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E. & O. E.
Copyright www.petespintpot.co.uk 2008. First published 17 October 2008, last updated 1 September 2010.
Pete’s Pint Pot is dedicated to the home production & sensible drinking of beer, wine, cider & meads plus a little bit of china painting & a few bits of photograph tampering.
If you are affected by any of the articles on this site or any of the issues raised in them, I truly feel sorry for you.
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famously said to brother Groucho,
“Everybody knows there ain't no Sanity Clause!”
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ost of these cider recipes were made by my “piggy-back” method whilst making a wine kit, this is the only reason why some yeasts are named. Do not expect them to be award-winning brews, just drinkable ones, some are better than others but nothing I consider unworthy has been included. Please note that these ciders will have very little resemblance to the mass-produced, rubbish containing chemicals (including colouring, flavouring & sweeteners), that is highly advertised as being cider. You may however, prefer such industrial concoctions. Speaking of which, ciders are best served cool rather than ice cold to avoid dulling the taste, filling the glass with big chunks of ice may look “cool” when posing but it just dilutes the taste & gives you cold hands.
Hopefully the recipes will be easy to make using readily available ingredients. Quantities are not critical. Most supermarket apple juices contain around 11g of sugar per litre, try to avoid any juices that contain preservatives or added sugar. The yeast nutrient may not be required but has been added “just in case”, the pectic enzyme helps prevent “pectin hazes” & the Bentonite is a form of mud found in the Fort Benton area of Montana, USA. It helps to clear ciders & wines, another, even more bizarre use of this mud is to make it into a paste, put this into a tiny container with a little brush, give it a silly name & flog it at an even sillier price to people (mainly women) who will then paint the stuff onto their eyelashes, sometimes, but not always, with the aid of a mirror, apparently spitting into this “mascara” stuff helps, this practice is not recommended when making ciders or wines etc..
Any wine yeast will do although I personally prefer the Champagne yeasts, not because of the flavour but the debris “settles out” better after fermentation. Apple juice can be substituted with pear juice to make Perries, a mixture of both juices will produce “pear ciders”.
Discrepancies may have crept in to these recipes, mainly through my bad record keeping so, before brewing any recipe, it is best to shove all the information into a recipe calculator just to check.
The volume made is about 4.7 litres, this allows for 200ml “spillage & wastage”, so you should end up with about 4.5 litres of cider. All the ingredients can be added to a demijohn in one go but I prefer to start with only about half of the apple juice, the rest is added when the fermentation slows down, I think this gives a fuller flavoured result.
For sparkling ciders add 5g of priming sugar per litre when bottling.
Proper ciders are naturally high in acid but 5.5g/1 level tsp sodium bicarbonate reduces acidity of 4.7 litres of cider or wine by about 0.11%. No more than 2 or 3 tsp should be added as the added salts may affect the taste. Replacing 500ml of apple juice with 55g sugar will lower the acidity by around 0.07% whilst keeping the same alcoholic strength.
More cider recipes & brewing information can be obtained from www.yobrew.co.uk/cider.php.
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Despite the name, this recipe is NOT designed to emulate some of the popular drinks produced by some industrial process. It results in a very dry, acidic, astringent & strong cider. | |||
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Supermarket apple juice Sugar Pectic enzyme Bentonite Yeast nutrient Beaverdale wine yeast |
4.5 litres 200g 1 tsp 1 tsp ½ tsp 1 tsp |
Calculations (4.7 litres original vol.):- O.G. F.G. Alc. % Acidity % |
1051 996 7.3 0.81 - high, especially for low O.G. |
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Quite a “gentle” cider as it is not all that strong or acidic. | |||
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Supermarket apple juice Sugar Pectic enzyme Bentonite Yeast nutrient Wine yeast |
3 litres 50g 1 tsp 1 tsp ½ tsp 1 tsp |
Calculations (4.7 litres original vol.):- O.G. F.G. Alc. % Acidity % |
1030 998 4.3 0.6 |
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Add the petals of a full-blown (wide open), aromatic rose of any colour picked on a hot Summer’s day for the last few days of fermentation. This can be used with any cider as it enhances the bouquet & gives an extra subtle flavour to the cider. Elderflower & other blossoms can be tried but be careful not to add too much. DO NOT USE ANY POISONOUS PLANT PETALS, if in doubt, avoid it! | |||
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Supermarket apple juice Pectic enzyme Bentonite Yeast nutrient Beaverdale wine yeast |
4.5 litres 1 tsp 1 tsp ½ tsp 1 tsp |
Calculations (4.7 litres original vol.):- O.G. F.G. Alc. % Acidity % |
1039 997 5.6 0.81 - high, especially for low O.G. (May not suit your palate) |
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CIDER | |||
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Very nice, like all ciders this should be served cool rather than cold. | |||
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Supermarket apple juice Sugar Pectic enzyme Bentonite Yeast nutrient Wine yeast |
4 litres 150g 1 tsp 1 tsp ½ tsp 1 tsp |
Calculations (4.7 litres original vol.):- O.G. F.G. Alc. % Acidity % |
1047 996 6.7 0.74 |
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