From: jad@nsa.hp.com (John Dilley)
Subject: Re: HELP!!How do I ferment apple cider?
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 23:28:46 GMT
Organization: Networked Systems Architecture
Followup-To: rec.food.drink


In article <gjg2001-300992182706@m248-97.bgsu.edu> gjg2001@andy.bgsu.edu (gjg2001@andy.bgsu.edu) writes:

> I need some instructions on how to ferment apple cider.  I have two
> one-gallon plastic jugs of apple cider and I want to turn them into an
> alcoholic beverage.  Exactly how do I go about doing this?

	Ahhh, the joys of hard cider.  I've made only a couple of
batches but they've been pretty good.  Cider is REAL easy to make.  In
its simplest form, you buy RAW (unpasteurized, unfiltered and especially
unpreserved) apple cider or juice and set it in the sun.  Eventually the
natural yeast will turn the sugars in the cider into alcohol.  However,
this recipe leaves a lot to luck and the brew will vary greatly from
batch to batch.  So to improve your odds, here's a simple recipe:

  1.  Buy some unpreserved cider/juice; unfiltered is better.  The better
      this stuff is, the better your end result will be.  Buy it in a glass
      bottle if you can, but plastic will work OK (it did for me!)
  2.  Buy a can of frozen Seneca Granny Smith apple juice concentrate.
  3.  Remove about two can-fulls of the apple juice and drink it.
  4.  Pour the Granny Smith concentrate in with the remainder of the juice.
  5.  Add ale or champagne yeast and attach an airlock (both are available
      from your local homebrew shop).  (Or use an airlock with a blowoff
      tube if you're familiar with doing that).
  6.  Allow to ferment until it stops bubbling.  If the airlock gets plugged
      with cider, remove, clean it off and replace it.  The fermentation
      will take at least a week, maybe two until it's done.
  7.  At this point you can: (a) drink the young cider; (b) continue to
      allow it to ferment and clear; (c) after making sure the fermentation
      is done, condition and bottle the cider.

    In step 5 I say add ale or champagne yeast -- these two types of yeast
    are quite different from each other and will yield different results.
    The ale yeast will result in a sweeter, lower alcohol beverage; the
    champagne yeast will result in a drier, higher alcohol beverage.  Try
    either one, or try both and stick with what you like.

    In step 7 you have three choices.  If you drink it down young it will
    still be cloudy -- that's mostly due to the yeast.  Don't worry, the
    yeast is one of the most healthy things you will be drink all day (they
    are full of vitamins, etc).  I prefer to let my cider clear for a while,
    partly because most of my friends prefer the cleaner taste of the final
    yeast-free beverage; partly because the longer it ages, the more the
    flavors mellow and the better it gets.

    If you choose to bottle this stuff, I recommend you let it ferment (in
    glass) for a while, like a month.  If you bottle too soon, before the
    yeast have finished their work, you may have overcarbonated bottles --
    the greatest danger is that they will explode and cause you harm.  If
    you allow fermentation to complete before bottling you will never have
    this problem.  The liquor you will bottle will be a "still cider"; it
    will have no bubbles.  If you want a sparkling cider you must add some
    sugar (or more apple juice).  I'm afraid I don't know the right amount
    to recommend; I use 3/4 cup to prime a FIVE GALLON batch of beer.  That
    implies to me that you might want to use about 1/6 of a cup of sugar per
    gallon you make.  The best bet, though, is to just drink this stuff in a
    wild frenzy before it gets old enough to hurt you.

    The main thing to remember is to enjoy the beverage!  I enjoy making it
    almost as much as I enjoy drining it.  Good luck to you!

	There is a forum for discussing the brewing of hard cider if you
want more information.  If you're interested send a subscription request
to cider-request@expo.lcs.mit.edu.  In addition there is a (new) mead
brewing forum that I have just started.  Send your request for that to
mead-lovers-request@nsa.hp.com.

> thanks, please email me if you can, but if you can't then post here

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