Contents
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
- Heated 3/4 gal cider to 140F and mixed in honey
- Mixed w/other ingredients in fermenter
- 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 (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
Heat .75 gal cider -> 100F, dissolve 44oz honey
- Repeat
- 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.
Cider #6 (2012-03-18)
44oz "W.G. White & Co" honey from Mocksville, NC
- 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
- Heated 2 quarts Earthfare cider to ~120F, mixed in honey
- Combined 6 crushed campden tablets and wine tannins into 1 pint water; pitched into fermenter
- Mixed all cider, blackberry puree, and honey-cider into fermenter (stirred for a few minutes)
- 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.
