Intro and atttempting first cider

[Rob S]

G'day the name's Rob. Let me say it's a great site and I'm looking forward to learning more as I continue to trawl through all the great info here.

The missus got me a Coopers home brew kit from Big W for me birthday in October and I brewed up according to the directions. I tried one last week and it's a bit light, sort of like a mix between soft drink and beer. I'm letting it sit for another month to see if anything happens.

In the meantime she's gone and bought me a Brigalow apple cidar tin and some more plastic bottles from Big W for Christmas. I'm looking forward to making it this week some time but I'm going to have a play around with it. After reading some posts here I'm thinking of the following.


Simmer 3 litres of water with 1kg dextrose, 500g lactose, some cinnamon sticks, grated ginger for 30 mins
Strain into the plastic bucket
Pour in the Brigalow mix and give it a good stir
Add 3 litres each of apple juice and pear juice
Throw in half a dozen each of peeled and cored granny smith apples and pears
Make up to 17 litres with cold water as specified on the tin
Test the temp is below 35 degrees and throw the yeast and nutrient in
Test the OG, seal it up and pray for the best

Can anyone see anything I'm missing or mucking up here?

Would a handful of cloves be of any use or is that best reserved for ginger beer?

What I'm after is a not too dry peary cider.

Thanks in advance for any ideas you can throw my way. Hopefully I'll come back with a good result.

You all have a good Christmas and safe New Years.

Rob

[Oliver]

Hi and welcome, Rob.

If you think your first effort leaves a bit of room for improvement check out the thread on simple things to make HB better.

Given you're planning your first cider I'd be inclined to keep things simple and omit the cinnamon and ginger. You can always add these things and others such as cloves later if you like. If you start with something fairly straightforward it gives you a base to tweak in future.

I'd also be tempted to omit the peeled and cored apples and pears, simply because I'm not sure that they are necessary given the apple and pear juice you're adding. But I'll leave that up to you.

I don't have any experience with Brigalow cider kits so perhaps someone else can comment on whether the extra apple and pear juice is necessary or will turn out well.

Assuming it's OK, this is what I'd do:

* Add a few litres of cold water to the fermenter (this is so that the tap fills with water and not the rest of the ingredients).
* Dissolve 500g lactose in a litre of so of boiling water.
* Add to the fermenter.
* Add Brigalow mix.
* Add 3 litres each of apple juice and pear juice (make sure these DO NOT contain perservatives otherwise the yeast won't work its magic. Berri and Aldi apple juice are two brands that have been used by forum members in the past. I'm not sure about pear juice).
* Throw in half a dozen each of peeled and cored granny smith apples and pears (putting them in a stocking leg makes it easy to simply lift them out and chuck them away at the end).
* Make up to 17 litres with cold water as per instructions.
* Pitch the yeast and nutrient.
* Stir well.
* Draw off half a glass or so and discard it (this will mainly be water from the tap).
* Take an SG reading.
* Sit back and wait (no hoping involved )
* Ferment about 18C if you can.

If you're worried about the temperature when you pitch the yeast being too high (which it probably shouldn't be unless your tap water is particularly warm), put a few litres of the juice into the fridge before you add it.

Let us know how you get on.

Cheers,

Oliver

[Rob S]

Thanks Oliver, I was going to make this one earlier today but the shops in my area are shut on Boxing Day. Can't get a chance to get anything until Wednesday now. I'll make it as you suggest. Great tips about the water in the fermenter first, then drawing half a glass off - thanks for that! From what others have said here the Brigalow tastes a bit artificial due to the sweeteners in it which I'm not a great fan of. I'll make it though as it was a Christmas gift from the missus. In the meantime I'll continue to trawl through the masses of posts. Just now only found the recipes on the home page so there's alot of info to digest and to play around with.

Thanks again,
Rob

[Rob S]

Sorry Oliver, I couldn't help but to play around with the ingredients.

*Boiled 3L of water with 1kg Brigalow dextrose, 100g roughly cut ginger and 4 cinnamon sticks for around 30 minutes then removed the cinnamon sticks
*Put water in the fermenter until it was just over the bunghole
*Poured in the above mix, added the Brigalow Cider Mix.
*Put in 6L of Berri Apple Juice and 4 x 850ml tins of Goulbourn Valley 100% pear juice
*Added 8 peeled, cored, cut up and washed Granny Smiths
*Topped up with water until the bottom of the waterline below the apples was at 18L - enough for the 19 x 700ml bottles plus extra to account for the apples, ginger and sediment
*Gave it a good stir, took out a cup from the tap, had a taste and it was absolutely marvellous
*Added the yeast - redydrated in warm water for 15 mins with 1 teaspoon of sugar and nutrient mix and stirred it up good
*Took the specific gravity which was 1046
*Put it in the pantry which I found is the coolest place in the house at the moment - holding about 25 degrees celcius - far from the 18 you suggest

Well it's done now. I'll be back to update on the SG over the next week or two.

Two quick questions - should I give it a good stir every other day? and do I need sugar in the bottles when I bottle it?

[Oliver]

Looks good Rob. I'm sure it'll be a very drinkable cider.

Re the two questions: Don't stir it; leave it to do its thing and give it a couple of weeks in the fermenter before bottling. And yes, you need to prime your bottles. Use the same amount of priming sugar as for beer.

Cheers,

Oliver

[Rob S]

Day 2 and SG is 1030. Temp steady at 24 degrees. Tastes lovely.

[Rob S]

Day 3 and SG is 1016. Temp 24. Still tastes great but getting more gingery. I'm contemplating racking it tomorrow if the SG gets down to 1010 to get it off the lees that has the ginger pieces in it. I don't want them to take over from the apple or pear flavour. Thoughts?

[Rob S]

Day 4 - SG 1005.

It was beautiful sweet but I'm really digging the taste as it's drying out.

So my racking at 1010 idea was a bit premature. Any suggestions as to when would be a good time?

[Oliver]

I'd rack now. Racking is generally done as the fermentation slows, so now is a good time.

Don't forget to splash as little as possible, because you don't want to introduce oxygen into the cider at this stage.

Oliver

[Rob S]

Day 5 SG is .997

[Bum]

Below 1.000 in five days? Ouch! She's gonna be pretty rough, man. Brace yourself.

[Rob S]

Yeah, I think you're going to be spot on there.

[Bum]

This goes for a great many beers too, but with ciders the best flavour can be achieved with a long, cool ferment - as cool as the yeast will take without falling asleep is usually considered optimal.

There's always exceptions, of course. More of a rough guide than a rule.

[Rob S]

Dropped into the brew shop for the first time yesterday. Guy was very helpful. Showed me his fridge where he brews. Has a thermostat control that keeps his brew at 16 degrees. I have a spare fridge doing nothing so I'm thinking the thermostat would be a great investment. No-where in my house am I going to get below 24 degrees this summer.

Anyway, it's bottled and I'll keep it for three weeks or so before trying out at a mates birthday party. In the meantime I'll be popping back to the brew shop, getting some decent ingredients and possibly the thermostat. For now I'm happy with the fermenter from the Coopers starter kit, but I'll be investing in a capper too, not too much a fan of the plastic bottles.

Anyway, Oliver - thanks for your advice and Bum - thanks for your comments. I'll report back in a couple of weeks on the cider.

Rob

[Oliver]

Excellent idea to get a brew fridge if you can. Saves lots of hassles with trying to keep the brew cool. The importance of temperature control on the quality of the finished beer is often overlooked.

I am jealous of anyone with a brew fridge, by the way

I hope the cider goes down well at the party.

Oliver

[Rob S]

Tried one out and it was really nice. I'm suprised. Cloudy, not too fizzy and not too sweet. The missus had a nutrasweet tablet in hers but I had mine straight.

A few more weeks in the bottle should do them no harm at all.

Fridge thermostat temperature controller bought off ebay. 23L stainless steel pot purchased. Second plastic fermenter sanitising.

Full steam ahead!

[squirt in the turns]

You're well on your way Rob. Temp control was the best investment I made to improve my brews (aside from going AG ).

The missus had a nutrasweet tablet in hers but I had mine straight.

Ah well, Aspartame's better than lactose I guess. Slighly, anyway