Cider Series: English Ale Yeast

So here is one more in my line-up of Cider Experiments. This time I used 30 mL of yeast from my Best Bitter. So as always I poured out about 20 oz into a 22 oz bottle and capped it (Here is a secret that I forgot this time, put it in the fridge). It appeared to ferment a bit so I had to buy some Martinelli apple juice that I will use to back-sweeten.









With the fresh yeast out of the Bitter the cider had active fermentation within 12 hours. Cider krausens aren't as explosive as beer. It kept actively fermenting for a week at 68 degrees. The beer finished at 1.002.

Then I bottled the cider by force carbing the cider to 3 volumes. (I like sparkling cider). Then using a sanitized measuring cup I added 1.5 oz of the fresh apple juice to each bottle before filling. I found that this amount adds just enough apple flavor and sweetness back. My previous batches I used 2 oz and I find that it is too sweet and much closer to the commercial versions like Wyder's.








I like to cold age this for quite a while for a couple reasons.
1) It makes sure that the yeast won't ferment your backsweetened cider (you can also use campden tabs)
2) It really helps to round out the flavors and the apple flavor seems to become more pronounced.

So look for a tasting in a few months.

Cider Series: Spiced Belgian with "House" Brett

So this beer got out of hand and not really on purpose. So as explained before I use 1 gal containers to do all my Dreg Series beers. And the cheapest way to get 1 gal glass jugs is with cider in it. At Henry's I noticed they had a new Santa Cruz Organic Cider. The jug was actually 3/4 gal and I figured that size might fit better in my brewing cabinet.

So the yeast I had at this time was WLP500 the Chimay strain (from my Trappist Series). I thought that this might be a great yeast for the clove notes you can get at the higher fermentation temperature range. I pitched about 50mL of the yeast. This beer was fermented in my brewing closet which is from 70 -75F.

This cider was fermented while I was out of town for a week. I noticed when I got back that the stopper was knocked off. At that time I didn't notice anything different with the beer. At this point I took a gravity reading and taste. Very dry down to 1.002 and just a bit of clove and fruity esters. Not as much character as I was hoping for.

I realized the holidays are coming up so lets really boost the spice. So I toasted 2 sticks cinnamon, 1 tsp all spice, 1 tsp cloves until they just start to smell. (As a sidenote this is a great way to instantly have the house smell like the holidays). A cup of cider was added and simmered for 15 minutes. This was cooled and added to the cider. And then....

Looks like we have a Brett infection. I guess it was just waiting for a bit of sugar and probably oxygen to become visible. There is hardly any sugar left in the cider so I didn't think that I would get much Brett character.

After a few weeks I decided to bottle this beer. I wasn't concerned with bottle bombs since there isn't much sugar left. I bottled using 5 oz fresh 1.050 cider. I calculated by assuming it takes me .7 oz of sugar to get 3 volumes in .75 gal of cider. Calculations:
 

.7oz/16oz = .04375 lb 

.04375 lb x (45 pts/1 lb) = 2 points

2 points x (1 gal/50pts) = .04 gal

.04 gal x (128 oz/1 gal) = 5.12 oz

I assumed that the cider will not be 100% ferementable like the sugar but it should be close because of the Brett. So this should end up very dry but I am a fan of sweetening once in the glass. (Just pour an once or two of fresh cider in your glass)

Cider Series: California Common Yeast

So I decided to do a little experiment with some cider. So I have been buying the 1 gallon cider containers so that I can use them to do my experimental sour beers.

I had a friend come over and ask me what I was doing with the cider. I was trying to just drink the container but I got pretty tired of the cider after about a 1/2 gal. So he was asking me about making hard cider. And I guess it never occured to me how easy it would be to make that cider into hard cider. So I have decided that whatever yeast I have on hand I will pitch some into my 1 gallon of cider. This way I can test different yeasts and how they affect the taste of the cider.

I added 1 tsp of pectin (I like clear cider). I used a 100 ml of California Common yeast and fermented the batch for 2 weeks at 62-65. The gravity for the beer dropped to 1.000. It had only a small amount of apple flavor left but was pretty clean. I am a fan of semi sweet and my wife likes sweet cider. So what I did was I racked the cider into a 2.5 gal keg. I carbed it over a week to around 2.5 volumes (might go higher next time). And then I decided to bottle the cider but I would first add fresh sweet cider to the bottles.

(5) bottles with 2 oz of 1.055 cider - cider should have F.G. 1.009
(5) bottles with 3 oz of 1.055 cider - cider should have F.G. 1.014

I made sure that these stayed in the fridge because they will still have some yeast left in them. They will want to ferment but hopefully with fridge temps the yeast will stay dormant to keep the sweetness. I have heard that cider can improve also with a bit of lagering. So I will taste one of each cider in a couple months. About the time it is nice and hot and the cider is begging to be drank.

10/20/10 Update - They have been kept in cold storage and I really like the bottles with 2 oz of cider. The 3 oz cider is just a bit too sweet and both have enough apple flavor.