Just checking to see if anyone has had any luck making good hard cider(sparking and non). I want to try and make a few different styles so come next fall, I can make a huge batch. I want to make like 1 gallon test batches. If anyone has a good recipe and doesnt mind passing it on, I would be very greatful.

A couple of weeks ago I was at my local grocery store and they had apple cider. The cider only had absorbic acid added. I couldn't resist. I started 7 gallons which is now in the secondary. I actually made mine into apple wine. I set my starting specific gravity at 1.094 and my acid at .60%. Mine should be in the apple wine category. Some people like their cider at a lower percent alcohol and carbonated. I may cabonate some of mine.

Here is something to concider. If you want it low alcohol like beer you could do it the same way. Actually easier than beer. Mix up your juice setting the SG at about 1.040 and using campden 24 hours before you pitch the yeast. Once it has fermented out make a sugar syrup and mix it all up and bottle in champagne bottles. If you want more alcohol you could set the SG upwards at about 1.070 to 1.075 and do it the same way after it clears real well. Then you can bottle but you will need champagne bottles. If you try to make a sparkling wine at too high an alcohol you could run into a problem with the yeast not being to ferment out and carbonate. Use campagne yeast like Premier Cuv'ee. It is good to 18%.

Hey Greg,

I just finished bottling a 10 gallon batch. I started with fresh, ultra pasteurized, preservative-Free Juice. I didnt use any campden tablets - just personal preference . I also did not adjust the acid at all. I used a Barley-Wine yeast, and I like the results, nice apple and bread-yeast aroma.

I racked 2 during the fermentation. After the 2nd rack, I simply maintained the amount of water in my air-lock for the next 12 months - Yeah, 12 MONTHS!! (another Online tidbit ) The wait was well worth it!! Its smooth and clean!!

I bottled in a combination of beer and Champange bottles. I used 1 small container of frozen Apple Juice Concentrate per 5-gallons (found that ratio online) as the priming sugar. After bottling I placed all the cases into large Rubbermaid Tough Side-like containers to contain any bottle burst, since this was my first batch, I didn't want to take any risks!

Hope that helps a bit!

I have never tried anything but champagne yeast for making apple wine or cider. Champagne yeast is almost a non flavor yeast. You can usually get away without using campden in the primary if it is an off the shelf juice. One of the problems is you have quite an investment with the juice, chemicals, yeast, and time. I'm not sure if I would want to risk it.

If you don't use campden at all through the entire process you can have some oxidation. You may not see that browning in an apple wine. May not taste it when using a flavorful yeast.

That is great waiting the full 12 months. Hopefully more will see that and realize that age is what really does make great wine. I very seldom bottle any wine before 8 months.

Below is the link of what I want to make. I want to try and make half still and half sparkling. They call for putting them in beer bottles, but would PET bottles work. The 1st and only batch of root beer we made exploded, and 3 years later we are still finding glass. I really like the idea of the rubbermaid containers. I only wish we knew that 3 years ago. Thanks for helping the "newbie" out!


http://www.leeners.com/cider.html

Greg,
I read the recipe at Leeners that you were looking at. I do have a couple of questions. How much wine have you made before? Do you have a hydrometer? Do you have a titration acid test kit?

You can make half sparkling and part not sparkling. Here are a few of the obstacles you will run into. Once you are out of the primary into the secondary and the fermentation basically is finished you need to add some campden to non sparkling wine. Sparkling wine does not get the campden. Sparkling wine will get a sugar syrup like making beer and bottled. Some wine makers use Coopers drops. They are a drop that looks like a cough drop. Drop 2 into a wine bottle or 1 in a 12 bottle. A few weeks later you will have some sparkling wine.

The article you referred to: I have used Vintner's purees numerous times. Their purees are pretty good. Vintner's do advertise that you can make 5 gallons with 1 can. On the product they display another recipe. For a full body wine use 1 can for 3 gallons. The only thing I disagree with is that you can't find apple juice or cider in your local grocery store. You just have to be careful when fermenting off the shelf juices. If the juice has metabisulphate, potassium sorbate, or listings as sulphites, or sorbates it will not ferment. Absorbic acid, or pasterized is OK. Wine recipes: All fruit off the vine and all juices off the shelf do not have the same sugar content. Also all fruit and all juice do not have the same acid content. Most juice off the shelf has a about 1.045 SG. In fact my Apple Cider Juice that I purchased off the shelf had 1.044 SG. Fermenting it out without any extra sugar would give me about 6% alcohol.

The web sites below give you some good insite into sparkling wine, yeast strains, recipes.

http://www.winemaking.jackkeller.net/request.asp
http://www.winemaking.jackkeller.net/strains.asp
http://www.winemaking.jackkeller.net/sparkling.asp

I give you the three sites because it is hard to find things on this web site.