Homebrewing with Fruit: Apple Cider

Fresh Apple Cider Recipe from Tree to Taste!

My First Fresh Apple Cider — This is step 1 the apples have been washed

I have prepared several turbo ciders this year, but the opportunity to start with fresh apples was an exciting new opportunity to try out.

Introduction to Cider, Scrumpy, Turbo Cider, Pear Cider and Perry.

Let’s start with a few definitions, because I wasn’t entirely aware before starting this article of the technical differences, so here we go:

Cider is a fermented alcoholic beverage made from the unfiltered juice of apples. There is no restriction on the type of apple, but in the UK there is a law that states cider must contain at least 35% apple juice.

Scrumpy originates in the West Country and is a type of cider made from scrumping apples (those picked from the ground and often a crab apple). It is typically harsher and more alcoholic than regular cider.

Turbo Cider is a homebrew cider made from store-purchased apple juice rather than freshly pressed apple juice.

Pear Cider is a fermented alcoholic beverage made from pear juice or concentrate and can also include some apple juice in its preparation. Pear cider can use the juice from any edible pear varieties such as Conference.

Perry is a pear cider made specifically from perry pears.

The alcohol content of a cider is typically in the range of 3% to 8.5%, but can be found as high as 12%.

Step 1: Preparing the Fruit

The first stage is to juice the apples, this involves:

1. Wash the fruit
2. Chop the fruit coarsely for pulping
3. Pulp the fruit (grating is an alternative)
4. Press the juice
5. Add a Campden Tablet (1 per gallon) and wait 1–2 days (this step is optional, but removes any unwanted bacteria that may have found its way into the juice and will result in poor flavours or infection)

Step 2 — Chopped Apples in the Fruit Press

Avoid this mistake…

As this was the first time apple pressing, I thought the picture above was a sufficient level of chopping for the apples to be ready for pressing. This was far from the truth and the apples required pulping. Searching for what tools I had available in the kitchen, I finally achieved a far greater result through a combination of grated apples and blending.

After this apple pressing was complete, I moved to the next level and purchased myself a pulping bucket to achieve the correct level of coarseness more easily and quickly.

Step 4: Pressing the Fruit

Choosing Yeast for Flavour

I’ve tended to alternate between Llalvin EC-1118 and Nottingham Ale Yeast personally, the reasons for which will be clear, but there are also a few other good suggestions that I have logged for future reference

Llavin EC-1118 — This is a champagne yeast, that will strip out all the apple flavour and finish extra dry. However, can be a super choice if you plan for flavour additions and would like a little extra alcohol punch.

Nottingham Ale Yeast — This will help develop the apple aroma and flavour, providing clear fermentation and medium alcohol strength.

A few suggestions not tried, but could be interesting:

Cote Des Blancs — A wine yeast that will produce aromas that complement the apple flavour and will finish near 1.000FG

WLP002 English Ale — This will provide a crisp apple aroma and a balance towards sweetness over acid. Fermentation is clean.

WLP028 Edinburgh Ale — This will provide a crisp apple aroma with a light fruity, flowery aroma. Very clear, with a low sweetness, and tart apple taste.

Prepare for Fermentation

1. Sanitise all equipment before beginning
2. Transfer the apple juice to the fermentation vessel
3. Add Pectolase, DAP, and Fermaid O and shake thoroughly to aerate the must.
4. Add Yeast of choice, and swish to ensure it does not rest on top of the liquid.
5. Add Airlock

Apple Cider: Ingredients combined for fermentation

If you have a pH Meter

The pH should typically be 3.2–3.7 for best fermentation results. To adjust the pH:

• To lower pH (increases acidity) add malic, lactic, or citric acid
• To raise the pH (lower acidity) add calcium carbonate

Step 2: Fermentation Stages

Primary (2–3 Weeks Typically)

After pitching the yeast the first phase of fermentation will take about a week to 10 days. Depending on your choice of yeast and the temperature this can be much faster or a little slower.

Bubbles in the airlock will be an indication of the CO2 given off as part of the fermentation process, the colour will change to be darker and hazier, and a layer of dark foamy ‘krausen’ will form on the top.

Optionally, a few days into fermentation additional nutrients can be added and the yeast placed back into suspension by gently swishing the fermentation vessel. In practice, I have only applied this step when I was concerned about a failed start to fermentation.

When fermentation slows, let the yeast and sediment settle to the bottom of the bucket for about a week and then rack the cider to another fermentation vessel.

Secondary (2-Weeks to 2-Months, your call)

Syphoning to a secondary fermentation vessel removes the cider from the yeast cake. Unlike beer, there are no particularly detrimental effects to consider with cider remaining on the yeast cake. On this occasion, I decided to syphon directly to the keg for a combined secondary and carbonation phase.

The secondary phase of fermentation will help to clarify and develop the cider flavours. The time for secondary can range from ‘not-at-all’ through to several months.

For a dry cider, a final gravity of 1.005 and below is the target. Champagne yeast will typically create lower gravity, Ale yeast will finish just around or above this point.

For a sweeter cider, you can add additional sweetness just before bottling or drinking (called back sweetening, more on this in a moment), or you need to stop the fermentation early so all the sugars are not consumed. The addition of a Campden tablet will stop fermentation and also help with stability and preservative effects over the long haul.

Cold Crashing, chilling the cider down to 3C so the yeast goes dormant and settles to the bottom of the fermentation vessel) is a recent addition to my cider fermentation process

Back-sweetening is my preferred option for increasing sweetness, this involves the addition of non-fermentable sweeteners or simply a sugar addition if fermentation has been stopped.

Step 3: Carbonation

A still cider is always an option, but I always prefer the addition of a little fizz. For more on Sweet vs Dry, and Carbonated vs Still, I have a description here.

Bottle Carbonation

Bottle Carbonation is only an option if there is sufficient yeast in suspension, stabilising and cold crashing will both reduce the amount of active yeast available. This can be overcome by adding a very small amount of yeast back into the cider before bottling, if you google you can find ‘Yeast for Cask and Bottle Conditioning’ for this very purpose.

Bottle Carbonation restarts fermentation on a small scale, but the bottles have no airlock to allow CO2 to escape forcing it to mix with the cider and create the fizzy carbonation we like.

1. Add 5g (approx 1tsp) sugar to each 500ml bottle before transfer
2. Transfer the cider to bottles and seal/cap them
3. Keep in a warm place for 7–14 days to allow for bottle carbonation
4. Refrigerate to taste before drinking

Keg Carbonation and Bottling

I have recently switched to using a mini-keg for carbonation. This has the advantage of carbonating more quickly for drinking, and it solves my preference for cider clarity when bottling. Bottle carbonation, because of the extra fermentation at the end, will create a small amount of yeast sediment at the bottom of each bottle. Kegging then bottling (if there is any left after drinking!) resolves this because all fermentation is complete and the carbonation is done in the keg.

1. Transfer Cider to the Keg
2. Increase CO2 Pressure to 25–30PSI
3. Force Carbonate by laying the keg on its side and rocking to force CO2 across a wide surface area and into the cider
4. Refrigerate for a minimum of 2 days, preferably a week, and it’s ready to drink or bottle
5. Reduce CO2 Pressure to around 12PSI for serving

In Conclusion

A huge thank-you to my Sister and Brother-In-Law whose apples provided my ‘First Edition’ Fresh Apple Cider.

Taste Test

The taste test, without back-sweetening, was a little too dry and tart for my personal taste. My apple growers, and cider connoisseurs, compared its similarity to a Strongbow taste at this stage.

Pre-Bottling I had the opportunity to make some final adjustments and added some additional non-fermentable sugar (160g additional 250g total) to bring up the level to my taste and then moved to transfer carbonated from the keg into bottles.

Summary

• Wash, Chop, Pulp and Press the Apples.
• Add a Campden Tablet and wait for 2 days to kill any unwanted bacteria
• Add all the primary ingredients: Apple Juice, Yeast, and Nutrient
• Take a Hydrometer Reading (the ideal range is 1.046–1.052) for the Original Gravity
• If you have a pH Meter then check that the apple juice is in the range of pH 3.2–3.7 for best fermentation results.
• Primary Fermentation will require 2–3 weeks typically
• Optionally, add additional yeast nutrients and aerate after a few days
• Take a hydrometer reading (Final Gravity) at the end of fermentation to calculate ABV and check the level of dryness or sweetness.
• Moving to a Secondary fermentation is optional
• Cold Crashing for 2–3 days at the end of fermentation will remove any final yeast from suspension and improve clarity
• Secondary fermentation provides time for the cider flavours to develop, for the clarity to improve or for flavour additions to be introduced.
• Add sweetener to increase the sweetness, or regular sugar if the fermentation has been deliberately stopped
• Many choices for further flavour additions are at your disposal during secondary

Cheers
Rob

“The First Edition” My First Fresh Apple Cider 7% ABV and back-sweetened