Backyard Apples & Hop Bells Cider

Ingredients

• Backyard picked hop from a friend, dried and stored before use.
• 2,5 baskets of apples from our yard, stored in the fridge.

Pressing

• Total of 5L pressed
• Specific gravity: 1.050 -> estimated 6.5% EtOH after fermentation
• 500 mg Campden added for 24h in cooking pot with rag to allow evaporation

Primary Fermentation

Originally the plan was to do primary fermentation in a fermenting bucket and have a second fermentation in a Damme-Jeane. Unfortunately the fermenting bucket leaked too much and it was opted to do both fermentations in the Damme-Jean. The pressed apple juice was transfered to the recipient.

• sanitization recipient, airlock and tools used
• half a tablespoon of yeast nutrients added
• SafCider yeast activated prior to adding to the pressed apple juice
• 15g hop bells added
• yeast pitched and waterlock placed

There was some overflow in the airlock the first few days due to intense fermentation of the sugar->CO2 by the yeast. After 3,5 weeks fermentation seemed looked stalled (still at secondary fermentation likely) and a cold crash was performed by placing the glass jar in the fridge for 24 hours.

Bottling

• sanitization pump and bottles
• priming sugar added (30g brown sugar) for carbonization
• bottles filled by pump, with minimal headspace
• bottles were left for at least a week before carbonization was adequate

Second specific gravity measurement was only thought of after adding priming sugar, so no measurement to report here.

Taste

Crisp, acidic taste with soft carbonization at one week and more usual carbonization after two. Clear cider with a very small layer of sedimented yeast. Taste seems to age well on bottle. Hop taste is very subtle.

Recommendations future

• Experiment with more flavours, still a bit “too vanilla”
• Allow longer second fermentation, be patient