Graphic Pics of My First Shot in Cider!

[Grist Licker]

I put together a cider last night. Recipe:

2 gal pasteurized apple juice, no preservatives
1.5 lbs homemade Belgian candi sugar, dark
14oz raisins, minced
2t cinnamon
1t nutmeg
1/2t dry ground ginger
Red Star Premier Cuvee dry wine yeast

I put 1gal of juice in the freezer to chill and put the other gal in a pot on the stove with the Belgian candi sugar.



After dissolving the candi sugar and bringing the mix to a simmer, I added the minced raisins.


I simmered for about 15 mins to get the sugars from the raisins all cooked in while I rehydrated my yeast. During the last minute I added the spices.


Cooled in an ice bath.


Added to fermenter, pitched yeast, added the additional apple juice, aerated.


I took refractometer readings before and after adding the candi sugar. After adding in the other gallon of juice, I'm calculating a SG of 1.075 but that is without considering the raisins. I didn't measure after the raisin addition because I figured it would not be too accurate anyway

[baltobrewer]

I have a feeling that your cider was sorbated. Most commercial cider is. Pitch LOTSA yeast or you'll just be staring at that sugary mess for awhile.....

[rhino777]

How'd you make your candi sugar?

[Grist Licker]

I have a feeling that your cider was sorbated. Most commercial cider is. Pitch LOTSA yeast or you'll just be staring at that sugary mess for awhile.....

Bottle says "pasteurized apple cider and ascorbic acid" They would have to list sorbate right? I pitched one packet of rehydrated wine yeast in 2 gallons and the airlock is bubbling so I think I'm OK.

[Grist Licker]

How'd you make your candi sugar?

I used the Graham Sanders method over at http://oz.craftbrewer.org/

Click on "library" then "grains and sugars" it's right there.

It is pretty straight forward, melt a bunch of table sugar in some water. Add a little citric acid and bring the mix up to boiling. Boil until it is as dark and caramelized as you want, then bring it up to "hard crack" temp, around 300deg F. Turn off heat and pour into a foil lined cookie sheet and let cool. It will harden while it cools. I cut it up into chunks before it got too hard. Then I weighed it and vacuum packed it in 1/2lb bags and chucked it in the freezer.

The citric acid is the key. The heat and acid cause the sucrose molecules to cleave apart into fructose and glucose. Since the yeast don't have to convert the sucrose to fructose/glucose before fermentation, they don't produce the nasty cidery flavors you would get from adding too much table sugar to a beer. At least that's how I understand it. Of course, cidery flavors probably aren't a problem in a cider! BTW, I used lemon juice instead of straight citric acid because that is what i had on hand. I probably used about a teaspoon if I remember correctly. It doesn't take much. You can actually see the change in the boiling liquid when the sugar inverts.

[triple-oh-six]

I have a feeling that your cider was sorbated. Most commercial cider is. Pitch LOTSA yeast or you'll just be staring at that sugary mess for awhile.....

Bottle says "pasteurized apple cider and ascorbic acid" They would have to list sorbate right? I pitched one packet of rehydrated wine yeast in 2 gallons and the airlock is bubbling so I think I'm OK.

I used the same juice, still fermenting after 7 days.

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=10955

[Grist Licker]

I have a feeling that your cider was sorbated. Most commercial cider is. Pitch LOTSA yeast or you'll just be staring at that sugary mess for awhile.....

Bottle says "pasteurized apple cider and ascorbic acid" They would have to list sorbate right? I pitched one packet of rehydrated wine yeast in 2 gallons and the airlock is bubbling so I think I'm OK.

I used the same juice, still fermenting after 7 days.

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=10955

I have to admit triple-oh_six, your post is what the got the gears turning for me to do a cider. From your picture, it looks like yours is progressing nicely. My only regret is that I did two gallons instead of five. If this turns out nice, I will crank out a bigger batch in cider.

[Grist Licker]

I racked the cider off the yeast and raisins tonight. Hydrometer says 1.000, refractometer says 8.1 brix. Promash says that gives me 11.9 ABV and a starting gravity (this would include the sugars extracted from the raisins) of 1.084. The cider smells really good. I can smell the spices. The taste is a nice balance, sweet at first, then sour. It doesn't taste like apples, but does taste like "the holidays". That must be the spices. I also taste banana. The first few sips were really yeasty, like yeast coating the tongue but the more I drink it, the better it gets. It's definitely cloudy. I'm going to crash it down to 34 deg and see if I can drop out this yeast. Overall I'm really happy with it so far. I'm really surprised it tastes so balanced. The residual sweetness must come from the heavily caramelized dark candi sugar.