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Love this!!! Cider season is right around the corner! My farmers market just started displaying apples which means that cider is soon to come! I’m going to buy 5 gal and start my own batch ASAP!
Glad to hear you will be making more cider! We are excited to see what sort of a harvest we get from the apple trees we pruned earlier this year!! Should make a good home-brew!
I shall try this method. We have very few apples set on in our orchard this year, had a wet, cool and long spring in our part of Oregon. Thanks for the start to finish tutorial.
Hey Mark, sorry to hear about the apples in Oregon. We had a scare with a late frost in April but the apples seem to be growing normally now. We are glad you liked the video, thanks for the comment! Best, David and Rachel
Hi, talking about yeasts,have been experimenting with Fermentis cider yeast AB-1, AC-4, TF-6 and Lalvin 71B. Looking for a yeast to lower the malic acid in the brew.The AB-1 does seem to be a bit smother. Cheers
Thank you for the comment Dave! We didnt feel the need to stabilize this batch. (Keep it cold) The easiest way to stabilize is to add a chemical stabilizer however we dont like adding chemicals. In future videos we begin to filter our cider with a Boun Vino filtration system. This filter acts like a stabilizer. Hope this helps :)
@@CideryFromScratch new to home brewing and also don't like the idea of adding chemicals. I guess cold means refrigerator. Maybe I should get another one to store drinks in the basement.
Hi and thanks for the comment! Yes, one of our first purchases was a used Refrigerator that we use for kegs, juice, and bottles now! In the winter, we also store carboys in the garage where it stays around 35deg F. You could also buy a filter and remove the yeast with filtration prior to bottling. However, you wont have carbonated cider unless you force carbonate after filtering! Hope this helps
Towards the end you stated ‘adding sugar’. Did you add the sugar in the form of 32 Oz of apple juice or did you mix sugar with the 32 Oz apple juice and add both?
In this batch, the juice was added to create carbonation in the bottles. Fermentation starts back up in the bottle, eating those additional sugars we added, causing CO2. So in essence the ABV doesnt go down because all those sugars were converted to CO2/alcohol.
Great video! Thanks for answering all the questions below. It was very helpful as I had a lot of similar questions. I live in Phoenix and the indoor temperature this time of year is between 75-80 degrees. Is this too warm or is it ok? What is the ideal temperature?
Thanks for the kind words!! We are happy to help the community :) The lower the temperature the better. Lower temps slow down fermentation and help develop a more complex cider. However, you can make cider in a vast range of temperatures. You just need to pick a yeast that can tolerate your fermentation temps. So 75-80 deg is acceptable as long as the yeast can withstand it
@@CideryFromScratch Thank you for your help! I'm planning on making my first batch of cider this weekend. I'm going to start by making 2.5 gallons in case I screw up. I have a packet of champagne yeast rated for 1-6 US gallons. Would you recommend using the whole packet or just half? And based on your answer, how much yeast nutrient should I use (it recommends 1-tsp per gallon? Thanks again...Cheers!
@@DaveH-d5b sounds like a good plan! I would follow the manufacturer recommendations and then tweak your methods as needed in future batches. For champagne yeast I usually add 1.2grams per gallon of cider and just 1gram of nutrient per gallon.
@@CideryFromScratch thank you! For bottling, can you use growlers with screw on tops or is that not recommend? I noticed you used bottle caps for yours.
How much Go Ferm did you add? It looked like a tablespoon but I want to make sure I'm doing it correctly. I'm in the early stages of researching how to make home made hard cider. Thanks!
@@josh-d2z hi Josh, I usually add 1.2grams of goferm per gallon of cider. The added sugar after fermentation is indeed meant for bottle carbonating the cider. The yeast will convert that sugar into CO2
The books there are specifically about learning to Taste Cider - Tasting Cider by James, The Cider Insider by Forbes, and Modern Cider by Christensen. The two books we use most are The New CiderMakers Handbook and Cider Hard and Sweet
Hey Juan! Thanks for the comment and follow. We try not to stir our ciders while fermentation is taking place. Stirring the product exposes it to oxygen and can cause additional unwanted gases! Hope this helps :)
Excellent! Thanks for your reply. I am planning to prepare apple cider but with very low alcohol, about 3% ABV, we use in Mexico to celebrate christmas with that kind of cider. Any recommendation will be really appreciated, actually it has to be carbonated and back-sweetening, Regards
@@BajaStyleWinemaking We aren’t too familiar with lower abv / sweet ciders…..they typically need more advanced equipment (filtration, force carbonation, kegging etc) unless you decide to chemically treat the cider with potassium sorbate or back-sweeten with non-fermentable sugars. We tried the chemicals and non fermentable sugars early on and decided it was not the path for us.
Hi what stopped the tiny amount of yeast left in the cider to start eating the sugars in the cider you added after the main fermentation i know in mead and wine to back sweeten you first add potassium sorbate i believe or is the tiny ammount of yeast still doing its thing is what creates the carbonation?
Hi Ollie! Thanks for the comment :) this is one of those juices that tastes good dry! After fermentation, there wasn’t any sugars left for the yeast to consume (so they became dormant). Since the cider was good, we didn’t back-sweeten this batch. The small amount of juice added back prior to bottling was used to activate the yeast in the bottles and create carbonation. We dont like adding chemicals to our ciders, so we avoid potassium sorbate as much as possible!
Is it at all possible to back sweeten this recipe, instead of the 32 oz of apple juice, a different fruit juice.. Such as blueberry? Would that ruin the carbonation that the apple is going to create? Or perhaps its not even enough juice, (32 oz) to make a taste difference?! Either way.. Excited to be bottling my first batch of cider!
Congrats on your first batch - you can use any juice to carbonate with as long as it has sugars and doesn’t have preservatives. However, be careful though because this is not for back-sweetening. The left over yeast in your finished product is going to eat all the sugars when they are added to the bottles and left to age.
I loved the video, and I’m now inspired to make cider for sure, but I was puzzled by the way your yeast is prehydrated and premixed with the yeast nutrient before adding to the apple wash? I’ve done a lot of sugar washes for distilling and the best method to get the yeast to set off like a rocket was always to mix the yeast nutrient with the wash then dust the yeast on top of the wash because the yeast development is faster and more sure when it has oxygen available. Anyhow, that was using DADY and ale and wine yeasts may be different. Please let me know your thoughts 😊👍
Hello and thanks for the comment! The yeast we used for this batch comes in a dehydrated form and the directions call for a 15min hydration period in water to help the yeast multiple prior to being added to the apple juice. We have found that the fermentation will start faster if you hydrate your yeast with nutrients like Go ferm. We have also found that the yeast and goferm will tend to clump-up when you add it to a Carboy, so it helps to already have it in liquid form and prevent that clumping.....Honestly, we have done in both was and the juice always ferments just fine. We have settled on this yeast/nutrient hydration process when using carboys but if we use a wide mouth fermenter we will just add the ingredients directly to the liquid! Hope this helps!!
I’m not sure if our way is the right way but it seemed to work, we found how many ounces of juice we needed to get 25g of sugar per gallon of cider. This was for carbonation not for back-sweetening. Hope this helps!
It does. Just wondering what your math was to figure out. Iam making my first batch and would rather use apple juice than other sugars thanks for your time.
Those fermentation inhibiting preservatives aren’t in this juice, so you can ferment it. Watch out for juices with potassium metabisulfite and sorbates, those are preservatives that prevent fermentation!
@@CideryFromScratch Btw, after the fermentation is done, you added apple juice. did this help with carbonizing? and is the apple cider still sweet after half year or so?
The juice they added back was for carbonation, as their yeast was still active in the bottles (they didn't add anything to neutral the yeast when bottling so no backsweetening occurred either from the juice).
I'm surprised by adding the extra apple juice it did not create bottle bombs because when I make mead they always say if you add more sugar the yeast will activate again and create carbonation but can also explode due to no air lock
Hi Shane! I can assure you we have had no bottle bombs....We have 3-4 of these bottles left and they have been sitting for 14 months. The juice we added back into the cider was used to restart fermentation in the bottle and create a Carbonated Cider.....Be ware, if you add TOO much juice or sugar you could create Too much carbonation and then have bottle bombs.
Food Safety, Sanitation, and GMPs (Good Manufacturing Practices) ensure product is safe for consumers. Thank you for outlining some of your specific procedures regarding Sanitation
Hi! We added more juice so the yeast has sugars they can eat once the cider is in bottles. This process of yeast eating sugar in the bottles creates carbonation :)
I’m trying to make cider for the first time, I’m juicing apples from my tree. I bring it to 180ish then simmer for 10-15 mins. Then let cool before I add the yeast. I don’t know if that’s the proper way, but I am open to any advice haha
@@journeyman2003 we’ve never boiled because we use an apple press instead. As long as you wait for a 50-70 temp you should be fine. I would consider adding a nutrient like goFerm to make sure the yeast has a strong start to fermentation!
Great question! We have tried apple cider a few times and it hasn’t worked for us or it needs to be back-sweetened. The first farm stand apple cider we bought actually had preservatives so it didn’t even ferment. We found an orchard locally where we can buy pure macintosh and northern spy juice, now we make most of our ciders with that!
$10 for a 6/pk and I kinda doubt that math lol. 😂. Probaly costs about $5/6 for a 6/pk with better quality (not counting cost of Carboys and stuff. You certainly won’t break even on your first batch!)
![APPLE PIE HARD CIDER [How to Make Cider at Home] 🍎🥧](/img/n.gif)
Thanks to a partnership with eBay, we are happy to offer a variety of swag options including stickers, hats, and shirts! If you want to support or journey, check out our website - heartwoodciders.com/shop/
Very cool. I don't think I've ever seen anyone use apple juice as a priming sugar before. I like it.
Works like a charm! Thanks for watching :)
Love this!!! Cider season is right around the corner! My farmers market just started displaying apples which means that cider is soon to come! I’m going to buy 5 gal and start my own batch ASAP!
Glad to hear you will be making more cider! We are excited to see what sort of a harvest we get from the apple trees we pruned earlier this year!! Should make a good home-brew!
I shall try this method. We have very few apples set on in our orchard this year, had a wet, cool and long spring in our part of Oregon. Thanks for the start to finish tutorial.
Hey Mark, sorry to hear about the apples in Oregon. We had a scare with a late frost in April but the apples seem to be growing normally now. We are glad you liked the video, thanks for the comment! Best, David and Rachel
Looks delish. 7.1 yum.
Yes sir!! The best juice available at the store to make a good hard cider
Nice video! Clean editing. This was enjoyable!
Thank you for the kind words!! We are glad you enjoyed it 😀
Looks and Sounds delicious!! 😊
It was amazing 🤩
Hi, talking about yeasts,have been experimenting with Fermentis cider yeast AB-1, AC-4, TF-6 and Lalvin 71B. Looking for a yeast to lower the malic acid in the brew.The AB-1 does seem to be a bit smother. Cheers
Love it Peter! Thanks for sharing and thanks for commenting. Our next venture is to try Lalvin D47 - cheers 🍻
1:28 Great to see that i'm not the only one who does the lids up too tight. 😂 Right, back to the video. Lol.
We wonder too if it has something to do with the sanitizer breaking down the plastics in the lid haha - thanks for watching
Great video! Very informative!
Thank you!! We are glad you enjoyed it :)
I want to try making cider. My question is do you stabilize or pasteurize after back sweetening?
Thank you for the comment Dave! We didnt feel the need to stabilize this batch. (Keep it cold) The easiest way to stabilize is to add a chemical stabilizer however we dont like adding chemicals. In future videos we begin to filter our cider with a Boun Vino filtration system. This filter acts like a stabilizer. Hope this helps :)
@@CideryFromScratch new to home brewing and also don't like the idea of adding chemicals. I guess cold means refrigerator. Maybe I should get another one to store drinks in the basement.
Hi and thanks for the comment! Yes, one of our first purchases was a used Refrigerator that we use for kegs, juice, and bottles now! In the winter, we also store carboys in the garage where it stays around 35deg F. You could also buy a filter and remove the yeast with filtration prior to bottling. However, you wont have carbonated cider unless you force carbonate after filtering! Hope this helps
Towards the end you stated ‘adding sugar’. Did you add the sugar in the form of 32 Oz of apple juice or did you mix sugar with the 32 Oz apple juice and add both?
Hi Zeb and thank you for the comment! For this batch we bottle with only 32 ounces of the same Martinellis apple juice! Thanks for watching :)
@@CideryFromScratch Does this lower the ABV?
In this batch, the juice was added to create carbonation in the bottles. Fermentation starts back up in the bottle, eating those additional sugars we added, causing CO2. So in essence the ABV doesnt go down because all those sugars were converted to CO2/alcohol.
Great video! Thanks for answering all the questions below. It was very helpful as I had a lot of similar questions. I live in Phoenix and the indoor temperature this time of year is between 75-80 degrees. Is this too warm or is it ok? What is the ideal temperature?
Thanks for the kind words!! We are happy to help the community :) The lower the temperature the better. Lower temps slow down fermentation and help develop a more complex cider. However, you can make cider in a vast range of temperatures. You just need to pick a yeast that can tolerate your fermentation temps. So 75-80 deg is acceptable as long as the yeast can withstand it
@@CideryFromScratch Thank you for your help! I'm planning on making my first batch of cider this weekend. I'm going to start by making 2.5 gallons in case I screw up. I have a packet of champagne yeast rated for 1-6 US gallons. Would you recommend using the whole packet or just half? And based on your answer, how much yeast nutrient should I use (it recommends 1-tsp per gallon? Thanks again...Cheers!
@@DaveH-d5b sounds like a good plan! I would follow the manufacturer recommendations and then tweak your methods as needed in future batches. For champagne yeast I usually add 1.2grams per gallon of cider and just 1gram of nutrient per gallon.
@@CideryFromScratch thank you! For bottling, can you use growlers with screw on tops or is that not recommend? I noticed you used bottle caps for yours.
@@DaveH-d5b flip tops, corks, or caps are the preferred method - we have tried reusing twist top wine bottles but the seal wasn’t good enough
How much Go Ferm did you add? It looked like a tablespoon but I want to make sure I'm doing it correctly. I'm in the early stages of researching how to make home made hard cider. Thanks!
Also, does the bottling sugar carbonate the cider? Thanks again
@@josh-d2z hi Josh, I usually add 1.2grams of goferm per gallon of cider. The added sugar after fermentation is indeed meant for bottle carbonating the cider. The yeast will convert that sugar into CO2
@@CideryFromScratch Wonderful! Thank you for the response
@@josh-d2z happy to help
How is the calculation made so that 32 oz of apple can supply the proper amount of priming sugar for 5 gallons of fermented cider?
7:10 what are those books on the table? would you like to share the names?
The books there are specifically about learning to Taste Cider - Tasting Cider by James, The Cider Insider by Forbes, and Modern Cider by Christensen. The two books we use most are The New CiderMakers Handbook and Cider Hard and Sweet
Simple question, Did you stir it during the 3 weeks fermentation? Or Did you just leave it like that? Regards. Juan Medina
Hey Juan! Thanks for the comment and follow. We try not to stir our ciders while fermentation is taking place. Stirring the product exposes it to oxygen and can cause additional unwanted gases! Hope this helps :)
Excellent! Thanks for your reply. I am planning to prepare apple cider but with very low alcohol, about 3% ABV, we use in Mexico to celebrate christmas with that kind of cider. Any recommendation will be really appreciated, actually it has to be carbonated and back-sweetening, Regards
@@BajaStyleWinemaking We aren’t too familiar with lower abv / sweet ciders…..they typically need more advanced equipment (filtration, force carbonation, kegging etc) unless you decide to chemically treat the cider with potassium sorbate or back-sweeten with non-fermentable sugars. We tried the chemicals and non fermentable sugars early on and decided it was not the path for us.
Does not adding more apple juice after racking not cause a second ferment which could cause exploding bottles ..... there could still be live yeast
Hi what stopped the tiny amount of yeast left in the cider to start eating the sugars in the cider you added after the main fermentation i know in mead and wine to back sweeten you first add potassium sorbate i believe or is the tiny ammount of yeast still doing its thing is what creates the carbonation?
Hi Ollie! Thanks for the comment :) this is one of those juices that tastes good dry! After fermentation, there wasn’t any sugars left for the yeast to consume (so they became dormant). Since the cider was good, we didn’t back-sweeten this batch. The small amount of juice added back prior to bottling was used to activate the yeast in the bottles and create carbonation. We dont like adding chemicals to our ciders, so we avoid potassium sorbate as much as possible!
@@CideryFromScratch thankyou for answering my questions so promptly appreciate your video I'm going to try this soon
@@olliesmith8174 cheers! Happy cider making
Is it at all possible to back sweeten this recipe, instead of the 32 oz of apple juice, a different fruit juice.. Such as blueberry? Would that ruin the carbonation that the apple is going to create? Or perhaps its not even enough juice, (32 oz) to make a taste difference?! Either way.. Excited to be bottling my first batch of cider!
Congrats on your first batch - you can use any juice to carbonate with as long as it has sugars and doesn’t have preservatives. However, be careful though because this is not for back-sweetening. The left over yeast in your finished product is going to eat all the sugars when they are added to the bottles and left to age.
I loved the video, and I’m now inspired to make cider for sure, but I was puzzled by the way your yeast is prehydrated and premixed with the yeast nutrient before adding to the apple wash?
I’ve done a lot of sugar washes for distilling and the best method to get the yeast to set off like a rocket was always to mix the yeast nutrient with the wash then dust the yeast on top of the wash because the yeast development is faster and more sure when it has oxygen available.
Anyhow, that was using DADY and ale and wine yeasts may be different. Please let me know your thoughts 😊👍
Hello and thanks for the comment! The yeast we used for this batch comes in a dehydrated form and the directions call for a 15min hydration period in water to help the yeast multiple prior to being added to the apple juice. We have found that the fermentation will start faster if you hydrate your yeast with nutrients like Go ferm. We have also found that the yeast and goferm will tend to clump-up when you add it to a Carboy, so it helps to already have it in liquid form and prevent that clumping.....Honestly, we have done in both was and the juice always ferments just fine. We have settled on this yeast/nutrient hydration process when using carboys but if we use a wide mouth fermenter we will just add the ingredients directly to the liquid! Hope this helps!!
How did you figure out how much apple juice to add for cabonating the bottles?
I’m not sure if our way is the right way but it seemed to work, we found how many ounces of juice we needed to get 25g of sugar per gallon of cider. This was for carbonation not for back-sweetening. Hope this helps!
It does. Just wondering what your math was to figure out. Iam making my first batch and would rather use apple juice than other sugars thanks for your time.
Won't the preservatives in the juice stop fermentation?
Those fermentation inhibiting preservatives aren’t in this juice, so you can ferment it. Watch out for juices with potassium metabisulfite and sorbates, those are preservatives that prevent fermentation!
Did you use something to make it clear?
We did not need to use anything, the cider cleared itself with time!
Thanks for this video, really helpful. just for me as a European, 5 us gallons = 19 liters, 32 oz = 1 liter.
It was fun to make!! We are glad you enjoyed it
@@CideryFromScratch Btw, after the fermentation is done, you added apple juice. did this help with carbonizing? and is the apple cider still sweet after half year or so?
The juice they added back was for carbonation, as their yeast was still active in the bottles (they didn't add anything to neutral the yeast when bottling so no backsweetening occurred either from the juice).
I'm surprised by adding the extra apple juice it did not create bottle bombs because when I make mead they always say if you add more sugar the yeast will activate again and create carbonation but can also explode due to no air lock
Hi Shane! I can assure you we have had no bottle bombs....We have 3-4 of these bottles left and they have been sitting for 14 months. The juice we added back into the cider was used to restart fermentation in the bottle and create a Carbonated Cider.....Be ware, if you add TOO much juice or sugar you could create Too much carbonation and then have bottle bombs.
Food Safety, Sanitation, and GMPs (Good Manufacturing Practices) ensure product is safe for consumers. Thank you for outlining some of your specific procedures regarding Sanitation
GMPs are key if you want a tasty Cider!!
Why do you add the juice to the already fermented stuff?
Hi! We added more juice so the yeast has sugars they can eat once the cider is in bottles. This process of yeast eating sugar in the bottles creates carbonation :)
@@CideryFromScratch ok, so it’s like adding a 1/4 tsp of sugar to each beer bottle when bottling beer to make carbonation
@@journeyman2003 yes exactly!! Adding juice instead gives more flavors/aromas to the cider in the bottles
I’m trying to make cider for the first time, I’m juicing apples from my tree. I bring it to 180ish then simmer for 10-15 mins. Then let cool before I add the yeast. I don’t know if that’s the proper way, but I am open to any advice haha
@@journeyman2003 we’ve never boiled because we use an apple press instead. As long as you wait for a 50-70 temp you should be fine. I would consider adding a nutrient like goFerm to make sure the yeast has a strong start to fermentation!
I noticed that you didn't bother to mix everything after you added your yeast. Did I miss something? Or does it not matter?
I know from the mead making process that the yeast settles at the bottom when its „dead“. I guess the mixing isnt neccessary
Stirring the yeast is not necessary. Especially when you hydrate the yeast in water
@@ukwarrior89 correct! Yeast floats until it dies and sinks to the bottom
6:06 WTH was that!?
any risk of bottle bombs with this method?
This cider is going to be Dry, no residual sugar. Therefore, no risk of bottle bombs!
Have you tried using apple cider, rather than juice?
Great question! We have tried apple cider a few times and it hasn’t worked for us or it needs to be back-sweetened. The first farm stand apple cider we bought actually had preservatives so it didn’t even ferment. We found an orchard locally where we can buy pure macintosh and northern spy juice, now we make most of our ciders with that!
ABV needs to be around 12 to 20
Interesting thought, would that make an apple wine not an apple cider?
Cheaper to buy a case of Strongbow.
However, store bought Hard Cider is not as much fun as making it yourself!
$10 for a 6/pk and I kinda doubt that math lol. 😂. Probaly costs about $5/6 for a 6/pk with better quality (not counting cost of Carboys and stuff. You certainly won’t break even on your first batch!)