The perfect cider recipe

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pb1uk

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Hi all,

Apologies for the barrage of questions. Unfortunately I failed to write down how much yeast/sugar I put in my brew last year. A real school boy error as it turned out ok!

I know it has probably been asked loads, but for your perfect cider how much yeast and sugar would you add at the start?

Thanks :)
 
Hi all,

Apologies for the barrage of questions. Unfortunately I failed to write down how much yeast/sugar I put in my brew last year. A real school boy error as it turned out ok!

I know it has probably been asked loads, but for your perfect cider how much yeast and sugar would you add at the start?

Thanks :)

How much are you making?

Is it a turbo cider or are you making from real fruit?

What % alcohol are you aiming for? Traditional is 4 or 5%, I prefer nearer 8% myself.

Do you have a hydrometer? You need to know your starting SG before adding sugar and the % alcohol you are aiming for before you can work out how much sugar to add, if any.
 
How much are you making?

Is it a turbo cider or are you making from real fruit?

What % alcohol are you aiming for? Traditional is 4 or 5%, I prefer nearer 8% myself.

Do you have a hydrometer? You need to know your starting SG before adding sugar and the % alcohol you are aiming for before you can work out how much sugar to add, if any.

Hi Bigeck,

Will be brewing a mix of real fruit topped up with some shop bought juice. Depending on how much juice I get with be around the 50/50 - 60/40 either way mark.

In terms of % i'm open to trying different strengths. The last one I did came out at around the 7.5% mark which was good. What would you recommend? I'm open to trying different strengths/flavours/techniques, at the end of the day if it's wet and above 4% i'll drink it :mrgreen:

I've got a hydrometer that i'll try and get my head round, is there any rule of thumb of quantities of sugar/yeast that you follow?

Thanks
 
How much are you making?

Is it a turbo cider or are you making from real fruit?

What % alcohol are you aiming for? Traditional is 4 or 5%, I prefer nearer 8% myself.

Do you have a hydrometer? You need to know your starting SG before adding sugar and the % alcohol you are aiming for before you can work out how much sugar to add, if any.

Update i've taken the first reading this evening, 24 hours after the Campden tablets went in. It has come out around 1055, does that sounds right?
 
Update i've taken the first reading this evening, 24 hours after the Campden tablets went in. It has come out around 1055, does that sounds right?

is 1055 your starting gravity ( SG ) or final gravity ( FG ) ?
1055 is a bit high if its FG unless you like your cider extra sweet
 
is 1055 your starting gravity ( SG ) or final gravity ( FG ) ?
1055 is a bit high if its FG unless you like your cider extra sweet

Hi! That's my starting gravity. Pressed yesterday (just under 4 gallons) and added 4 Campden Tablets. Took the reading 24 hours later.
 
Hi! That's my starting gravity. Pressed yesterday (just under 4 gallons) and added 4 Campden Tablets. Took the reading 24 hours later.

4 campden tabs ! :-o did you boil after adding the tabs ?
1055 is a good SG and should give you around 5% abv depending on how dry or sweet you want the end product to be. Don't know about the 4 campden tabs tho, a bit over kill imo and could effect the yeast.
 
Hi Bigeck,

Will be brewing a mix of real fruit topped up with some shop bought juice. Depending on how much juice I get with be around the 50/50 - 60/40 either way mark.

In terms of % i'm open to trying different strengths. The last one I did came out at around the 7.5% mark which was good. What would you recommend? I'm open to trying different strengths/flavours/techniques, at the end of the day if it's wet and above 4% i'll drink it :mrgreen:

I've got a hydrometer that i'll try and get my head round, is there any rule of thumb of quantities of sugar/yeast that you follow?

Thanks

Hi.

I'm trying a few with real fruit and a mixture of juice as well. I think you get a better flavour with the real fruit, however I don't have a very discerning pallet and have been known to sacrifice taste for alcohol content.

I generally add about 5g of yeast to a batch regardless of size. I haven't seen any advantages to adding more. That seems to be what other folks around here are using as well.

I havent got the hang of the calculations for the amount of sugar to add yet and tend to be a little heavy handed, hence I have a batch of cider on at the moment that may top out at 12%. If you look for posts by Roddy you will find links to the spreadsheets he uses. I need to spend more time on this.

If 1.055 is you starting gravity and you let it ferment out you are looking at 9% depending on the finishing gravity. I use this site for doing the calculations. https://www.omnicalculator.com/other/alcohol-by-volume I use 0.985 as a rough guide of finished gravity for my initial calcs.

Hope this is helpful.
 
Depends how dry you want your brew.
I have started all my tc's at 1060 and ferment it down to 1010/1005 and if it's still going I add a campden tablet to kill it off.
Leave it a day then bottle it.
So far in my (limited) experience it's worked and everything has had a slight fizz and been medium in sweetness.
 
4 campden tabs ! :-o did you boil after adding the tabs ?
1055 is a good SG and should give you around 5% abv depending on how dry or sweet you want the end product to be. Don't know about the 4 campden tabs tho, a bit over kill imo and could effect the yeast.

Ah that's annoying. Last year i put campden tablets in at the end to stop the yeast. However i read in a few places to put them in for 24 hours beforw putting in the yeast to kill off any wild yeasts. Most places said 1 tablet per gallon, what would you recommend?
 

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