[ChickenCityRoller]

Since it's that time of year I figured I'd post up here. If you're out in the country, stop by the Heston Steam Yard to get some of Doc. Bremers apple cider. They're making it on location from his apples and it's all done the old fashioned way with vintage equipment. I'll tell you what, this stuff is amazing. It's like drinking an apple, nothing compares. In most states you are required by law to pasteurize your cider but not in the Hoosier! This stuff is straight from the press and unpasteurized. Take note that really little kids and really old people MIGHT not want to drink it because of this. 99.9% chance you'll be fine but they are required by law to put a sticker on it. Entrance to the steam yard is free and the cider is $4 for a two gallon jug. I really is a special treat.

[JHeath]

Is that something new that they're doing? I never knew that they pressed cider and sold it at Hesston.
My kids love the Steam Museum...looks like it might be time for the annual jaunt.

[ChickenCityRoller]

Doc Bremer has done it on and off for 25 years. The past couple years he hasn't tended much to the orchard but he did this year and the apples are excellent. It's the little shack to the left of the main depot, you can't miss it. Oh man is that stuff good. I gave a jug to my neighbors and they were mixing it with Vodka, lol.

[Ang]

Vodka tastes good with anything/everything!

(even chocolate milk!)

[ChickenCityRoller]

Vodka tastes good with anything/everything!

(even chocolate milk!)[size=6]

I just threw up a little.

[Tim]

Since it's that time of year I figured I'd post up here. If you're out in the country, stop by the Heston Steam Yard to get some of Doc. Bremers apple cider. They're making it on location from his apples and it's all done the old fashioned way with vintage equipment. I'll tell you what, this stuff is amazing. It's like drinking an apple, nothing compares. In most states you are required by law to pasteurize your cider but not in the Hoosier! This stuff is straight from the press and unpasteurized. Take note that really little kids and really old people MIGHT not want to drink it because of this. 99.9% chance you'll be fine but they are required by law to put a sticker on it. Entrance to the steam yard is free and the cider is $4 for a two gallon jug. I really is a special treat.

[Ang]

I just threw up a little.

[mcstumper]

Mmmm. How's about hot cider and rum? Now that's a fall classic.

[Roger Kaputnik]

I believe I will have to try that. Is the basic recipe a mug of cider and a splash of rum?

[ChickenCityRoller]

I got some more this weekend. Sooooo good! Right now they're using two different apples. They told me it's only going to get better as the season goes on. In a couple weeks, it'll be a mix of five different types of apples.

[Southsider2k12]

I got some more this weekend. Sooooo good! Right now they're using two different apples. They told me it's only going to get better as the season goes on. In a couple weeks, it'll be a mix of five different types of apples.

Now that's a man who loves his cider

[Roger Kaputnik]

Hmmm...sipsipsip......this cider is from a tree on the southern perimeter of the orchard....sipsip....picked by a left-handed Honduran who was wearing a gold ring...

[ChickenCityRoller]

No sip sip here. I'm more like chug chug. It's so good I could probably slam the entire jug. You gotta be careful with that cider though, you know what too much of it'll do.

[Roger Kaputnik]

One time I had a jug of cider in the fridge, and my son, who was about 7 at the time, opened it, got himself a cup, and took a sip. "Yuck," he said, "this tastes terrible!" I gave him a look, and told him to hand me the cup. Yes, it had turned! So I had a jug of apple hooch, put a big XXX on theh label, and told the boys to leave it alone.

[ChickenCityRoller]

Making hard cider is a little more involved than that but not that difficult. Since we're on the subject:




Find the Ingredients
Choose Your Juice. The best hard cider is made from sweet apple cider fresh from the cider press — whether your own, or a local cider mill's. If you're buying sweet cider, start by checking the label to be sure the cider doesn't contain chemical preservatives, because these will kill your yeast and your cider will not ferment. (The cider is chemically preserved if sodium benzoate or potassium sorbate are listed on the label.) Your best bet for preservative-free cider is to buy it in season from a local orchard. In a pinch, you can also make hard cider with grocery store apple juice, as long as it doesn't have preservatives.

Also, be aware that most commercial cidermakers are required to pasteurize their cider, and the process they use will affect the flavor. Preferably, your sweet cider should be "cold pasteurized," which kills microorganisms with ultraviolet light. The usual method of pasteurization kills microorganisms with heat, which affects the flavor of the juice. If you're not sure which method a local cider mill uses, it doesn't hurt to ask.

Choose Your Yeast. A variety of dry and liquid brewing yeasts will do the trick, and you can find them online or from homebrew stores. Although you can buy specialized liquid yeast packs for fermenting cider, dry wine yeasts do an excellent job and are much cheaper. (You can get a pack for less than a dollar.)

Make a Starter. The day before you brew your cider, make a starter. This step is optional, but it ensures that your yeast is proofed (i.e., alive) and will start fermenting your cider right away. To make a starter, open the bottle of preservative-free apple juice and pour out a few ounces. Pour the contents of one yeast packet into the bottle, reseal it and shake for a few seconds. Within five or six hours, you should see a bit of bubbling within the bottle. Once you do, release the pressure within the bottle, reseal it and put it in the refrigerator. Get it out a couple of hours before you brew.


Start Brewing
On brewing day, pour your cider into the brewpot and simmer it over medium heat for about 45 minutes. This will kill most of the wild yeasts and bacteria in the cider. Bolder cidermakers will forgo this step by pouring the sweet cider directly into a plastic bucket and then pitching in the yeast. If you follow this strategy, wild strains of yeast will still be in the sweet cider when it begins fermenting. This will alter the flavor of the cider. (It may or may not improve it.) If you do heat the cider, don't let it boil! Boiling causes pectins to set, which creates a permanently hazy beverage. While simmering the cider, you can add the optional 2 pounds of brown sugar or honey. This will boost the fermentable sugar content in your cider and up the alcohol content.



Next, pour the cider into a sanitized fermentation bucket — an unsanitized bucket may spoil the cider. To sanitize, pour a capful of bleach into your bucket, fill it with water, let it sit for a half an hour, then dump out and rinse with cold water. (You can also buy non-bleach, no-rinse sanitizers at homebrew stores.) Let the cider cool to nearly room temperature, then add your yeast — or starter, if you chose to make one. Stir the mixture for a minute or two with a clean stainless steel or plastic spoon to aerate, then seal the lid and affix the airlock. Place the bucket in a room or closet where the temperature is 60 to 75 degrees — the closer to 60 degrees, the better. Stay within this range if you can: At lower temperatures the cider won't ferment, while higher temperatures will speed up fermentation, but may also change the flavor.



Let it Ferment. Within a day or two you should see the airlock start to bubble. The gas it's releasing is carbon dioxide, a byproduct of the fermentation process. Congratulations, your soft cider is on its way to becoming a delicious, inebriating elixir of the gods! This bubbling should subside within two weeks, signifying an end to the primary fermentation. After that, let the cider sit another week to allow the yeast to settle out.


Options For Bottling
There are a couple of different ways you can go at this point:

Option 1: Bottle the Cider Now. If you want to bottle the cider immediately, affix the rinsed food-grade tubing to the spigot on your fermentation bucket and pour the cider off into sanitized jugs or bottles. (Be gentle when moving the bucket full of cider. Sloshing can disturb the yeast sediment at the bottom of the bucket and cloud up your cider.) Seal the jugs or bottles. Let the bottled hard cider sit for another two weeks and then it will be ready to drink. Your cider will probably be "still" (i.e., not fizzy) unless you let it age for several months. Hard cider is more like wine than beer, and the flavor will improve as it ages.

Option 2: Let it Clarify. If you only use one fermenter, your cider will taste fine, but may not be perfectly clear because it will probably still have some suspended yeast. To reduce cloudiness, siphon your cider into a secondary fermenter (another food-grade bucket). Sanitize this bucket before filling it with cider. Once you've siphoned your cider into the secondary fermenter, put a sanitized lid and airlock on it and place it back in a dark and, preferably, cool location. A month should be ample time for the cider to clarify. After it's aged for as long as you can stand, bottle it as above. This cider will most definitely be "still," with no bubbles.

Option 3: Make Sparkling Cider. Regardless of whether you decide to bottle immediately or let it clarify in a secondary fermenter, if you want "sparkling" cider, you'll have to add a couple steps at bottling time. First, boil 1 cup water with three-fourths cup honey or brown sugar. Pour this mixture into a sanitized bottling bucket (i.e., another fermentation bucket with a spigot at the bottom). Then, siphon your cider over from your fermentation bucket to the bottling bucket. The honey or brown sugar syrup and cider should mix together naturally, but stir slowly with a sanitized spoon if you feel it is necessary. Then, bottle as you would normally. You'll have to let this sit a bit longer than the still cider, so the residual yeast will have time to ferment the sugar you added and carbonate the cider inside the bottle.

[ChickenCityRoller]

Drink the Cider! At this point, it’s time to start drinking your cider and thinking about brewing your next batch. With time and experience, your skills will grow and your recipes will become more complex. Soon, you’ll be making cider that delights your friends and terrifies your enemies.



Brewing Equipment

One 5-gallon food-grade plastic bucket with spigot, lid and airlock

3 to 6 feet of 5/16-inch food-grade plastic tubing

Stainless steel or plastic spoon

Enough half-gallon glass “growler” jugs or other bottles (including caps or corks) to store the finished cider

Optional: Stainless steel or enameled pot

Optional: a second 5-gallon food-grade plastic bucket with spigot, or a glass carboy


Hard Cider Ingredients
5 gallons of preservative-free, sweet apple cider, preferably unpasteurized

Two packets of wine yeast (Lalvin 71B or Red Star Cote des Blancs are good choices)

Optional for higher alcohol content: 2 pounds of brown sugar or honey

Optional for creating a starter: one 16-ounce bottle of preservative-free, pasteurized apple juice

Optional for sparkling cider: 3/4 cup honey or brown sugar

[Southsider2k12]

I think this is a great time to mention that Citybythelake accepts no responsibility for anyone taking advice from posters on this site

[ChickenCityRoller]

I think this is a great time to mention that Citybythelake accepts no responsibility for anyone taking advice from posters on this site

Hahahahaha! good call! Hey, it's all available on the intronut!

[Michelle]

Definitely go for the glass carboy if you're going to do it more than once or twice. If the plastic bucket gets scratched, it basically can't be used for brewing again.

/homebrewing advice