Just a little harder

I am trying something new this fall... making my own hard cider! I absolutely LOVE apple cider, and the thought of being able to make my own HARD apple cider is just too good to pass up. I looked up the process and it really doesn't look too difficult... it just requires a few kitchen tools (that I may already have most of) and some time.

Check out the recipe and brew your own along with me!

The ingredients are probably ones that you already have in your kitchen!

Homebrewed Hard Cider:

• 1 gallon organic apple juice without preservatives

• 1 pound brown sugar

• 1 cinnamon stick

• 3 whole cloves

• 10 raisins

• ½ package champagne yeast or cote des blanc yeast

  
  

1)    Sanitize everything that will come into contact with your cider

2)    Heat ½ gallon of apple juice in a pot on medium heat, do not boil. Add the brown sugar and stir to dissolve, then remove the pot from the heat

3)    Put the cinnamon stick, cloves, and raisins into the empty one gallon brewing jug

4)    Use the funnel to transfer the warm cider from the pot into the one gallon brewing jug. Allow the warm cider to steep with the spices for about 20 minutes

5)    Top off the jug with the remaining ½ gallon of apple juice, leaving 2 inches of headspace at the top of the jug. You will have a bit leftover apple juice. Cap the jug and shake to combine everything

6)    Use a thermometer to check the temperature of the juice in the jug. When it has cooled to 90°F or less, you can add ½ package of yeast to the jug (doesn’t have to be exact). Store the opened package with the remaining yeast in the refrigerator for later use

7)    Cap the jug again and shake vigorously for about a minute or two to aerate the yeast

8)    Attach the airlock to the rubber stopper if you haven’t already, fill it with water to the fill line, then place it firmly on the top of the jug

9)    Put the jug in a cool (not cold) place out of direct sunlight to ferment. After several hours, or overnight, you will start to see bubbles forming in the jug and airlock

10) Allow the cider to ferment for 3-4 weeks, until the bubbling in the jug and airlock has stopped

11) Bottle the hard cider (Bottling hard cider is a two person job, so grab a friend!): Sanitize all of the bottling equipment and the bottles. Once everything is sanitized and dry, attach one end of the tubing to the auto siphon and the other end to the bottling wand. Put the jug of cider or mead onto a counter or table and one person will put the auto siphon into the jug without touching the sediment on the bottom. Put all of the bottles on a towel on the floor below the gallon jug. Gravity is your friend while bottling. A second person will do the bottling.

Put the bottling wand into one of the bottles, all the way to the bottom, pushing down to create flow.The first person pumps the auto siphon a few times, and the cider should start moving through the tube and into the bottle. When the cider gets almost to the top of the bottle, an inch or so from the top, pull the bottling wand up and the flow will immediately stop. There should be an inch or so of head space at the top of the bottle. Move on to the next bottle and once again push the bottling wand into the bottom of the bottle until it’s full. Keep filling each bottle until you’ve gone through all of the hard cider in the jug, stopping when all that’s left is sediment. Cap the bottles with the flip top lids. Age the cider for a few days to a month before drinking.

Notes

• Preservatives mess up the fermentation, but citric acid is ok. It is best to avoid using these

• You can make up to 5 gallons of hard cider with 1 yeast packet, so keep that in mind for the future.

• Fermentation time will be faster when it is in a warm environment.

Homebrewed hard apple cider... there is nothing better for the cooler weather of the fall!

Reference: How to Make Hard Cider: Homebrew it!