Making Hard Apple Cider
by J R R Money
Making hard apple cider at home is a fun and easy way to tap into a lost piece
of Americana. Before wine and beer became the drinks of choice, most Americans
drank hard apple cider due to its ease of production and the ready availability
of apples. Hard apple cider could be stored for long periods in wooden kegs or
glass bottles and the modest alcohol content meant it would be safe to drink
when clean water was not available. With a minimum of equipment and ingredients,
you too can make tasty hard apple cider at home!
Equipment
If you happen to be a homebrewer -- or know someone who is -- you probably
already have all of the equipment you'll need to make hard apple cider. If not,
don’t worry; you won’t need too many things to get your first batch going.
For convenience sake, I recommend starting with a one-gallon batch your first
time out. This will save money on equipment and will allow you to perfect your
recipe before you make larger batches. Assuming that you will be making a
one-gallon batch, here is what you'll need to get started:
One-gallon glass jug (You can buy a new one or re-use an old one-gallon wine
jug.)
#6 drilled rubber stopper
Fermentation airlock
Short length (three to four feet) of food-grade plastic tubing
Non-twist-off type glass bottles
Bottle caps
Bottle capper
Ingredients
Packet of dry yeast (either ale yeast or wine/champagne yeast)
1 gallon of preservative-free apple cider or apple juice
Procedure
BBefore you begin, it is very important to make sure all of your equipment is
clean and sanitary. If you ignore this step, you'll run a high risk of the final
product having off flavors and aromas due to bacterial infection. Wash all of
your equipment with unscented dish soap and then sanitize everything by soaking
it in a bleach solution. One tablespoon of unscented bleach per gallon of clean
water makes an effective sanitizing solution. Let everything soak for 20 minutes
and then rinse with clean water.
There are several different ways you can go about making hard apple cider. If
the cider or juice you bought is unpasteurized, you may want to gently heat it
on the stovetop to around 170 to 180 degrees Fahrenheit and hold that
temperature for around 45 minutes. Doing this will kill any wild yeast or
bacteria in the juice that could -- positively or negatively -- affect the taste
of the cider. If your juice is already pasteurized, it is not necessary to heat
it on the stovetop, but as long as the juice is not boiled (boiling can cause
the cider to be hazy), it won’t hurt it either. Whether the juice you buy is
pasteurized or not, it is very important that it be preservative-free. The
preservatives used in the juice could kill the yeast you add later and thereby
stop the fermentation. Once the juice -- which is now called must -- is ready,
you can proceed to the next step.
If you pasteurized your juice, put a lid on the pot and place it in a sink
filled with cold water. The cold water bath will help bring down the must's
temperature to a level safe enough to add the yeast. If you decided not to
pasteurize the must, make sure it is set out ahead of time to come to room
temperature. Once the must is between 65 and 75 degrees it is ready to be added
to the glass jug.
If you have a steady hand, you can pour directly into the glass jug; if not, it
is best to use a clean, sanitized funnel. Make the pour aggressive so that the
must sloshes around and foams up somewhat. This will aerate the must and will
help the yeast reproduce prior to fermentation. Once the must is in the glass
jug, you are ready to pitch in the yeast.
Since the packet of yeast you have was designed to ferment a much larger
quantity, you will only want to use about a quarter of it. You can either add
the yeast directly to the must in the jug, or you can proof it first. To proof
the yeast, add the packet to about a cup of boiled water that has cooled to
around 85 degrees and cover with plastic wrap. After about 20 minutes you should
see some foaming or bubbling indicating that the yeast is active. Swirl the
yeast slurry around and add about a quarter of its total volume to the must.
Once the yeast is pitched, seal the glass jug with the clean, sanitized rubber
stopper and the airlock. In a couple of days you should see some bubbling in the
airlock indicating that fermentation has started. Depending on the amount of
fermentable sugar in the must, fermentation can last from several days to a few
weeks. When all activity in the airlock has ceased you can be reasonably sure
that fermentation has ended.
At this point you can either bottle or move the cider to a secondary
fermentation vessel. Secondary fermentation allows the flavors to mellow and age
and helps in the clarity of the final product. If you decide to do a secondary
fermentation, siphon the cider from the glass jug to another cleaned and
sanitized glass jug leaving as much of the sediment behind as possible. Seal
this second glass jug with a stopper and airlock and let the cider age for
another two to three weeks.
Once fermentation and aging is complete, you are ready to bottle. You can either
bottle in re-used beer bottles (you must use the pry-off types, not twist-off)
or in wine bottles designed to be capped. Siphon off the cider into a clean,
sanitized bucket or pail and then siphon off into the bottles. Bottling buckets
sold at beer or wine homebrew shops make this job easier by including a handy
spigot at the bottom of the bucket. Cap the bottles with boiled bottle caps and
you cider is ready to drink or to age! To a certain extent, hard apple cider
will improve with age, and it is fun to set a few bottles aside to see how well
it ages.
Conclusion
Making hard apple cider at home is an enjoyable pastime with tangible rewards
for your efforts. Once you get the hang of the process you can start refining
your recipe by doing things like adding dark brown cane sugar, raisins, vanilla
beans, cinnamon sticks and oak chips. As long as you make sure to keep things
clean and sanitary along the way, the end result should turn out great. |
|
|
|
|