How to Make Hard Cider in Three Easy Steps
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- Опубликовано: 1 июл 2024
- Brewmaster Jeff Merriman explains how to make hard cider in three simple steps. You can make hard cider from fresh pressed apple juice, store bought juice (without preservatives), or one of the hard cider concentrate kits sold at Northern Brewer.
Cider Making Supplies: bit.ly/33nF8t4
Guide to Making Hard Cider: bit.ly/3k9ovbE
00:00 - Introduction
00:15 - Step #1: Clean & Sanitize
01:25 - Step #2: Select Apple Juice
02:35 - Step #3: Select & Pitch Yeast
04:02 - Add Sugar to Increase Alcohol
05:45 - To Carbonate or Not?
05:55 - Backsweetening
![APPLE PIE HARD CIDER [How to Make Cider at Home] 🍎🥧](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/oiulBiynrj8/mqdefault.jpg)
when i was 16 my recipe was 1 gallon of fresh cider from krogers, about 2 cups sugar,1 cup brown sugar, 2 packs of yeast from grandma's pantry, 2 sticks of cinnamon, cut a hole in the cap and run a rubber tube to a bottle of water (water trap) seal with duct tape and hide in the woods for 2 weeks, strain with moms coffee filters and you're good to go. If you can't get someone to buy alcohol for you ya gotta adapt and overcome. (Drink responsibly kids)
You are bad ass my friend! Cheers! lol
I've always just made mead, so cider's new to me. The first batch I didn't add any sugar, a really bad mistake I learned after I was done. Now, I'm just putting yeast in apple juice and building from there. Thanks for the recipe.
ah yes i am a fellow 21 year old that will take this information to legally make some cider thank you
Coming from the UK, I'm fortunate to have been drinking in pubs from the age of 14
Lol The first time I got fully wasted I was 13, welcome to Europe!
I did a 5 gallon batch using cranapple juice. I added 2lbs of brown sugar and it gets better with age. After carbonating for two weeks it was ok but we left it for 4 weeks and people that have tried it love it. Making a new batch today.
Great video. As a cider maker with a few hundred gallons under my belt, this video has some great tips for easy cider making.
Does it always taste sour like a white wine when it's finished? I made pear cider with some lemon and ginger and all hints of pear, ginger and lemon disappeared and it just tasted alcoholic and sour.
I sanitized everything with starsan, used 5l of pasteurized pear juice that I heated up breifly along with the ginger, lemon and extra sugar. Strained it all into the damejeanne and let it cool to yeast safe temperatures, added my S05 ale yeast and shook it around for a bit and let it ferment for 4 and a half weeks or so and FG landed on 11 Oe or 1.010 SpGr
Wow man that must be heavy.
Nocure92 The lemon and ginger could have really thrown off the acids. Plus pear is very susceptible to turning to vinegar if it is not taken special care of. It shouldn’t have tasted sour. But “sour like a white wine”? I am confused about that part. No wine should be “sour”. Maybe you taste the acidity as sour??
Stop drinking that much
@@winolowardichelli2850 uhh.. ok. But I make it at a winery, so there's that...
Wait, I'm paying $5 a glass for something you paid $2 a gallon for?
$5 sounds like a deal as well! Most taprooms around here (Twin Cities) charge more like $6-8/pint. Homebrewing and home cidermaking is certainly a way to get a bit more bang for you buck depending on what kind of volume and styles you make. Cheers!
@@NorthernBrewerTV I believe it was an 11oz glass. Wish it were a pint!
How did I get into gardening and end up learning how to make cider? 😂 I've got to many apples I finally want to use instead of letting them rot
Do it!
Same here lol
Ditto!
This vedio i love, have straight formation easy yo understand, getting to th point straight.
Thank you,
What an excellent video! Great presentation and you made it interesting.
The only great video showing how you can make simple cider.
Piotr Wiosna - you may want to check out the City Steading channel...
Living in Maine winter time gave a special set of circumstances. First you start with fresh cider. Then you make batches of hard cider. Raisins were used a lot. Once the hard cider was made you put it in a barrel and put it outside on the north side of the house or barn (no sun). Then you wait. The very cold weather will eventually freeze it from the outside in. The longer you wait, the stronger it gets. When done you have true Apple jack, not the crap the bottle and that name to these days. It was awesome! There was still an Apple taste but a good batch gets up there to about 150 proof! Dangerous stuff as it is soooooo smooth and goes down easy. Oh, those were the days!
Would have loved an opportunity to taste that apple jack back in the day. Love the process notes. Thanks for sharing this!
Does freezing it separate water from the other ingredients?
@@myliquidthunderyou have to sift the ice out of the holding barrel but yes the freezing separates the alcohol from the water. That being said though it does leave behind a lot of nasty chemicals that can lead to wicked hangovers if over consumed
Exactly what we were looking for, thank you for sharing!
this is the best video about making hard cider on youtube so far...thanxxx
@Кристофер Хей Just depends on how hard of a kick you want. You can add some and test the initial gravity and go from there. The higher the initial gravity, the higher the potential ABV.
Very informative video. Great job. 👍
This was awesome! Super simple and straight forward :)
Glad it was helpful. Tis the season for hard cider!
wow...what a great video. simple, clear, and short. Well done sir. Learned so much about what is needed for the correct juice to work, carbonation and best yeasts to use. Thank you! Do you have any videos on recommendations when using actual apples for the juice source? I have an small orchard and would like to add some of the natural apple juice in the batch. Any advice is very appreciated.
You'll need a press - either manual, mechanical or bladder press. You could build or buy them... or improvise something that will help crush/grind and press juice out of the apples. Here are a few videos showing different versions of a similar process.
ruclips.net/video/VOZXki3s5oM/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/_T9GOSKIdJs/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/0OjNs-ZbqZ0/видео.html
NorthernBrewerTV after the pressing, do you need to pasteurize the cider? If so, how would you do that?
Yoooooo I’m a human too
The best video out tbere and easy to understand ,great job thks
Glad it helped!
For anyone using red star bread yeast. It will have a unique flavor, but not at the point of pruno thankfully.
And I used instant apple cider. To my surprise worked.
How bad is it
Would you add your spices or purée before or after the yeast (or does it not matter all that much)?
Great video! If I want to add for example brown sugar, should I be heating the juice up first to allow it to absorb? And for gravity and I just reading it as if it were “beer”?
Nice tutorial
Great video, thanks!
2 question about carbonating by adding sugar to the bottle:
-won't my yeast be dead by the time I bottle?
-how much extra sugar should I add?
Thanks for the question. A good rule of thumb is to add an ounce of priming sugar per gallon of cider into a half-cup or cup of water, bring to a boil, and cool. Then add this sugar solution to your cider when bottling and wait about two weeks with cider at room temp for carbonation. While it seems or looks like all the yeast might have bottomed out in your fermenter there will actually be a microscopic amount of yeast still in suspension that will find the priming sugar solution to make the carbonation. This article might help: www.northernbrewer.com/blogs/wine-cider-and-mead-making/short-pour-hard-cider-made-easy
My granddaddy taught me after the fermentation is done and before bottling take the fermentation container and put in the freezer and let it freeze. After it is frozen pour off the liquid into the bottles. This is an easy way to raise the alcohol level between 35-80 % alcohol. Alcohol doesn't freeze at the normal temperature of a freezer. What you have is apple whiskey, it may not have the great taste of hard cider, however many of the flavorings will be in the alcohol. Notes: of course the yield will much less, 2 you can let the frozen mash can be thawed and be drunk and it will contain some alcohol or thrown out(but a waste) 3 an alcohol gage, it is used so you know the alcohol it tells you the alcohol content by the level it floats in the liquid. 4) what I am telling you is hypothetical as I am not sure if this is considered distilling the same moonshine and maybe illegal, I am just telling a story told to me by my granddad, so I take no responsibility for any legal problems.
MOST OF ALL LET THE
GOOD TIMES ROLL.
ENJOY
NB Jeff, What is the finished alcohol content? Can I add chopped up fresh apples?
Great video
You had me at cleaning and sanitation, watching other videos has me thinking folks just eat off the floor as long as they swept it.
Wow! What a perfectly stated analogy. Love this comment. Thanks, John.
I go the cheap way and use regular dehydrated active bread yeast. It works. I can make Hard Cider in a matter of weeks.
That is very interesting. The cider flavors are clean and it clears up nicely?
@@NorthernBrewerTV it does clear up as if I am brewing beer, I brew from refills every now and than, and it taste fairly good. Not the best Hard Cider, but still hard cider.
Its probably fermented by wild yeast, as bread yeast is not able to make alcohol as it dies even in a very small amount of alcohol. That is why commercial hybrid yeasts are made for brewers.
József Bulyáki - I just did a simple store bought apple juice apple hard cider, sweetened to 1070 and it fermented to 1005 using supermarket dry active bread yeast. It has been racked and is now sitting somewhere cool and dark to see how well it will naturally clarify. My experience is not uncommon. It's unlikely that it was wild yeast that did the job.
Rob Salvv how much dry yeast for x liters? I might try, thanks :))
Nice video !:Can i use fresh apple juice (fresh fruit) nstead of supermaket juice? I ve seen in another video that i should fill all the fermenter with the juice
Thank you
Thanks for watching our video!
I'm going to makes some cider with my father as oppose to the usual rakija (moonshine) this year so this video is of great help.
Love to hear it! Also intrigued to hear or learn more about rakija.
@@NorthernBrewerTV rakija is just hard liquor made from whatever fruits you have in your garden in abundance. Depending on the fruit, you may have to crush it or remove it's seeds.Also if you mess up your wine, you could turn it into rakija too.Because you're not going to drink it, it's good to try to turn all of the sugar into alcohol. I've heard different amounts but generally from 15 to 25% sugar. When all the sugar is converted you need to distill it, which we usually do in a big copper distillery that someone else owns. During this step you have to be careful because at first you get methanol and you could go blind or even die if you don't remove it.
great videoooo bro..... Brazil
Is there any specific pasteurized, non-stabilized apple juice that people prefer to use?
If I wanted to add something like cherry purée, does it go in primary?
What are your thoughts on adding a container of concentrated apple juice to the mix for the added sugar value?
concentrates usually contain e211 and e202 both of which will kill of yeast really you want only ascorbic acid as a preservative
@@obi-wankenobi5926 I use it at the bottling stage and have great success with it then. Adds a little fizz by using up the remaining yeast, and a more powerful apple taste.
@@charleskiplinger9904 yeah adding it at the bottling stage would be fine its just adding it prior to fermentation having completed could inhibit the conversion of the sugars into alcohol.
Great video, thank you. Would it be ok to use cold pasteurised apple juice?
I'm not 100% sure what that means, but as long as it has no preservatives you *should* be good to go!
Thankyou
I might get roasted but it's fine because I really enjoy my cider. I use 04 yeast leaves it pretty sweet I ferment 2 weeks then bottle and pasteurize the yeast to kill it off and leave the bottles sweet and carbonized.
When should you add the purée?
So all I have to do is add any yeast I choose and wait 1-2 weeks for it to be ready to drink? I want to make a batch for a BBQ coming up so I want to know how to do it correctly
Are the fruit concentrates added prior to the first fermentation or in the final stages? I'm about to start my first batch of cider and would love to try one with cherries!
In the past, I have made sour cherry ciders. I usually put the frozen cherries into a carboy first and then rack/transfer the cider from primary fermenter bucket into carboy to condition on the fruit. The cider pulls a wonderful dark pink color from the cherries as well as the flavor. I assume the same would work with fruit concentrate. Some would argue you could even put it in primary fermentation, but I think you would lose a lot of fruit impact b/c the flavors and aromas would be "scrubbed out" a bit during fermentation. If you have more questions, please feel free to reach our Customer Service folks via email or text: www.northernbrewer.com/pages/contact-us
(Chip @ NB)
@@NorthernBrewerTV I'll give it a shot. Thanks!
Nice video................Question....When do you actually add the sugar? After fermentation is done?And----are you adding it to the primary fermentation unit first or the individual bottles before corking?
StudentMeetsWorld If your objective is to increase the alcohol content, then you would add it prior to fermentation. If you are using a keg and just trying to make it a little sweeter, then add a Camden tablet to stop fermentation and sweeten to liking. If you are bottling and want to sweeten, then you can use artificial sweeteners to your liking. Then only add the appropriate amount of bottling sugar or cane sugar to get the proper amount of carbonation.
At what temp do you maintain your fermentation, or is it not critical ? When I ferment 'shine, I like to keep it at 80-90 degrees F.
It’s no critical, not to cold but definitely not to hot, heat could kill the yeast if above 90F
How much extra sugar should you add (grams) per gallon of juice into the fermenter?
I found this brand Martinellis that comes in large glass jugs that are really nice. You can just toss an airlock on it and use it as a carboy. I add some brown sugar and honey.
@riothero313
Mmmm... Brown sugar
@@ironwood9 Good stuff, and a pain free low cost way to try a hard cider for the first time.
Great video! If I’m doing the cinnamon stick, brown Sugar and raisins… would I do that before the yeast?
You can do it many different ways. If it were me, I would add the sugar to the juice before adding the yeast to ferment, that is if you're using the brown sugar for an alcohol boost. I'd do the cinnamon and raisins post-fermentation. However, if you are talking more about using the brown sugar to backsweeten the cider post-fermentation you would put it in after the cider is completely fermented and stabilized (to keep it from kickstarting fermentation again). So, sort of depends on if the raisins and brown sugar are meant to be more of a flavoring or a sugar source. (Chip)
Pretty funny that I would find my own last name while researching a project.
Hey from Vermont, Jeff!
I use Starsan for sanitation and also I add yeast nutrients & energizer.
Starsan - don't fear the foam! Good call on the nutrients and energizer.
I used to always use starsan or my beer. I moved overseas and became a nomad so no more beer making for me, until...dun dun dun...lockdown.
Great video ! how do you carbonate it ? didn't get that part, i love my cider w bubbles :D
rock M is correct. If you want to get more advanced you can also keg and carbonate your cider.
What did you use to clean the jar ?
I need to ask you a question about sanitizing I thought one step was a no rinse and you rinsed it out is that okay?
Starsan is no rinse. These are also cleaning agents and should be rinsed.
US-05 ale yeast always tastes great in apple cider. very crisp finish. cote des blanc was what i used to use before i tried US-05. it tastes a bit too apple-pie for my palate (i dont like overly sweet) and tastes more like dessert than I think it should.
I have done this twice with two different kinds of juice. The last juice I bought was peach and it is very tart. Am I doing something wrong ? It ferments well and carbonates well. I even added two pounds of brown sugar to help keep it sweet. Is the yeast taking most of the sugars out ?
Exactly - the yeast will keep eating all the sugar you throw at it. Sounds like you want to backsweeten your cider so that that sweetness stays in tact. To do this you'll want to stabilize the cider first (which kills any yeast still in suspension) so that new added sugar simply sweetens the cider instead of providing more fuel for fermentation. We have a whole class on Cidermaking 101 that covers this process if you are interesting in a more in-depth explanation: northern-brewer-university.thinkific.com/courses/hard-cider-101-how-to-make-hard-cider-at-home
when do you put cinnamon or other flavorants in? When it's fermenting or before bottling?
while its fermenting, and remove before bottling.
There are all sorts of thoughts on this. You can put them in during fermentation. Many people prefer to put in secondary in a sanitized bag so that you can pull spices out when preferred taste is reached. Or just be prepared to rack off of spices if you don't bag them. Alternatively, some folks make a flavored tincture soaking spices in vodka and adding at bottling/kegging.
Moving to Saudi Arabia, this channel is a life saver
Do you plan to brew or make other home fermentations there?
@@NorthernBrewerTV going to try as much as I can with the limitations of the products. Ie I don't think I can get wine yeast, but bread yeast. I'll be using this channel... Alot!!
How about using mother braggs yeast? Does the gallon need to sit in a certain type temp? Indoor of outdoor ?
We would not just suggest using yeast from Braggs or you will get apple cider vinegar instead of hard cider. (Unless, of course, that is your goal?) Hard cider should ferment in the low 60s to low 70s for best results. Usually that means indoors. But if you live somewhere that stays in that temperature range, we suppose you could ferment it outdoors.
there was no mention of a hydrometer being used, in other videos I watched they used one. Should I get one?
Hydrometers are definitely an essential piece of equipment for taking gravity readings and knowing what the final alcohol content is for your beer, wine, cider, etc.
Can this be put in a keg on co2? Would that carbonate it?
Hard cider can absolutely be kegged and carbonated much like beer. In my opinion it's the best way to serve cider because you can really dial up the carbonation and make it super bubbly, which is how I like my cider. The bonus to kegging is now you can backsweeten it without worrying about re-starting fermentation as well.
Is there anything that i could add that would interfere with the process? I'm specifically wondering if acids would effect I was thinking of doing a lemon lime cider. I'm completely new to this so thanks for the video
The acid from the fruit or puree really shouldn't affect the cider's ability to ferment, carbonate, etc. Only chemical preservatives or stabilizers are the real deal-breaker. Go for it!
@@NorthernBrewerTV thanks for the reply after this video has been up for so long and i started it a couple days ago so ill let you know how my first one comes out
Did you add just one packet of red star for 5 gallons? Is there any benefit to adding a pectin enzyme for clarity?
Also, how much priming sugar for 12 oz bottles?
Great video!!
Generally yes one pack is sufficient for a common cider, as gravity increases two packs should be used. Same as beer rule-of-thumb: 1.060 is the cut off for one pack. (Most cider/juice with no additional sugar added should be below 1.060, most often around 1.045-50.) Nutrients should always be used to insure clean ferment. Our customer service folks suggest Fermaid O or K.
Pectic enzyme is a clarifier that can assist in breaking down the polysaccharides which cause haze in ciders. Generally this is not a concern unless the cider is heated, but can be added safely to all ciders as an insurance.
You can use the same ratio of priming solution as you would for beer.
Hope this helps!
Probably really late for this question. But... I recently bought a cider starter kit with fermentation bucket. I only realised when I got it how big the bucket was, 8 gallons. I had only planned to start small.
Is it possible to only fill half of it? Or would the extra air be bad for the fermentation? Am I better off filling it or buying a smaller container?
Thanks
Full send the container man but if you really wanted to filling only halfway won't be much problem me personally I just pour the yeast into the juice bottle and wait then bam affordable hooch
You can certainly ferment five gallons of cider in an eight gallon bucket. Not at issue at all in active primary fermentation. If anything what you don't want is a bucket that's too close to liquid volme in case you get some intense foaming or blow-off. Now, where you want to be more aware of volume is in secondary. That extra headspace in secondary can lead to oxidation. So if you do a secondary conditioning step, be sure to get that cider in a vessel that is as close in volume as possible.
It's been a week since I've started mine and it's very cloudy, most videos I see show very clear ciders. Does being cloudy mean something?
To increase the specific gravity, could you evaporate the water and concentrate the apple juice up to 1.090? Would that amplify the apple notes along with the abv?
Do you mean evaporate the water by way of boiling the apple juice solution? If so, it certainly would bump the gravity up (at the cost of some volume obviously). Not so sure about the apple-y-ness being increased. Part of me wants to say yes, but another part thinks the boiling might do something unexpected to the flavor like over caramelizing it?
@@NorthernBrewerTV Boiling is one option, certainly the simplest. I was worried about the heat damaging the flavor profile, too. I could also run it through a rotovap or molecular sieve. I wonder if something akin to freeze distillation could prefentially remove water over the sugars. A long low simmer might work without actually boiling as well.
@@NorthernBrewerTV When we make hot apple cider, the flavor carries over pretty well, so I don't think it'd be damaged too bad. I can concentrate it without bringing it to a full boil. Fructose caramelizes at 230F, so as long as you bright it's temp up very slowly, you should be okay.
How many grams of yeast will I need to use for this much cider?
Can you add a link to Episode #67 please?
I am new and back sweeten after hitting .990 every time. Couldn't be happier since I like it more or less dry with an ever so slight hint of sweet. I like crab apples off the limb if this means anything to anyone.
Nice video! Quickness's question, why would you not add a blow out tube for a couple days before changing to the air lock?
You can certainly do that if you'd like. If the cider (or beer) isn't of above average OG, and not at risk of really vigorous fermentation, an airlock does fine. Also, we've found cider often doesn't have the foaming/krausen intensity that beer might, so a blow-off tube might not be necessary. Again, if if works for you and you feel it helps your process, go for it!
@@NorthernBrewerTV awesome! Thanks a lot. You guys rock!
I was always told by my local brew shop that 1Step is NOT a sanitizer and that I should be using a product like Star San for sanitizing...
How about adding honey ( I have the purest organic honey) instead of sugar
Does the cider need to be kept in a dark place and what temperature should it ferment at.?
It's not as important to be in a dark place as it is with fermenting beer (due to negative effects of direct line on hops), but we always suggest a dark-ish place that is out of the way so that there's little to no chance of being disturbed or knocked over. Fermentation temperature depends on what type of yeast you use for fermentation but a good rule of thumb is between 65-75F is possible. Again, each yeast strain has a preferred temp. range to make sure to reference the yeast pouch or our website for said yeast strain.
How much pure apple juice would you need to make 23 l of cider and how much yeast and sugar would have to put in the fermentation bucket and how much sugar do I put in for the secondary fermentation
23 liters of juice. 5g of dry yeast or a pouch of liquid yeast. You don't *have* to add any sugar at the beginning unless you intentionally want to bump up the gravity. The cider alone has enough sugar to ferment into a 4.5% - 6% beverage depnding on starting gravity of your juice. No sugar is needed in secondary either unless you want to backsweeten it as the cider will likely ferment very dry and slightly tart. In which case you stabilize the cider (to keep it from re-fermenting) and add sugar, honey, maple syrup.... most beginnings make it easy and just add apple juice concentrate to backsweeten it. But make sure you stabilize it -- especially if you're going to bottle it so that you don't end up with overcarbonated cider (or, even worse, bottle bombs). This process sheet might help you as well: cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/2785/6868/files/cider.pdf?14862863369410482911
So if using fresh apples wash apples and juice?
Does the cider need to be refrigerated during the fermentation process?
The opposite. It should be left at room temperature - as long as room temp is really warm.
Ferment at low-to-upper- 60s. Refrigerated temps are too cold. Don't cool until fermentation is complete.
The cap you used looked different than a normal one. Was that a special cap?
Can I add cinnamon during the fermentation process. Like just apple juice yeast and cinnamon??
You certainly can add cinnamon to the beginning of fermentation. However, the fermentation process might "scrub off" some of those more delicate aromas from the cinnamon. It might work better to add some sticks in secondary or even consider making a tincture soaking cinnamon sticks in a bit of neutral grain alcohol (which will pull a lot of the cinnamon flavor out) and pour that into the cider post-fermentation. It might also be easier to adjust and gauge flavor if you do it in secondary. Remember you can always add more, but it's really difficult to remove too much flavor once it's in there.
How do you make this from fresh cider?
Could you use bread making yeast
I think you could, but have not done so myself nor ever had one done that way to share any experience with.
Alright buddy how much is the Jerry can is that 20 or 25 litre. They came in with a new law in Ireland minimum pricing so I cannot afford have to Brew/Make my own
Good vid
Appreciate it.
If I purchased 5gal of apple juice and wanted to add maple syrup, how much would you recommend? 1lb?
Also, how much white wine yeast would be needed for this recipe? Is 11g too much?
It's really to your taste, but remember that a lot of the maple syrup flavor will be lost (and more abv gained) in fermentation. But if that's what you're going for, go for it. You could considered backsweetening the fermented and stabilized cider with a bit of maple syrup if you are going for more of an actual residual maple flavor. Either way, unless you're adding a lot of maple syrup, it seems like a typical 5g sachet of wine yeast should work. But if you a lot of syrup it probably can't hurt to pitch more.
@@NorthernBrewerTV thanks for the reply! Really appreciate it!
Can you leave wild hard cider on its lees to age or do you recommend racking to secondary before bottling?
I like how they liked the comment but didn't reply 😂
how did they do it in the past without sanitization?
Just attempted my first cider. 1.5 Gallon batch, 64 oz RW Krudsen Pear Juice, 64 oz Kroger Apple Juice, 16 oz Brown sugar boiled with 64 oz water, and 2.5 g of Lalvin EC-1118 wine yeast. See how it ferments in about 2 weeks.
TooRecycled - very actively I would say! Make sure you leave enough head room in your fermenter! What was your starting OG? In Australia, such juices tend to have a sugar gravity of 1050, plus you added extra sugar so up around 1075?
It's 1.5 gallons in a 2 gallon bucket. OG was 1.062
TooRecycled - that should produce a nice dry crisp cider. :)
Please follow up with your thoughts on the process and/or tasting notes!
How was it?
just started a batch 3quarts juice 6fl oz apple juice concentrate 3 cups sugar 1gram redstar premiere classique yeast. also a cyser 2.5 lbs honey 3 quarts apple juice 18 Fl oz apple juice concentrate same redstar yeast
Please can some one tell me how long the green packet used in video takes to ferment?? Also using it for wine as well...
It really depends on the starting gravity of the cider, wine, mead, beer, etc. In the case of wine, it might take a week or two because of all the sugar the yeast has to ferment before fermentation is considered complete. Where as a lower gravity (thus ultimately a lower ABV) hard cider, for example, might ferment in under a week. There are a lot of factors to consider, but I would say fermentation takes a couple of weeks. And then in the case of wine, depening on the style, etc. you might be conditioning for some additional weeks or even month. Hope this helps.
Great vid. Can I use frozen apple juice concentrate?
As long as it has no preservatives listed or hasn't been pasteurized at any point in the process, both of which might make it so yeast won't ferment the juice.
@@NorthernBrewerTV Why would previous pasteurization of the juice interfere with fermentation?
Could I use distillers yeast and molasses as the sugar?
Probably, I used molasses to back sweeten and it had a nice taste. Just made my end product much darker. As for the distillers yeast I will say that saccaromyces is saccaromyces is saccaromyces. The special yeasts are just selective for certain desirable characteristics like speed, alcohol tolerance, and more palatable esters. I use ordinary bread yeast, for example, and I am fine with what I brew.
Is brewers yeast considered a primer sugar? ... and can I add to the bottling stage? Thanks for the easy quick video :)
Brewer's yeast itself is not considered a priming sugar. If there is sugar still in solution (not completely fermented out), add brewer's yeast could carbonate the beverage.
Thank you, that’s helpful.
So is it safe to say I can back-sweeten by adding a very small amount of brewers sugar. Without risk of exploding bottles and still get carbonation?
On a slightly different note, I haven’t found much info on using coconut nectar....I’d like to know when would you think it best to use coconut nectar (liquid) in the process of making my cider ?
Much appreciated
@@TheJdiggety The amount of sugar normally used to back sweeten will greatly exceed the amount needed for carbonation and you will get a bottle bomb. Some brave folk will bottle with back sweetened cider and fill one plastic soda bottle to monitor gas buildup. After a few days and the plastic bottle is hard like a normal soda, they then pasteurize the rest of the batch in a hot water bath, but that carries it own risks of explosion as well. Other options are to back sweeten with a non fermentable sugar alcohol such as xylitol and then add just the amount of sugar required for carbonation.
Thank you for the info!
Much appreciated 🙌🏽
Can i boil the brewing container in hot water for sanitation?
If you're brewing container is metal, yes. It's not suggested for glass or plastic.
What temperature should it be kept at while fermenting?
It depends on the optimal temperature range for whatever yeast you are using. Most yeasts work best in a range from, say, 65-75F. But some yeast (beer or wine) or kveik strains can be pushed into the 80s and even 90s. Look at the yeast packaging or yeast lab website for preferred temperature ranges for fermentation.
Mine is always whatever temperature my dark basement closet it xD
Can you use Honey 🍯 as a sugar substitute?
Absolutely. At that point its technically a cyser or apple mead. I would look up a recipe to get an idea for how much honey to use.
And Champagne yeast aswell ;) ;) ;)
Does any one know how to figure the amount of points increase to the ABV per pound of brown sugar in a one gallon container?
I always make home made cider with pure apple juice (not from concentrate) , cider yeast and sugar. I'm shocked you didn't add sugar with the yeast! Probably why it was tart lol
Adding more sugar with the yeast won't really help it not be tart as that sugar will still ferment out and really only act to boost the ABV versus providing any sweetness. The sugar for balancing the finished cider's tart/sweet profile is usually the backsweetening sugar added post-fermentation. But if it works for you, it works for you!
Yeah it's still a standard thing to do though. Adding sugar to apple juice with yeast. You can always add 1 tsp of sugar per 500ml after when bottling, as long as fermentation process has completely finished. I leave mine an extra 5 days after the bubbles finish completely, then syphone it off into other demijons. Then add sugar. Then wait . Then bottle and it tastes better the longer you leave it ;)
What about the apple juice that says its made from concentrate?
That is a great option for making cider. Just make sure that it doesn't include any preservatives in the ingredients list (sulfates, sulfites) as they will block your yeast from fermentation.
Would honey be ok as an extra fermentable?
It certainly would be. It will have different effects on flavor and body than other sugar sources, but it will work for sure.
What happens if you freeze your apple juices and the drink stuff doesn’t freeze is that ok to drink please let me know
i see no one has really gotton any answers here but im gonna ask a question anyway
Do you immediately seal the batch in an airtight container or do you have a way for air to exit the bottle but not come in?
It looks like he's got an airlock attached.
@@Tankwiper wow thx
Hi ! I'm looking for the video BrewingTV episode 67 but can't find it. anyone can help ? thank you ! :D
You can find it over at Brewing TV's RUclips page. Here you go!
ruclips.net/video/4tDP1ubIci8/видео.html
What eould i have to do to get it to 44% ?
Can i use bread yeast and how would that affect my brewing?
You can use bread yeast, but it likely result in the flavors that you'd expect -- flavors that brewer's yeast, wine yeast, and cider yeast will.
@@NorthernBrewerTV thnx a lot for the response...! Since i'm out of options i already went with that and i'll see how it goes...!
Would you add spice like cinnamon sticks at the beginning?
You could, but more often I find people add flavors like cinnamon and other spices either in secondary for conditioning or make a tincture (say like cinnamon sticks steep in just a bit of high-proof neutral spirit) and added to taste at packaging.
@@NorthernBrewerTV thanks I’ve got a cider and the nut brown ale both fermenting and can’t wait to try
how do you know how to calculate your alcohol levels or how much yeast to use?
Sorry for the delay, and the answer is a bit more involved than a video comment post. Would you mind contacting us at and our savvy cusomter service crew can get more technical with you about it.
@@NorthernBrewerTV sure thanks...maybe you should try making a video for this too..