HARD CIDERS

The making of hard cider probably goes back as far as the making of other alcoholic beverages. The origins of cider were probably accidental much like the origins of beer... somebody left some juice out, which became contaminated with wild yeast and it fermented naturally and became alcoholic cider.

The process I use is extremely simple and just about as fool proof as you can get. Although you can get quite involved with picking and crushing apples, pears, cherries and etc. and using the juice. However, if fresh juices are used, sulfites must be added to kill unwanted "bugs". The juices and cider I use, although 100% natural, are all pasteurized.

Ingredients

Juices/Ciders

My recommendation is to use the purest 100% juices and ciders you can find. At Trader Joe's I have found an Unfiltered Gravenstien Apple Cider that I use for my hard apple cider. They also have an unfiltered pear cider (a word of caution, pear is known to be a natural laxative), a cherry cider which is a blend, and 100% cherry juice. The cherry cider is a blend of cherries, apples, pineapple and grape juices. Because the 100% cherry juice alone is very tart, I blend it with the cherry cider to increase the sweetness. Although I have not used any other brands of 100% juice or cider, my understanding is that just about any will work.

NOTE: All of the ciders that I have made resemble traditional draft ciders and are more tart than sweet in character.

The juices and ciders I have used have a starting gravity of 1.052 to 1.056.

Yeast

There are many types of yeast that will work for making hard cider from dry champagne yeast to liquid cider yeast and even ale yeast can be used.

The three yeasts I have used were all dehydrated yeasts. The champagne yeast has a champagne type character with a very dry finish. Montrachet leaves more of a fruit nose and character with not quite as dry a finish. The Cotes de Blanc I’ve found to be the one that I like the best of the three yeasts. It leaves the best fruit nose and flavor with the least dry finish.

Equipment Needed:

Fermentation vessel with airlock - I recommend a 6 1/2 gal. Glass carboy, but I'm sure a plastic fermentation bucket will work fine. (A funnel is optional but will help when filling the carboy)

Bottling equipment - I recommend bottling but you may keg cider if you desire. If you want "still" cider vs. sparkling cider you must bottle without bottling sugar or dispense with nitrogen to avoid carbonation.

Test Equipment - a sample tube and hydrometer are necessary for O.G. and F.G.

The Process

Couldn't be any easier. Pour the cider/juice into the carboy. Pitch the yeast (although not necessary, for best results when using dry yeast, re-hydrate as per directions). Shake well for 5 minutes, or so and install the airlock. Leave at room temperature (70-82 degrees) for 2 weeks or so, and voila you have hard cider!

Oh yea, don't forget to sanitize everything that will come in contact with the cider before and after fermentation.

Still vs. Sparkling

Cider can be made as still (no bubbles) or sparkling (bubbly). This is a personal preference and both styles are common to cider.

For still cider just bottle, without bottling sugar. Although there will be a small amount of carbonation from fermentation it will be negligible.

For sparkling cider add 4oz. Bottle sugar to 5 gal. at bottling.

Aging

If you want sparkling cider you must bottle condition for 2 weeks at room temperature. Just like ales, the cider is "finished" at this point but outside of sampling a bottle I wouldn't serve it at this point. Cider ages very well and develops wonderful character with time. I would recommend at least 2 months of aging or more if you're into delayed gratification. It's worth the wait. I have aged at both room temperature and under refrigeration and I think cooler temperatures give the best results.

Hard cider, like Mead, is a fun and easy option to brewing. It's tasty and makes a great gift, especially for the holidays. It also gives you something for the non-beer-drinking guest.

Recipe

For 6 1/2 gal. Fermenter:

5 gal. cider/juice of your choice

1 package dry or 1 vial liquid yeast

4 oz. corn sugar (at bottling for sparkling ciders only)