Interesting, the alcohol content in the hard cider served at La Crêperie de Paris at Epcot is only 3%. Going to brew up a batch of some kind of hard cider here today, probably, and all the recipes seem to be double that. #alcohol#brewing#homebrew
sterilize everything
pasteurize apple juice, if necessary
add sugar/honey/sweetener depending on preference/amount of alcohol desired
ferment (primary only, or primary/secondary) at some temperature that is not hot
bottle
pasteurize to prevent a gory death by shattering bottle
Langer's 100% apple juice (which was apparently on sale at the store) -- no preservatives
Lalvin D47 yeast (which I have because of mead making, champagne yeast)
64.5 degree fermentation (that's my mead fridge temp) -- not sure if I need to get it started first at room temp or if it goes straight in...
At this point you have a dry cider you can keg or bottle in sanitized vessels. If desired, you can transfer off the yeast and flavor by adding hops or herbs or other things. I did lavender once and it was amazing!
I know I’m going on and on, but one thing about sweetening the cider is that unless you know that all the yeast are gone, adding sugar will restart fermentation. If you want sweet, you may need to add potassium metabisulfite to prevent refermentation.
@ai6yr
Fruit wines are the best. "Get fruit, clean fruit, pitch, wine" Blackberry is my favorite, just need to let it really age or aerate because it is prone to phenols (which actually sorta rock, makes you feel all tingly and warm)
@ai6yr French cider uses tart and bittersharp apples grown for specifically cider. All we get in the US are dessert apples, with much higher sugar to start with, so higher alcohol in the final product.
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