Clinton's Cider Recipes

Notes on various cider recipes... I don't take this as seriously as actual brewing (read: I'm too lazy to do density measurements or anything fancy with the ingredients) so the notes are not of the usual quality.

Cider #1 (late 2010)

• 1 gal Harris Teeter cider
• 7/16lbs corn sugar
• Yeast: probably Redstar Montrachet

OG = 1.070@50F (1.069 corrected), FG = 1.008 @ 70F

Basically edwort's apfelwein but bottled still. Remember this being tolerable for hooch cider.

Cider #2

Just a jug of Earthfare cider and US-05. Not the greatest at first, but finished somewhat sweet and was OK after a bit.

Cider #3

Notes lost it seems ... extrapolating from the past:

• 1 gal cider
• ?? honey (probably 340g)
• Harris teeter frozen blackberries (weight unknown)
• Safbrew T-58 yeast (belgian ale)

Recall the OG being something like 1.086, FG around 1.005 ... this was really good, and Cider#6 is an attempt at reproducing it on a larger scale with better ingredients... Need to locate the notes for this one!

Cider #4 (2011-09-11)

• 3 gal "perrt lowe orchards" apple cider (0.1% sorbate!)
• 750mL "johnson's peaches" peach cider (no presevatives)
• 44oz "tart farms" honey (pale, unspecified variety)
• 2 packets montrachet red

23:00

1. Heated 3/4 gal cider to 140F and mixed in honey
2. Mixed w/other ingredients in fermenter
3. Treat with 4 campden tablets and let sit for 24 hours

SteveKillen lied: fermenter not 3.5gal, used 5 gal glass fermenter instead

Original Gravity = 1.076 @ 68F

2011-09-13

• 01:26 rehydrated two packets of red star montrachet in 8oz distilled water (room temp, low vol, bad clinton) for 15 min
• 01:49 pitched @ 74F, put into fridge with active beer (t=66F)

2011-09-25

• 21:10 1.030 @ 71F

2011-10-05

• 1.008 @ 74F

Almost there!

2011-11-25

• 00:30 0.996 @ 65F

Beer is pretty clear, preparing to rack into "secondary" (for additional filtering/crashing purposes).

Cold crashing -> 48F

2011-11-29

• Left out of fridge for a day...

• Racked onto two campden tablets into 3 gal BetterBottle (got exactly 3 gal!)

Cold Crashing -> 40F

Cider #5: Merlin's Magical Cyser (2011-11-26)

• 6 gal "Sugar Loaf Orchards" cider (flash pasteurized, no preservatives)
• 44oz "Tart Farms" honey ("near the mountains, sourwood")
• 44oz Nathan Carter honey (High Point NC, from a farm)
• Redstar Montrachet yeast

Cider gravity 1.062@52F

1. Heat .75 gal cider -> 100F, dissolve 44oz honey

2. Repeat
3. Treat with campden, leave overnight

2011-11-27

Rehydrate 2 packets redstar montrachet in 2 cups cider

Mixed Cider OG = 1.086 @ 72F

2011-11-28

Fermentation began! Moved into fridge temporarily to drop from 71F -> 60F.

2011-11-29

• 03:09 @ 60F. Remove from fridge to cold crash Cider #4

New goal is ~74F for fermentation.

??? check bottle

ph 4 or 3.6

SO_2 15mg/L

Total Acidity = 0.57

Need ~2.6 campden tablets to hit 50ppm free sulfur, using 2 tablets (~43 ppm free sulfur).

Yield: 25 x 750mL, 1x 16oz

Cider #6 (2012-03-18)

• 44oz "W.G. White & Co" honey from Mocksville, NC (light honey, not sure of flower sources)

• 44oz "Nathan Carter" honey from High Point, NC (dark honey, farmers market lady says "from a farm")
• 3 gallons Earthfare apple juice (SG = 1.052) [Season ended, couldn't acquire desired cider]
• 2 gallons Sugarloaf Orchard Cider (SG = 1.058)
• 1.39kg Vinters Harvest Blackberry Puree (SG = 1.052)
• 14g Dried Hibiscus (all that I had left)
• 1/2 tsp Wine Tannin to compensate for lack of tannins in Earthfare "cider" juice
• 2.5g yeast nutrient (Wyeast, for beer ... hope it works for cyser)
• Safbrew T-58 yeast (Belgian Ale)

Attempt at re-creating a superior version of the 1 gallon blackberry cyser (#3)

Remember, stir up sediment every day for first week or so.

2012-03-18

1. Heated 2 quarts Earthfare cider to ~120F, mixed in honey
2. Combined 6 crushed campden tablets and wine tannins into 1 pint water; pitched into fermenter
3. Mixed all cider, blackberry puree, and honey-cider into fermenter (stirred for a few minutes)
4. Added pectic enzyme (1/4 tsp) later

SG = 1.068@78F (1.070 corrected). Needs more gravity ... going to add another 44oz of honey to increase SG.

Total volume is ~5.75 gal (estimating on site and using FermCalc for honey added to total liquids)

2012-03-19

• Added hibiscus on a whim
• Stirred (lots of pulp settled!)
• Rehydrated yeast and 2.5g nutrient into 1 pt water and pitched

New plan: adding hibiscus (the Internet says to add something like 35g / gallon for a strong flavor ... only had 14g on hand so it may or may not do anything; ideally it will add a very subtle tartness)

Additionally, the extra 44oz of honey will be added a later time -- a gravity of ~1.095 would be way too high for one packet of yeast and driving to the homebrew store and the farmers market and the vet today was not physically possible. It'll probably result in a much lower chance of stuck fermentation if added later as well.

2012-03-20

Fermentation is off to a vigorous start.

Unfortunately, ambient temp is above 80°F, and so the fermenter hit 78°F. This is not good. Swapped Luna Moth (krausen dropped from that) from the fridge for my fermenter and set temp to cool to 74°F.

2012-03-21

Temp stabilized at 74F. Adding honey tomorrow.

2012-03-23

Boiled 1 quart distilled water (from an open container, killing any possible natives) and allowed to cool to around 120F. Mixed 2.75lbs Nathan Carter honey (wildflower / from a farm in high point / dark and delicious) into the water, and poured the whole thing into the fermenter. In theory honey has few microbes / active fermentation means they can't compete / the free sulfite level in the must should be high enough to prevent evil microbes from growing. Stirred everything up as the wine making folks seem to do (and to blend in the honey, naturally).

• Before addition, SG = 1.022 @ 78F (1.024 corrected)
• After addition, SG = 1.040 @ 80F (1.042 corrected)

Still need to work out the extra math (volume increased ~1.3 quarts or something) ... but it looks like the new OG would be around 1.095 (so it ought to finish around 1.006-8).

2012-03-25

Temp down to 65°F (beer is fermenting next to it), removing from fridge for the time being (we're using the AC now so it shouldn't overheat).

2012-04-23

Kept at room temp-ish... 68-74°F

SG = 1.000 @ 76°F (1.002 corrected)

Theoretical alcohol (assume previous math on theoretical OG was correct): 12% ABV

Dang yeast attenuated too much! Sample chilled and tasted... semi-dry, tart, appley; finishes with a berry tartness and vague sweetness. Nearly clear with a red-blue hue.

Racked 5.75 gal onto 3 campden tablets (in 1 cup distilled water) into 6 gal better bottle. Going to rush this a bit ... should rack onto slightly more sulfite and sorbate around May 20th; bottle just before solstice.

In theory, hot stabilizing now, cold stabilizing after sorbating. If you can do it in that order at least.

2012-07-28

Racking onto five campden tablets and 1.25 tsp Sorbate

Cider #7 (2013-??-??)

• 3x 44oz "Nathan Carter" honey from High Point, NC (dark honey, farmers market lady says "from a farm")
• 5 gallons Sugarloaf Orchard Cider (SG = **1.058**)
• 1.39kg Vinters Harvest Blackberry Puree (SG = **1.052**)
• 1.5kg frozen blackberries
• 24g Dried Hibiscus
• 2.5g yeast nutrient (Wyeast, for beer ... hope it works for cyser)
• Red Star Côte des Blancs yeast

Attempt at further improving the berry cyser line (based on Cyser #6). Blackberry flavor was not quite prominent enough. Rather than doubling the puree, try using frozen blackberries like in Cyser #3. Adding another jar of honey as well to bump the strength up a bit.

First make basic must with six campden tablets, cider, blackberry puree, and one jar of honey.

Place the frozen blackberries into a vinyl grain bag, crush lightly. Add the juice to the must and drop the bag of berries in as well. Remove berries after a week or two. Not entirely sure about putting the berries in a bag -- the wine carboy has a narrow neck and fishing the bag out would probably be impossible (sinking). Might be better to just pour the crushed berries in through a funnel. Have to check if leaving a few pounds of berry skins in contact with the must in acceptable for 30+ days.

Remember, stir up sediment every day for first week or so.