Easy Cider

Home brewing has become increasingly popular in recent years, and I have jumped on the bandwagon.  While brewing ales and lagers is fun, I got into the home brew business for one primary reason: apple cider.  To me, cider isn't the over-sweetened cheerleader beer, or the delicious brown juice sold at harvest fairs (the brown stuff is must, a raw ingredient of finished cider).  To me, cider is crisp, dry, fizzy, and delicious.  Furthermore, a few glasses of cider ought to make it so even the hairiest and burliest of HHMM are rendered incapable of safely operating their Hawken rifles.

Pressing cider the old fashioned way... certainly a family affair.

I also like cider because it is an alcoholic beverage where I can reasonably aspire to growing or gathering the bulk of the raw ingredients required of a batch.  Emily and I have had great satisfaction in harvesting apples, grinding them to a pulp, pressing pulp to produce must, and fermenting the must into cider.  This is fun, and extremely satisfying, but it is time-consuming and hard work, and sometimes it is good to keep up the skills by taking an easier path.

Many apple orchards produce commercial sweet cider, or must (the brown juice I was referring to earlier).  If the must isn't adulterated with preservatives or pasteurization, you can get a beautiful cider brewing in minutes.  These ciders are often tasty, because they are (or at least should be) well blended from multiple apple varieties.  Get a fermenting bucket, with a lid, and an airlock from your local home brew supply store.  These places also sell racking canes, wine thieves, hydrometers, bottling buckets, sanitizers, cider brewing guides and other handy tools that will make your life easier.  Once your gear is ready (expect around $120 for a complete kit) you can put up cider and be as smug as I am about the most premium of home brewed beverages.

Follow this recipe for a refreshing and crisp easy cider:

5 gallons of sweet cider (must) from your local orchard
2-4 cups of white sugar, dissolved in 1 quart boiling water (optional, if you want to kick up the alcohol content)
2.5 tsp. yeast nutrient (available from home brew supply stores)
1 packet of champagne yeast (available from home brew supply stores)

Let the sweet cider come to room temperature, then wipe down the caps and rims of the jugs and dump them into your fermenting bucket.  Add the sugar syrup and yeast nutrient.  I re-hydrate the champagne yeast according to the manufacturer's recommendations.  While the yeast is soaking, I whip the must in the bucket into a froth with a big, sterilized, plastic spoon.  Dump in the yeast, put on the lid, secure the airlock, and let it go at 65-75 degrees Fahrenheit.  Fermentation will be very active for a week or so, and I always let mine go for at least 2-3 weeks before I get interested in the next step.

Two hard ciders brewing, right this moment, in my home.

When you are ready to bottle, add about a half cup of brown sugar, dissolved in water to your cider.  This is priming sugar that yeast will consume to carbonate your cider in the bottle.  I think the brown sugar lends a nice flavor to the finished cider.  I am assuming here that you have verified a complete fermentation (see cider  how-to book) and you aren't prepping cider grenades for your cellar.  Ensuring a vigorous fermentation and waiting 2-3 weeks to bottle should alleviate any shrapnel issues.  Worst thing I have experienced is hyper-fizzy cider.

After a week in the bottle, your cider should be ready to drink... and it should be delicious.  If it has strange flavors wait a month or two or 12.  Cider gets better with age, and our experience is that even bad cider can mature well with some time.  Cheers!

The Mini-HHMM doesn't understand why he is too young for delicious apple cider.

p.s.  Don't be afraid to cook with your hard cider... wonderful culinary adventures await.  Perhaps it is time to try American coot braised in cider with a side of roasted root vegetables?