| Author | Message | ||
     Brumbear |
Well I wanted to make cider "hard" from my apples but with Irene's coming and going I have no apples. So I went down the store and bought me some juice no preservatives. 5 gal to 10 pounds a sugar some super turbo 20% max yeast a pail some tubing a brass fitting and away we go !!!!!!!! I will see in 1 weeks time I may wait 9 days but yeast package says 7 days. Then I think I will save some and redneck distill it by freezing it into brandy. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Sounds fun! | ||
| Dfishman |
Run it thru the worm when your done! Apple brandy kept in the freezr is great for sipping your way thru the winter! | ||
| Hootowl |
Just went through a similar exercise. I put apple pie spices in it and carbonated it. Turned out pretty good. | ||
| Thumper74 |
More details on this process please... | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
Ditto, with pic's if poss. | ||
| Ducbsa |
In college, we tried to make hard cider for cheap booze, but it turned into vinegar. Maybe a little research would have told us the right yeast to use. That was well before the interweb, so it would have been tough to find out what kind and where to buy it. I believe I read somewhere since that champagne yeast is the right stuff. | ||
| Brumbear |
http://vermonthomebrew.com/cider.aspx I essentially bought 5 gallons of no preservative apple juice. I bought 10 pounds of sugar. I bought turbo yeast I think it was called. It can make up to 20% alcohol with 20lb of sugar but the taste supposedly gets more bitter? So with the natural Sugars and added I am at around 43% Sugar so maybe 14% alcohol yield but I may be way off? I'll find out in the end. I bought a 5gal pail and lid from Home Depot with a female 3/8 push on hose fitting brass. I drilled a hole in the lid pushed the push on end through connected a 3/8 hose to it.I thourghly cleaned everything NON BACTERIAL SOAP I put in 3 gal apple juice heated 1 1/2 gal up in a pot and mixed the 10 pounds of sugar in added that to the 3 gal. stirred in yeist thoughly mixed it popped cap with hose on it on cut the top off a plastic water bottle 1/2 filled with water and put the hose into the water. This is an effective air lock so the brew can bubble out and no air get in. Now I wait the yeast I had said 7 days there are some that take 60 but I just wanted to make a run for I get serious.    | ||
| Hootowl |
I used fruit wine yeast from red star, and did not add sugar. Wasn't trying to make white lightning  I also added some pectic enzyme to break down the pectin and produce a clearer product. The juice I used was pasteurized (no preservatives) and that tends to set the pectin, but it came out really clear despite that. If there are preservatives added, your yeast will either die, or not be able to reproduce. | ||
| Fahren |
Without your own apples and cider press, I would be tempted to try with unpasteurized, preservative-free farmstand cider. Hootowl's idea of pectin enzyme to clear up the murky cider sounds interesting. There's a lot of sugar in apple cider/juice - the "hard" cider that sells in France is bubbly and closer to beer than to wine in alcohol content. I'm pretty sure that for the "brut" cider (drier, not very fruity/sweet), the French don't add sugar. I like the French product more than the British hard cider. You can also do a great hard pear cider if you have the pears and a cider press. I love autumn! |
