BrewSummary - 1 Gallon Fresh Cider
I wanted to test out all of our new cider processing equipment with some fresh apples, and ferment fresh juice. After it was all pressed, I made an in the moment decision to allow it to ferment naturally to see what kind of character and flavor profiles I would get with the wild yeast and bacteria that was on the apples...and it worked, quite intensely!!
After I noticed the wild fermentation kick off, I watched it as it went absolutely crazy and blew up all over the airlock and fermentation space. When I saw it was done, I made another decision to kill off all of the wild yeast with campden, add more sugar, and ferment it some more with a clean, standard cider strain to see if I could get higher alcohol and still maintain the delicious, somewhat funky flavor that was made with the wild fermentation. I wanted to raise the alcohol so I could create more balance, not have a 5% cider, and have the option to back sweeten with other fruits if I needed to.
Equipment List
- Motorized Apple Crusher
- Speidel 20 L Bladder Press
- 1 Gallon Glass Carboy
- #6 Stopper
- S-Type Airlock
- Campden Tablets
- 2 Gallon Bucket
- Mini Auto Siphon
- Mini Auto Siphon Clamp
- 5/16” Transfer Tubing (6 feet)
- 24 x 24 Grain Bag
- Carboy Brush
- Star San
- PBW
Ingredients List
- Fresh Apples, 6 lbs
- Fresh Wild Yeast and Bacteria
- Demerara Sugar 1 lb
- Safcider Cider Yeast
- Gelatin
- Pectic Enzyme
Recipe
- 1 Gallon Fresh Juice allowed to ferment with the wild yeast and bacteria already present in the juice
Process
- Press approximately 1 gallon of fresh apple juice.
- Sanitize 1 gallon carboy
- Put juice in carboy and put airlock on it
- Clean up around it as the wild yeast goes absolutely nuts
- After fermentation has finished, add campden and transfer it to a clean carboy
- Add 1 pound of demerara sugar
- Add 2.5 g of Safcider
- Allow another 2 weeks for fermentation
- Add gelatin and crash chill
- Keg and carbonate
- Drink this 13% Cider to see how it came out!
BrewSummary
This was a super fun experiment, both being able to use the Motorized Apple Crusher and the Bladder press, as well as allowing the the cider to ferment naturally to see the flavor profile and activity of the wild yeast. It was interesting that the wild strain dropped crystal clear after a vigorous fermentation, while after adding sugar and a more commercial cider strain the cider was not as clear, even after the addition of gelatin and a 3 day crash chill.
The flavor is awesome, slightly acidic and fresh apple forward. There is a hint of a light wild character that we couldn't quite put our finger on, but it drinks really well for being about 13% abv! Definitely a dangerous concoction, and we should have made 5 gallons!
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