fall approaches... time for homemade hard cider

[Beta Cloud]

this years batch-
wyeast cider yeast, 3lbs brown sugar, 4.5 gallons juice.


last years batch-
cooper's ale yeast, 3lbs honey, 4.5gallons juice.


and LIQUOR!

so if you take 3 gallons of 9% ABV apple cider, freeze it, then bottle the alcohol that drips from the ice... you're left with LIQUOR. HARD LIQUOR. or so i'm told. ICE DISTILLATION.
2/3rds of a liter yielded shown here. i'm thinking about 80-85 proof.
but it never happened here, it's a hypothetical; because distilling alcohol in the US is illegal without a license. and i'd never do anything to piss obama off.
never happened here.
i call it "APPLE CRACK"

anyone else homebrew cider?

[Jor el]

I enjoy a hard cider oot of Flushing, Michigan. 

I wouldn't mind giving it a try to home brew.
I don't know what I'm doing, though.

[Beta Cloud]

I enjoy a hard cider oot of Flushing, Michigan. 

I wouldn't mind giving it a try to home brew.
I don't know what I'm doing, though.

easy, get 5 gallons of cheap juice from the bargain store, (NO SULFITES, vitamin c and pasteurized is ok), a coupla lbs of sugars, (honey and brown sugar are my fave), and yeast. about a month later... CIDER!!!
costs about $25 for 5 gallons. super fun too.

and some great recipes here-
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/

it's way easier than beer or wine. mead is just as easy.

[deleted account]

what's with that pressure regulator thingy on the cork?  is that so the cork doesn't explode off due to gas buildup?

[MadJohnShaft]

All home brewing uses those - it's just an S shaped tube that you put some water in - as it starts fermenting the CO2 bubbles through there. It is an airlock. When that stops you know it's ready. You probably don't really need it for sanitation but it's nice for monitoring,

[Beta Cloud]

All home brewing uses those - it's just an S shaped tube that you put some water in - as it starts fermenting the CO2 bubbles through there. It is an airlock. When that stops you know it's ready. You probably don't really need it for sanitation but it's nice for monitoring,

spot on bruh!

you can use a balloon and poke a hole in it in a pinch.

[khoomeizhi]

if i'm taking the trouble to make cider, i'll find an agreeable local small apple (or pear!) farmer who makes cider and get the good shit, hopefully pre-pasteurization or uv-treating or whathaveyou, so it'll ferment on it's own wild yeast. failing that, i'd probably get the retail cider from a similar producer (as long as it's not sorbated or whathaveyou) and introduce a culture of wild yeast to that. don't know why i'm so all about the wild yeasts, other than that it's awesome to make as much of your own shit as possible, and wild yeasts give so much character. depending on what you use, you can be adding an aspect of flavor that's really of and from the place it was made, itself. that's badass. perhaps there are places that taste a lot worse than others, though, i don't know...
one of the reasons i intend to grow more fruit is to be more self-sufficient for a number of things, including brewing...
and if i'm adding sugar, i'll always opt for honey.
i'll admit that i'm more of a purist in things like brewing and food in general than others want to be...

started another batch of mead the end of last week. getting ready to bottle two older batches before long, one of which i already want to do an improved version of, even though it's been more than a year and a half in the making. that's part of the other side of wild yeasts.

[Beta Cloud]

nice man, yeah!
i was thinking some organic yeast... take an organic, (or pick an orchard one yourself!), apple wedge, put it in a one liter bottle half full with distilled water and put it in the fridge. burp it occasionally so it don't blow up, and in a month, homemade cider yeast!
we got a few weeks till apple harvest time, i try to use fresh juice, (with a nottingham yeast; it makes a great strongbow/blackthorn type cider).
honestly though, the store bought juice is nice for me with an ale yeast and brown sugar; dryer.

the real key to a good cider i think is time, a few months after racked is always great.

also-
MMM... MEAD!

[khoomeizhi]

i think your 1-liter bottle idea would work better with some added sugar of some sort. you're culturing the yeast from the apple, but you wouldn't get enough sugar from it to build up the appropriate yeast army. aside from that, fuck yeah. to each their own, especially when it involves making your own shit.

[Beta Cloud]

i think your 1-liter bottle idea would work better with some added sugar of some sort. you're culturing the yeast from the apple, but you wouldn't get enough sugar from it to build up the appropriate yeast army. aside from that, fuck yeah. to each their own, especially when it involves making your own shit.

hey it's cheap right, the cost of an apple... i"ll try both!

[Chovie D]

Ive heard of ice brewing and "Ice-Bocks". I believe the technique is to let the surface inch or so of the large open fermenter to freeze  up and remove that ice.
Since alcohol doesnt freeze, you are only removing water, not alcohol and the resultant leftover beer  therefor has a higher alcohol content. I think an ice bock is aournd 10-12%?

[Beta Cloud]

Ive heard of ice brewing and "Ice-Bocks". I believe the technique is to let the surface inch or so of the large open fermenter to freeze  up and remove that ice.
Since alcohol doesnt freeze, you are only removing water, not alcohol and the resultant leftover beer  therefor has a higher alcohol content. I think an ice bock is aournd 10-12%?

different than ice wine or ice beer, you actually freeze and re-freeze... until all you have is alcohol.
it was popular in colonial america, just freeze a barrel of cider and viola! the called it "Apple Jack". i called mine "Apple Crack".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applejack_(beverage)
cheers-

[Chovie D]

interesting, thanks

[MadJohnShaft]

Cider making sounds interesting especially using wild yeast.  Does it carbonate?

Freezing to concentrate alcohol. Hmm. From what I remember Freeze Distillation doesn't work like that, you would need some lab equipment.  Wikipedia seems to agree.  

It does say you could freeze the pre-fermented cider and pull the ice off in order to increase the sugar concentration. Then you would have a lot more sugar present to ferment to delicious alcohol.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional_freezing

[Beta Cloud]

Cider making sounds interesting especially using wild yeast.  Does it carbonate?

Freezing to concentrate alcohol. Hmm. From what I remember Freeze Distillation doesn't work like that, you would need some lab equipment.  Wikipedia seems to agree.  

It does say you could freeze the pre-fermented cider and pull the ice off in order to increase the sugar concentration. Then you would have a lot more sugar present to ferment to delicious alcohol.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional_freezing

hey shafty!
i froze the 'apple crack' in an industrial facility... can't disclose where, but gotta' say that i did 2 days of 'run-off' and it was HOT. TONGUE BURN HOT. didn't do a hygrotemation, but i'd say about 80 proof by tongue test.

and carbonating it can be done many ways; ie adding sugars or juice/leaving yeast when racking, taking the cider and co2-ing' in a seperate vessel, etc.

incidentally, i've also used a pressure cooker with a friend to make a cognac of sorts from a batch of matured cider that i used champagne yeast on. came out smooth and tasty.
fuckin A, i said PRESSURE COOKER.
we can both expect a cavity search by the NSA in the morning.


if you're serious about learning more, check out this board-
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f81/

it'll give you a nice distraction whilst on hiatus from the STONER ROCK LIVES!!! board next week.
cheers-

[JemDooM]

NICE!! 

[MadJohnShaft]

Okay you get a pass but Chovie's picking the ice off the top of a bucket of hard cider didn't do shit.

[NCR600]

i think your 1-liter bottle idea would work better with some added sugar of some sort. you're culturing the yeast from the apple, but you wouldn't get enough sugar from it to build up the appropriate yeast army. aside from that, fuck yeah. to each their own, especially when it involves making your own shit.

Yeah, you need something for the yeasties to eat, preferably what they're going to be fermenting. Just use the same apple juice you want to make cider from. Culturing up wild yeasts is pretty hit and miss. At least for me anyway. This years cider experiment was going to use recultured yeast dregs from a wild ferment French cidre,  but it never happened because I've still got about 20 bottles left from last years batch that I used White Labs 775 cider yeast for. After 12 months in the bottle it's fantastic!