Cider Three Ways

Date: Oct. 4, 2013

I've been wanting to make a hard cider since I first started brewing beer. I am finally getting the opportunity this fall. The wife and I get our apples from Door Creek Orchard just outside Madison and, as it happens, they sell unpasteurized apple cider. So I picked up a couple of gallons.

Using a couple of 1 gallon glass jugs as carboys, I decided to try splitting the cider into three different batches: One intended to be sweeter fermented with an ale yeast and brown sugar, one dryer fermented with wine yeast, and one left alone to ferment on its own wild yeast.

Since the cider is unpasteurized and I didn't pick up any campden tablets to kill bacteria or suppress the wild yeast already in the juice, I decided to heat the cider to a simmer for about 10 minutes to pasteurize -- but hopefully not set the pectin and get cloudy cider. We'll see how it turns out. As for the wild yeast cider, I'm just crossing my fingers that I get something even remotely drinkable, or at least apple cider vinegar.

I did a preliminary gravity reading on the raw apple cider: OG 1.044.

Cider #1:
OG: 1.065

• 1 gal unpasteurized apple cider
• 5 oz light brown sugar
• 1/2 t yeast nutrient
• Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale starter

Add brown sugar and nutrient to cider and heat to simmer for 10 min. Chill to 80 'F and pitch yeast. Ferment at 65 'F.

Cider #2:
OG: 1.050

• 1 gal unpasteurized apple cider
• 1/2 t yeast nutrient
• 1 packet dry Red Star Montrachet wine yeast

Add nutrient to cider and heat to simmer for 10 min. Chill to 80 'F and pitch yeast. Ferment at 65 'F.

Cider #3:
OG: 1.044

• 32 oz unpasteurized apple cider

Transfer cider to sanitized growler, cover with tin foil, ferment at 65 'F.