Today we bottled our very first home-made hard cider. We had juiced the apples in late October. Following 3 weeks of initial ferment we racked and aged the cider for another 3 weeks. During that time it clarified really nicely to a wonderful dark golden transparency. At this stage there is still a bit too much yeast and tannin flavor, but it should mellow nicely in the bottle – if we can wait that long.
We actually have 2 brews with very different taste:
gleaned apples on champagne yeast: this cider has a nice apple flavor and is extremely dry - harvested apples on montrachet yeast: these were considerably sweeter than the other batch; the flavor is brighter, fruitier, and sweeter – very promising
Bottling was quick and easy, since we’d splurged on a bunch of flip-top bottles, eliminating the need to crimp on caps. Our auto-siphon and bottling wand also proved to be a wise investment. There was very little spillage and we were able to keep everything nice and sanitary.
Now the cider will undergo its final fermentation in the bottle to create the desired carbonation. In about 2 weeks we should be able to sample the first bottle of the finished product.
We had a lot of fun with this project. It’s too bad the apple season is over. I’m sure we’ll make a bigger batch of cider next year. Meanwhile, we’ll keep ourselves entertained learning how to brew beer … stay tuned.
thirteenvegetables 