September 27, 2011

Makin' Cidah



Apples are coming in and the cider is flowing. I happened to get a gallon of fresh squeezed cider from a friend of mine whose mother in law has a few trees up north, or "up nort" as some say in these parts.


Of course the only thing better than fermenting some cider is drinking some cider, so I had a pint of the unfermented stuff before tossing the yeast in. It was of moderate sweetness, nice apple flavors, pretty soft and full-bodied, with a hint of fermentation already going on. Not much acidity but some pleasant tannic bolstering at the end. I love those apple tannins, and most commercial ciders around here avoid them.

For a low acidity juice I like to use the Wyeast Rudesheimer strain, but I didn't happen to have that one around, so I used the K1-V1116 dry yeast instead. It is fairly neutral on the aromatics and should leave good apple character, and also highlights acidity nicely, especially as it can be quite dry. I also like the K1-V1116's "killer" abilities, it is very good at outcompeting and suppressing other yeast strains, which I'm sure this unpasteurized juice had in droves. Before pitching the yeast I added in a cup of brown sugar, which will help make a more stable end product by upping the alcohol, and may help give the cider some more body and a bit of residual sugar.

We'll see how it goes! I'm hoping that this will be an early drinker that I can add some carbonation to. Until then, I'll be on the lookout for more juice!

8 comments:

  1. Started my cider this past weekend too. I'll be interested to see how your's turns out. I'm going to go back to the orchard and get 5 gallons more if I can. May have to try the Wyeast Rudesheimer. Never used it before but I'll give it a go.

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  2. I love that strain, it is acidic and very aromatic. Great for white wines, meads, or cider. Not totally dry, either.

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  3. Are you guys going to get any Wyeast 4766 back in stock in time to make cider? It's what I used last year and I want to use the same so I can compare batches (tweaking other parts of my process) I'll be buying some cider in the next week or so. Toward the end of the season, the orchard I use does a hard cider press with lots of cool varieties mixed in (mostly russets)and i'm going to do a batch with that as well.

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  4. @Matt - yes! Wyeast has had production delays on a number of the 4000-series strains, but we should have 4766 in all locations tomorrow (Friday 9/30).

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  5. What orchard sells the cider you can brew with?

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  6. Can cider be brewed with pasteurized cider?

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  7. Yes, pasteurized cider is fine. Pasteurization just makes the product more shelf stable and has a minimal effect on the flavor/aroma. Preservatives such as sorbate and sulfite are what you need to avoid, but they're rare in cider, since apple juice is naturally high in ascorbic acid, which is also a preservative of sorts.

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  8. Yeah, just check the label and make sure there aren't sorbates or sulfites in the cider. I've used Roundy's Apple Cider to good effect, and it's available year round. Cider-makers play up the unpastuerized bit a lot, but don't let that stop you. If you've got a source of unpasteurized cider, using cider-specific apples, great. Otherwise you can still make a fine beverage out of regular store-bought cider that has no preservatives. There are lots of orchards around the Twin Cities that will sell cider on premise during the season. The North-East US is supposed to be great for finding good cider, too.

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