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Apple Cider and Perry

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Equipment You Will Need:

  • 2 fermentation buckets or carboys for primary and secondary fermentation with airlock and stopper
  • Cleaner (PBW) and sanitizer (Star-san)
  • Auto siphon, tubing, and bottle filler
  • Swing top bottles or beer bottles with caps and capper
  • Hydrometer and Hydrometer jar (optional)

Ingredients You will Need:

  • 15 lbs. Apples or 1 gal. unpasteurized juice
  • ¼ tsp Yeast Nutrient
  • 1 oz. Priming sugar for carbonation
  • 1 Campden tablet (optional) to kill wild yeast
  • ½ tsp Pectic enzyme (optional) to help clarify

Yeast

Dry Cider options- White wine yeast: EC1117 or D47

Sweet Cider options- Ale yeast: Belle Saison or Nottingham

Liquid Yeast options- Wyeast 4766 or Imperial Napoleon

Day One

  1. Crush the apples and press the juice
  2. Clean and sanitize all equipment (everything that will touch your cider.)
  3. (optional) Add one crushed campden tablet and ½ tsp. Pectic enzyme
  4. (optional) Take a hydrometer reading to determine the amount of sugar/ potential alcohol in your juice. The OG (original gravity) should be about 1.035-1.060
  5. Seal the fermenter with a stopper/ airlock and let sit for 24 hours. (If you did not add a campden tablet you can skip this step.) If you add your yeast too soon the campden will kill your yeast)

Day Two

  1. 24 hours after adding the campden tablet add 1/4th tsp. yeast nutrient and sprinkle the yeast on top of your juice. (One packet of yeast is enough for 5 gallons of cider.

For a one gallon batch use 1/3rd packet.)

  1. Ferment at 65º- 70º Warmer temperatures will bring out more fruity/ estery flavors.

Primary Fermentation

  1. You will begin to see activity in the fermenter within 48 hours. A foamy cap will develop on the top of the cider and bubbles will escape through the airlock. Over the next several days the activity will begin to slow down. Primary fermentation typically lasts one to two weeks.

Secondary Fermentation

  1. Rack the cider into a sanitized carboy being careful to leave behind any sediment. It is best to minimize head space in the secondary fermenter to prevent oxidation. Timing now is somewhat flexible. Leave the cider in this secondary fermenter for at least 2 weeks and as long as 6 months.
  2. Optional- monitor the progress of your fermentation by taking hydrometer readings. You are ready to bottle when the cider is clear and tastes good.

Bottling and Beyond

  1. Fermentation is finished when the final gravity (FG) reads approximately 1.010.
  2. When you are ready to bottle your cider, make a simple syrup by boiling 1oz. of priming sugar with a cup of water on the stove. (1 oz sugar per gallon of cider) Let this mixture cool to room temperature.
  3. Sanitize your bottling equipment (ten 12 oz. bottles per gallon of cider, auto-siphon, tubing, bottle filler, bottling bucket, and bottle caps).
  4. Add the room temperature simple syrup to the bottling bucket then siphon your cider into the bottling bucket so that the sugar mixes evenly.
  5. Siphon the cider from the bottling bucket into your bottles and cap. Your cider will be ready to drink after conditioning for two weeks at room temperature.

 

* F.H. Steinbart rents cider mills and presses.

They book up fast during cider season, so reserve yours in advance by visiting fhsteinbart.com and clicking here.

If you have any questions about the instructions in this recipe please call: 503 232 8793 or email info@fhsteinbart.com


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Ingredients

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Dry Cider Yeast

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Sweet Cider Yeast

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Liquid Yeast Options

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