This month is the prime time of the year for apples in the Northern Hemisphere, which means the best time to make cider. For this reason, we uploaded an episode about making a great cider. Luckily, I had an opportunity to interview Jon Schlee. If you are an aspiring brewer and a cider lover, I recommend you follow his Instagram @sessionzbrewing/ to know more about his creations and be inspired. He is an avid maker of great cider and he shared his 10 great tips and ways on how he makes crowd winning types of cider. Below are his top 10 tips:
- Best equipment for beginners
First and foremost, you just need some basic equipment. Use a single fermenter, a six or seven-gallon fermenter for a 5-gallon batch is great. Provide a carboy for secondary. Next, for secondary fermentation, once you’re done with your primary fermentation will rack into a carboy.
- Needs/Ingredients in making a cider
Provide basic ingredients that you can get from your homebrew store. Basic uses are wine yeast or champagne yeast. It gives a really nice clean dry profile. You can also use Ale yeast like US-05 , as well as some yeast nutrient.
Use pectic enzyme, the pectic enzyme is actually what breaks down the pectins in the cider. This enzyme will help with clarity in your ciders. Of course, apple juice is the star of the show. From store-bought juice to fresh-pressed in the orchard either type will make great ciders. The key is to make sure there are no preservatives in your juice they will hinder fermentation.
- The most approachable way for a beginner to make a cider
For the beginners, to make an easy way cider is you must provide a preservative-free like the fresh-pressed apple juice. You can also get store-bought juices that are not something that is not from concentrate, even not from concentrate juice from Costco works.
Pour five gallons into that fermenter and add your peptic enzyme yeast nutrient. And then, pitch the yeast and within three weeks or so the cider has done fermenting. If you are adding fruit or spices, it’s time to put into secondary for another couple of weeks and ready to be bottled up.
- The apples are the star of the show.
Not all kinds of apples have the same taste, some apples consist of more sugar than others, while crab apples have a ton of sugar in them. It’s easier to make a more constant product from store-bought juice, but it may lack the unique quality of fresh orchard juice. You can grab a couple of pounds of crab apples, and throw them in a juicer. Ferment it separately. Make it into about a gallon. Blend that back into finished fermented cider. It adds a lot of really nice tannins and body.
- Preferred complexity of cider
Don’t make it super sweet.
I prefer a dryer cider and it gives a crisp clean finish. If you want it to be sweeter there are some methods you can choose to do it. Yeast choice can help with leaving a sweeter finish. Using ale yeast like US-05 can leave some sugar and sweetness behind. While using Champagne yeast can make it super dry.
- Kind of spices to use and what kind of flavors do get from those
Spices are a great way to make a really killer Cider. You can use Vanilla, cinnamon, or any other spices you might think will make a great cider. Just ad your spices to a hop sock during secondary to try to get the flavor you want. Make sure you continually taste your cider while it is steeping with spices because a little can go a long way.
- When to add the fruit
Freeze the whole fruit before using it. Mash it a little bit, freeze it again, do that a couple of times it helps really down those cellular walls of the fruit to really maximize the flavor yield that you’re going to get.
Always add fruits in the secondary. If you put your fruit before the given time, the fermentation activity is going to lose a lot of those really delicate flavors and aromas that you’re going to get from the fruits. Always rack the cider after it’s done fermenting to a secondary carboy and add fruits.
- Bottle or Keg Your Cider
Bottles or kegs work but you will want to have a bit higher carbonation. You want 3.0 -3.5 atmospheres so you get a more vigorous carbonation. Think Champaign style carbonation vs beer.
- Benefits in Cider
Cider is adaptable. You can blend it with wine, blend it with beer. You can take all the other alcoholic beverages and the kind of all will go well with cider in some way. Experiment with your cider it’s a great fun project.
- Recommended beginner cider recipe
Always use a standard based side five gallons of Apple juice. Get a Kroger Apple Juice or Costco brand. It’s not from concentrate, there are no preservatives in it. It’s a wonderful juice to use.
Don’t use any type of potassium sorbate that you’ll usually find in some storage uses. Look for a pasteurized product. If it is pasteurized, it is just either by heat or by UV, it’s fine. Ferment it, but if there’s potassium sorbate or potassium, petabyte by sulfate, that will definitely stall a fermentation. Make sure that there’s no preservatives in your juice. Most juices out there don’t have preservatives in them anyways.
I hope this tips gave you an idea and inspiration in creating your very own cider. If you wish to know more about brewing cider, you’re just a click way of it. To listen to our full podcast episode, please visit Episode 51 – Making Cider with Jon Schlee