Hard Cider/ Wine Making

[JayinCT]

Hi there folks. I was reading the post about wine making, and decided to ask my question to the forum. I have made my hard cider for a few years now. My problem is, it's great by Christmas and for a month or so after, but when I remove it from the barrel and try to put it into bottles, it keeps working and picks up a vinegar taste rather quickly. Is there something I should be doing to stop the cider from working any farther once I get it to where I like it? I asked an old timer here, his reply was drink it faster so I have it gone before it tastes like vinegar .

Jay

[Paranoid]

campden tablets. 1 crushed tab per gal

[stanb999]

Put more sugar and make it Harder. If you get the % above 10 it really doesn't change. I cheat and use "turbo yeast 24" and lots of sugar. I can get up to around 17% or 34 proof. At that level it only mellows with age. But it's clear and drinkable in less than 14 days. with no additives. You should try my receipe for blueberry wine.

2 quarts of blueberrys
2 lbs of sugar
3 quarts of water
2 tablespoons of turbo yeast

mix all ingredients in large bucket with loose lid. No cooking or sterilization required.
After 36-40 hours add 2 more lbs of sugar.
Let stand for 3 days.
When most fermentation bubbling has stopped pour off liquid into anouther container. Discard what remains in the pot.
Let the sediment build and pour off the clear several times. Do this once a day for about 1 week.

Now you can bottle it up. Your done. Chill and drink. But beware this is a powerful brew.

Gotta love the "Hom Brew" .....hickup.

[Paranoid]

i thought turbo yeast (especially the 24 hour variety) gave off foul flavors and was really only suited to it's main purpose of quick fermentation in preperation to distilling.

if you dont notice a foul aftertaste i might give that yeast a try.

it sure would be nice to be able to make a specific kind of drink in basically 1 day.

another rumor i heard is turbo yeast is practically the same yeast that i use (ec1118) just used in large quantities.

[Jimmy Mack]

cambden tablets are for sterilization of the must.

Pre- botteling add the stablizer Potassium Sorbate.


Good luck with that!

[stanb999]

Originally Posted by Paranoid

i thought turbo yeast (especially the 24 hour variety) gave off foul flavors and was really only suited to it's main purpose of quick fermentation in preperation to distilling.

if you dont notice a foul aftertaste i might give that yeast a try.

it sure would be nice to be able to make a specific kind of drink in basically 1 day.

another rumor i heard is turbo yeast is practically the same yeast that i use (ec1118) just used in large quantities.

Let me tell ya a few things.
First it won't be done in 24 hours.
You gotta let it breath. No bubble seal. Let it breath. Did I say let it breath.
Don't use a fermintation bottle. It will overflow and make a mess. If you choose to add sugar for further fermentation (I would suggest it) Be careful when you add it because it will foam up. Alot.
Then when you bottle it up leave the caps loose for a week or so. Then you can seal them tight.
I think it would have a sulfery taste if you didn't let the gases out.

Now lately I've been using torbo48. Not quite as fast but it seams to be more thourgh. It also seems to clear quicker. Maybe not. The thing I like best about these yeasts is you don't have to worry about all the cleaning, sterilzation, and the meriod of other chemicals required to make standard wine.

[mpillow]

Okay I want to know how to make some wine out of store bought juice....

Love that blueberry recipe.....I have tons of blueberries at my disposal....

anyone do applejack in the freezer?

[bgak47]

Boy, I wish someone close around here made hard cider! Being ignorant, I have to ask... what is the difference between hard cider & apple wine? The hard cider always has a spicey taste that apple wine lacks.

[stanb999]

Originally Posted by mpillow

Okay I want to know how to make some wine out of store bought juice....

Love that blueberry recipe.....I have tons of blueberries at my disposal....

anyone do applejack in the freezer?

I'll tell you how i did it last year on layoff.

You will notice the simalirities in the reciepies.

3 quarts of water
2 pounds of sugar (I just pour what looks about right. maybe half a five pound bag. If you put too much the fermintation will not progress quickly. If it's been 24 hours and it's not really bubbling and a little water to the top without mixing. This should get it going.)
two table spoons of turbo yeast

Let stand for 36-40 hours
ADD 2 containers of frozen juice consentrate. Let it warm to room temp. before adding.
(be carefull which ones you buy. The fake ones will give it a chemical taste.)

Let stand till it clears.
This is good with 7up or Sprite. It really doesn't have that wine flavor like you would get from real berries. But it's good as a mixer.

[mpillow]

Can it be sweetened again like the blueberry recipe to make it stronger?

Or frozen like apple jack to "concentrate" ? Freeze scoop out ice....leaves liquor....

as far as hard cider goes....unpasteurized will do its own setting up over time....looks bubbly....

Apple jack can be made with yeast and freezer method.....I like mine ZIPPY!

[stanb999]

Originally Posted by mpillow

Can it be sweetened again like the blueberry recipe to make it stronger?

Or frozen like apple jack to "concentrate" ? Freeze scoop out ice....leaves liquor....

as far as hard cider goes....unpasteurized will do its own setting up over time....looks bubbly....

Apple jack can be made with yeast and freezer method.....I like mine ZIPPY!

Which receipe do you mean. If you mean the second one with the juice. you are in essance adding sugar again when you add the juice consentrate. That stuff is very sweet.

Yes it can be strenghtened by freezing. However the amount of alcohol produced by a receipe like this is Quite high like >17% thats 34 proof. I wouldn't go much past that for saftys sake. The amounts of the bad go up with the amounts of the good without Distillation. Freezing removes only water. In distillation you remove the methanol this is what causes blindness. You leave the ethanol (this is the good stuff). And you leave the tary alcohols in the still.

So no I would not consentrate by freezing and using a still is illeagle for consumption.

[mpillow]

The still is for fuel making.....see my field of corn over there.....

Well I better get busy!(Hubby would say no but he's not home) Would 100% juice concentrate work better than sugar added? Or is it metabolized the same way?

[Paranoid]

no, real juice just tastes better to many.


you can also (inefficiently) ice distill if you want it easy. just freeze your stuff, and before its all frozen pour off the liquid. that should be mostly alcohol.

[KRH]

JayinCT,
In answer in your original question. Paranoid is correct. At the point you want it to stop working add 1 crushed campden tablet or .32 grams per gallon pottasium metabisulphite(basicaly the same thing only in powder form). and cool the cider as much as possible. Once the bubbling stops wait a day or two. Then siphon off the clear to another container and dispose of the sediment in the bottom.
Jimmy Mack is correct on the pre bottling addition of the sorbates at bottling it will help keep it from refermenting in the bottle and causing a big mess.

[Paranoid]

i didnt know we had so many other brewers here, we should start a beer/wine/cider of the month tasting thing haha

[mpillow]

Indeed!

Hate to say this but I feed apples and blueberries to my goats (frzn leftovers) and I know they ferment them in their rumens.....I even fed them fiddleheads this year....and they love tobacco....old timey wormer
My husband was brought up in Virginia just outside of Taylor MTN and well he had a connection.....they always had corn liquor for whatever ailed them Not to mention the chewing tobacco Nasty stuff !!!!!!!!!!

Of course I'm thinking Christmas presents here....since cough medicine has been pulled off the shelves....

[KRH]

Yup Paranoid us winos I mean winemakers are everywhere.

[Bruce in NE]

Hopefully I'm going to have some apples next year. Can anyone give me a basic hard cider recipe? I promise to drink it fast so it doesn't turn to vinegar. Thanks.

[MELOC]

the additives sound right to me from what i remember from my concord grape, fox grape and stanley plum winemaking days. the potassium metabisulfate is the key i think.

you may want to be careful with sterilization. maybe if you are sure to sterilize the transfer tools and vat it would help.

(when your plum trees go plum crazy...make wine with them!! it is great!)

[MELOC]

i have never tried this but i was curious as to what it would take to "pasturize" wines or especially ciders? how warm for how long? and how much damage to the product?