Homebaked hard cider

[NHAtHeart]

Anybody do any casual hard cider? I picked up a gallon at the grocery store and fermented it up. Came out pretty darn tasty for how little work.

Thinking I might try to do some other types of fermenting this summer, maybe some strawberry wine or something.

 

[TOY539]

Need any taste testers.

 

[RoterTeufel]

Sugar & Yeast!

Might find this better in the OFF TOPIC forum.

But yes, Been making it since I was 16...
It's stupid simple since it has natural yeasts you don't need to do much to it. BUT you can!
You CAN also OVER do it by trying too hard with spices.

Try mead (honey wine) melomel (honey & fruit wine). Also VERY easy.

BTW, this is sorta the wrong time of year for cider in this part of the country - Fall is apple picking season

That's the FRESH stuff!

ETA: When dealing with unknown sugar content of fruits & honey - its often best to let things ferment for a while longer than you would a beer. If you try to bottle things too early you might wind up with highly carbonated bottles that might wind up exploding due to contents under extreme pressure...

 

[NHAtHeart]

I kinda just grabbed a jug of the pasteurized garbage from the store, made a yeast starter with fleishmans active dry baking yeast, mixed it together, left it for 2 and 1/2 weeks, filters -> profit!

Drinking it now if you couldn't tell, it's tasty and quite a bit stronger than beer.

 

[RoterTeufel]

Do you have a hydrometer? Did you measure the OG & FG, or are you measuring by how you "feel" after a few?

 

[ColdDayInHell]

IN for mead tasting. hard cider is too low in ABV

 

[NHAtHeart]

Do you have a hydrometer? Did you measure the OG & FG, or are you measuring by how you "feel" after a few?

Second half, I'm drinking 7oz Sam Adams "tasting" glasses. I'm on my 4th so somewhere around 28 oz and I'm toasted. If I had to guess I'd say 10-11% ABV based on my beer drinking experience.

I'm quite satisfied for $5/gallon

 

[RoterTeufel]

IN for mead tasting. hard cider is too low in ABV

I'll have to pull up my recipe from my book - only made it once, but cellared it for about 6 months before started drinking it.

Golddiggie brews all the time.
He has some amazing, high-octane stuff!
Blows my recipes out of the water.

 

[MisterHappy]

If you use "natural" yeast (just letting the good, non-pasteurized/non-perservatived stuff do its thing) you can get good stuff, or vinegar.

When my mom (now 92) was a kid, they had a barrel of cider in the woodshed. It would turn hard. Then it would freeze. Then the alcohol would migrate to the center of the barrel, and straws were inserted. Essentially, it was pure alcohol. There's your profit!

 

[Dill]

I've been doing it the old fashioned way for a few years now. We do a big cider press for Columbus day usually around 70-80 gallons. I put up 2 5gallon carboys for hard cider. I've been using the same carboys without deep cleaning them for a while, that combined with the fact we aren't pasteurizing I don't have to add yeast, usually I dump in a bag of sugar or a couple qts of syrup. I just put them in the cellar or the unheated ell. Then I just let them sit until the following fall. Tastes great and packs a punch. Not sure what the actual alcohol content is but its probably around a strong wine.

 

[Bob J]

I made some last fall and "hardened it" last winter.... Added some spices and honey to make it an "Apple Pie" Cyser (mead).... Very good and was very well received on mothers day by the family....

 

[Bando_Red]

I've been drinking Woodchuck for a while. Magners and the others just kinda taste like appley beer to me.

 

[noddaduma]

Gotta try this

 

[shamrockjr]

I haven't had cider in years. The last time was at the Old Sturbridge Village as I recall - and that was some good cider!