Cider Brew - project log

[raynerd]

I hope I`m OK to put this in here. I know a little off topic for a project/machining forum but I wanted to share and keep a record of my latest project, cider brewing!  I have a small crop of apples and so does my grandad. This isn`t much at all but since I`ve had to hand press them it has been enough! Last year all the apples got rotten and fell on the floor so this year I thought I`d try some cider to use them up. This is the initial crop:



I basically chopped them all up and pulped them in the blender:



Popped the pulp into a fine cloth bag and gave it a GOOD squeeze:



I then re-filtered this through another fine cloth



And after just short of three hours I ended up with just short of 1 gallon of the apple juice, note the apples left are from my grandma as I was to save her some! I have added pectinase  to break up any particles that are in there and also reduce the haze and I have added just short of 1 camden tablet to kill any bacteria but sadly also the naural yeast, I`ll add my own soon. I`m now leaving it until tomorrow or maybe even Thurday night as it took longer than I expected. The airlock is there simply to seal the container, I hope it doesn`t start fermenting since there is a camden tablet in there!



So that is what I have done so far but it was quite a bit darker than I expected but after leaving it to settle for a while the top area is becoming more of normal apple colour I would expect. There is now a quick thick seddiment falling to the bottom:



I think I`m going to have to filter it again tomorrow perhaps a drip filter through double cloth.

Although this is my first home brew, I`m actually going to go down the route of a cider/beer brew - so there will be a little hops in it and also some boiling up of the hops and brew later in the week before fermentation starts.

I haven`t got an aweful lot of apple juice here, just under a gallon (3.5L) so I`m going to top up with shop bought carton apply juice. As long as it is UV pasturised and not chemically done it is fine to use. This is cheeting, I just don`t have enough apply juice and besides a better cider can be achieved with a good mix of apples. Besides, our home grown apples are a little tart so hopefully adding a carton of apple juice will sweeten it up a bit.

Like I said before, hope I`m OK posting this here. anyone else into home brew - this is my first attempt!

[NickG]

Cool! Never really drank cider but we do have a load of strongbow in the fridge now ... couldn't refuse at £5 for 15 cans from tesco 

[Brass_Machine]

Home made cidar is the best. I helped my brother in law make a masher/grinder... instead of a blender. Seams to work better. Same guy makes his own maple syrup.

Eric

[rleete]

Your wife is gonna kill you when she sees what you've done with the bed sheets!

Here's a hint: go get a package of large coffee filters and use them for straining out the solids.  Works well, and no loss of flavors.  One double layer straining should be all you need.  The filtered solids do great things for the compost pile, too.

I make mead (from honey), and use the little packets of the cheapest champagne yeast I can find.  Never a bad batch yet.  I also add some spices (usually fresh ginger) to cut the sweetness, although it's more akin to a dry white wine (yeast eats all the sugars).  You can also add any berries to it for a little variety.

[dsquire]

craynerd

When I was a kid (well I still am, but you know what I mean) my grandfather and Uncle both had large apple orchards on their farm. Every year about this time they would haul wagon loads of apples to the Wellesley Cider Mill where they would press it into apple juice. They would bring it home in 45 gallon (imp) barrels. Some would be drank as apple juice but most of it was made into cider which would last until next fall. They also used pumpkins and made apple butter. (Now I'm making myself hungry.) Also lots of pies and dried apples. Oh, for the good old days.

In the spring my Uncle made maple syrup and that was great too.

Cheers

Don

[raynerd]

Thanks for posting guys, I didn`t know if this was a bit too off-topic.

There was actually going to be some engineering in it as my intention was to make an apple press using a car bottle jack and two crushing plates. Unfortunately I never got around to it as time just passed by and then the apples were ready to be picked! If it works and I try this again next year I will definately use a press. I did a damn good job (if I do say so myself lol) pressing by hand but the pulp was still slightly wet and I bet a press would have extracted quite a bit more juice. Anyway...keep posted! No activity tonight but I`ll be starting the fermentation tomorrow.

[bogstandard]

You would get a much more pleasureable return for your quantity of apples if you turned it into wine. I reckon about 10 gallons at least. Plus it could be drunk from almost the time it was bottled.

I used to use the basic apple mash, and by adding whatever flavours (different yeast types, and a small bit of other fruit or flowers) I wanted during mash fermentation, I made some very refreshing and definitely 'fall overable' wines. From heavy table wines, to light, drink in the yard types. The best ever was a Tokay yeast based one, by gently feeding it sugar daily, coupled with a slightly higher temperature, I managed to get it to 14% by volume before the yeast gave up. A definite 'wobbly leg' juice.

Bogs

[Darren]

I thought you strained it after the fermentation stage......but then it's been a while since I've done it...

[bogstandard]

Darren,

Never having brewed Cider, I think they actually ferment the juice only, whereas with wine, you use the whole fruit to make the mash, and after fermenting in a bucket until the yeast has gained strength and the fruit or whatever has imparted the required flavour, the solids are strained off, and the resulting must is then fermented on until the yeast dies (usually 6 to 8 weeks), or stopped when you have reached the required alcohol level.
With home made white wines, you usually consume within a year, but with the heavier red wines, they will last for years in the bottle.

A very enjoyable pastime, unfortunately one I am not allowed to do any more.

John

[Darren]

I see, I've only ever done wine....very nice it was too....not like the shp rubbish...yuk....

[raynerd]

I`m not a massive fan of white wine but I guess it would stretch my apples out a bit. I`ll stick to the cider for now but maybe think about a wine next time, although if this is sucessful I`ll probably fancy giving a good ale a go!

I`m going to the shop later tonight, I need to find a UV pasturised apple juice to add to my mix to bulk it out a little. The method I`m following is for 4gallon of apple juice but I`m hoping to top my gallon up to 2 and do a half batch.

[raynerd]

Here is an update on my Graff brew. Decided to follow a recipe that I found some time ago - it is a cider brew but with hops and malts to give it extra body. It also allowed me to add an extra couple of litre of water and so would stretch out my apples a little further, as well as making it more tasty!

Thanks for the tip on the coffee filters rleete! It helped a bunch, they are now very transparent



With it being a true brew from grain, I had to do a mini mash. I steeped 80g of crystal malt in 1.2Litre of water @ 155deg F for 30 minutes. I tried to keep the temp constant so that I got the right taste from the grains and no unwanted bitterness.



I then put 0.5 Litre of water on the hob to warm up to 170deg F while the crystal was steeping. It was smelling amazing!!



I then sparged the crystal with the 170 deg water by holding the sock above the pan and trickling the hot water through it.



I next added 300g of dried malt extract rather than using plain sugar





and set this to boil with 5g of cascade hopps for another 30 minutes. By the time I took this photo I had actually removed the little sock of hopps but it was in there!



I then let the whole lot cool right down to 70deg F (apparently I could have let the apple juice cool it but it would perminantly cloud my brew, some don`t mind but I fancied it clear then I could see what was going on!) I then pitched my yeast - 3.5g in each demijohn. I split the mix incase it decided  to bubble up, I probably could have fit it all in one!





Hopefully should see some activity within the next few hours. I thought there were small bubble on the top and I think the pressure has increased because the airlock has shifted positions. Hopefully, when I get back home it should be bubbling!

Fingers crossed...

Chris

[Bernd]

Good luck Chris.

When I first saw that what sprank to mind was "What would the narcotic guys think about this?" White poweder, heat.       


Bernd

[rleete]

One more tip for future batches: activate your yeast in warm water.  Boil a couple of cups (half a liter?) water, and add just a little sugar - a couple of spoonfulls.  Let cool to roughly the same temp as a warm shower.  Add the yeast, and let sit for an hour or so.  If you do this before you start boiling up the other stuff, it's nicely going by the time you get to pitch it.  Then, by the time you add the airlock it's alrady going.

I don't see any big messes, so I assume you didn't boil over.  Every brewer does it eventually; it's almost a right of passage.

[raynerd]

  will my yeast still get going ??

[rleete]

Yeah, it'll be fine the way you did it.  It will just take longer to get going.

[raynerd]

Well it is going -  1 bubble every 30 seconds or so.

Chris

[raynerd]

Day 11 and one of the demijohns has stopped bubbling a few days ago, the gravity reading it 1008 and this has stayed the same for 2 days. This one has been slightly warmer than the other so it isn`t surprising that it could have finished fermenting earlier than the other. I thought I would try bottling this, so primed it each 500ml bottle with 1 teaspoon of standard white sugar. I thought I would go all out and purchased some nice swing top bottles.



I tried to get a better picture, I could get a better "pose" but none of them really show the colour. Remember this is a graff so it has some malt extract and crystal malt added which makes it a lovely golden colour. Could do with a little more clarity so with the other batch, I`m going to try and add a little gelatin. I`m also thinking of some other options to use with the other batch.

It tastes great even flat and warm!! Really looking forward to trying this when it has conditioned!!!! 

OG - 1.060   FG - 1.008    ABV= 1.055-1.008 = 0.047 * 131 =   6.2

I`ll let you know the important part in 3 weeks.

[andyf]

Is the slotted spoon in your pic for sieving the bigger bits out as you fill your glass? 

Seriously, though, I must try this next year - there's only a couple of pounds of apples left on my tree, now. I don't know what variety they are, but they are more of a cooker than an eater - bit sour, even late in the season. Do you reckon there'd be enough sugar in them for cider?

Andy

[CrewCab]

I`ll let you know the important part in 3 weeks. 

Nooooo .............   Noooooooooooooo   ..........   Nooooooooooooooooooo  ....................... Chris  ............. that's not the way it should work,


Get some plastic containers, some jiffy baags and post some out to the lads'  .............. then in 3 weeks time we can all  together

   CC

[raynerd]

AndyF - I`d definately say go for it!!! If you use a recipet like this, you are adding extra flavour and sugars from the crystal malt and Dried Malt extract. Really does taste nice, like a cider but with a beer/ale flavour - it is really good!! I`ve only ever tried beers made by mates and have to say they
My original gravity of the apples alone was only 1040, after adding the required DME and crystal it bumped it up to 1060. So if you pressed your apples and then added similar amounts of DME and grains then top up until you get something around 1050+ I think you`d end up with a cracking cider.

Give it a go....

CC - If you send me a self addressed envelope, I`ll send you a piece of paper dipped in some of my cider for you to lick - 

Chris

[CrewCab]

CC - If you send me a self addressed envelope, I`ll send you a piece of paper dipped in some of my cider for you to lick - 

OK Chris, but make sure you wrap it in cling film .............. don't want it to dry out in the post 

CC

[dsquire]

CC - If you send me a self addressed envelope, I`ll send you a piece of paper dipped in some of my cider for you to lick - 

Chris

Now there is a novel idea. Instant booze, just add distilled water. No shipping problems, just use letter post!

Cheers 

Don