on the to-do list. Thanks for lowering the threshold.
I made hard cider as a kid by just leaving a jug of cider from a local orchard outside with a balloon over the top. wait a couple of weeks for the natural yeasts to do their work. Now I want something more beer-like. So I start with a gallon of organic cider less a glass. I add regular bread yeast, 1/2 cup corriander seeds, handful of hops (internet purchase) and half a can of frozen natural cider concentrate. Wait 2 weeks to ferment, strain into swingtop bottles adding another heaping teaspoon of the cider concentrate, wait another two weeks and you have a great drink. Now experimenting with adding malt extact instead of cider for an even richer drink.
Hmm...could this be a $ make?
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