Batch #13

Yesterday I started a new batch, following on the process from the previous several batches. But unlike any of the previous batches, I decided to try something fairly different with this recipe. Recipe #13:

• 6 gallon Kirkland's apple juice
• 1 pack Wyeast Whitbread (1099) Direct Pitch Activator
• ~1/2 cup of raisins
• 2 lemons
• 2 Earl Grey tea bags

I had been reading some blogs about adding tannins and acidity, so I decided to experiment with my base recipe and see what happens. So, prior to adding juice and yeast to the carboy, I added to a pot:

• 1/2 gallon apple juice
• juice of 2 lemons
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 2 Earl Grey tea bags

I cooked this mixture on the stove for 30 minutes at a temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit. I then added this to the carboy along with the remaining 5 1/2 gallons of juice. I then pitched the yeast.

Amy brought to my attention that Earl Grey might not have been the best choice for tea if I was just looking for tannins, as Earl Grey has added oils and is quite strong in flavor. So we'll see how this turns out. :-)

Batch #12

Following on the process for batches #10 and 11, I started a new batch a few weeks ago, near the end of June. Recipe #12:

• 6 gallon Kirkland's apple juice
• 1 pack Wyeast Forbidden Fruit (3463) Direct Pitch Activator
• ~1/3 cup of raisins

(I decided to try a different yeast based on a discussion I had with a friend.)

When I kegged the cider yesterday, I racked the cider to a second carboy, added ~1 quart of Kirkland's apple juice, and filled the keg, leaving a little space for future back-sweetening. Because I did a 6 gallon batch, this left me with 6 1 quart bottles. (Because I would have extra for bottling, I modified the process from batch #11, by racking to a second carboy, so that I could blend the added apple juice before bottling).

Batch #11

Following on the process for batch #10, I started a new batch sometime in the middle of March. Recipe #11:

• 4 gallon Kirkland's apple juice
• 1 pack Wyeast Whitbread (1099) Direct Pitch Activator
• ~1/3 cup of raisins

Again, the cider was allowed to ferment dry, before racking off to age in the keg. I decided to modify the process a bit by adding ~1 quart of apple juice to the keg to give the cider something to work with, in order to carbonate itself while aging.  I figured this would save me some CO2, as I didn't have to add any CO2 once the O2 was initially bled off using a CO2 tank.

Batch #10 (continued):

The approach that I came up with was:

• ferment 4 gallons dry
• age 4 cider in keg under slight pressure
• back-sweeten to taste
• refrigerate immediately after back-sweetening to prevent further fermentation

I think that this is a fairly standard process, with the exception of refrigerating immediately after back-sweetening. I did not want to use chemicals to kill the yeast, and didn’t trust myself to properly deactivate the yeast through cold crashing or filtering.

The 4 gallons and yeast were added to the carboy and allowed to ferment dry (~4 weeks). The cider was then racked of to a Cornelius keg, adding CO2 and bleeding off the O2. The cider was then allow to age for ~3 months. Once the cider had aged (6 months would probably be better, but who can wait!), the cider was back sweetened to taste (~½ gallon), resulting in a cider with SG of ~1.010. At this point, because there is active yeast, the cider must be refrigerated to keep fermentation from reactivating. The keg was placed in a refrigerator and attached to a CO2 tank to carbonate.

Drinking the cider has been great. The cider/juice blend did age a bit over the next month of drinking (something I wasn’t sure about, as this was my first time trying this process), with a noticeable change from a somewhat sweet cider (for our taste) for the first gallon to a very mellow dryer cider over the remainder. I don’t know if the initial sweetness was just a perception, as the juice and aged cider had not fully integrated, or because the carbonation was a bit low initially (I couldn’t wait to start drinking, and needed to adjust the pressure to reach the correct carbonation level), but the end product was a very drinkable cider that Amy and I (and friends) have really enjoyed.