Make Your Own Hard Cider
Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008
Brewing hard cider from nonalcoholic, or “sweet” cider is a simple process, and the inebriating end product is so delicious. Here is the steps you will need to follow to make hard cider of your own. And making it yourself is all-natural.
• Brewing Equipment Needed:
• One 5-gallon food-grade plastic bucket with a spigot, lid and airlock
• Stainless steel or plastic spoon
• 3 to 6 feet of 5/16-inch food-grade plastic tubing
• Enough half-gallon glass jugs or other bottles (including caps or corks) to store the finished cider in.
• Optional: Stainless steel or enameled pot
• Optional: A second 5-gallon food-grade plastic bucket with a spigot, or a glass carboy on it.
• Find the ingredients:
• 5 gallons of preservative-free, sweet apple cider, preferably unpasteurized.
• Two packages 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
1. The Juice To Use:
Like sweet apple cider fresh from the cider press. Check the label to be sure the cider doesn’t contain chemical preservatives, because they will kill your yeast and your cider will not ferment. It will be listed under sodim benzoate or potassium sorbate. Your best choice is preservative-free cider.
2. Choose Your Yeast: A variety of dry and liquid yeast will do. Even dry wine yeasts will work fine as well and they are much cheaper. You can pick up a package for less than a dollar.
3. Make A Starter: The day before you brew your cider, make a starter. This step is optional, but it ensures that your yeast is ready (alive). To make a starter, open the bottle of preservative-free apple juice and pour out a few ounces. Pour the contents of one uyeast packet into the bottle and reseal it. Shake for a few seconds to incorporate the yeast with the cider. Within five to six hours you should see bubbling within teh bottle . Once you see bubbles, release the pressure within the bottle, reseal it and put it in the refrigerator. Remove it from the fridge a few hours before brewing.
• Start Brewing:
1. Pour your cider into the brewpot and simmer over medium heat for about 45 minutes. This will kill most of the bacteria in the cider.
2. Pour the cider into a sanitized fermentation bucket. You can buy non-bleach, no-rinse sanitizers as well.
3. Let the cider cool to nearly room temperature, then add your yeast or starter. 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.
4. Place the bucket in a room or closet where the temperature is at exactly 60 degrees. Let it ferment. Within a day or two you should see the airlock start to bubble. The gas it’s releasing is carbon dioxide. The bubbling should subside within two weeks. Allow the cider to set an additional week to allow the yeast to settle out.
• Bottling The Cider:
1. Bottle the cider once it’s finished with the steps about. Simple as adding tubing the bucket and pumping it into jugs.
2. Let it clarify: Siphon your cider int a secondary fermenter (another food-grade bucket will do). Place another air lock on the bucket and allow it to set in the dark cool place for about a month, this should be plenty of time for the cider to clarify.
3. Make Sparkling Cider: Boil 1 cup of water with three fourths cup honey or brown sugar. Pour this mixture into a bottling bucket, which is a 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 spoon . Then bottle as normal. You will need to let this sparkling cider sit longer so that the sugars will be ferment and carbonate your cider inside the bottle.
Enjoy!
*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Start a compost pile in your yard and save scraps under your kitchen sink to put in the pile.
