Basement cider

"Surprisingly drinkable!"

Notes pertaining to my ongoing efforts to brew gallon-sized batches of cider using recycled and low-cost materials.

Summary

Tasting summary

• 11-11-2023: KM, JG, CG, LM -- Zeke did best, Jeb did worst, tasted against two craft ciders.
• 1-27-2024: KM, SM, LM -- Elias did best, Abe did worst, tasted against Bold Rock and two craft ciders
• 8-24-2024: KM, JP, SP -- Mixed results, didn't record which cider was tasted apparently (Gus?), tasted against bold rock and a craft cider (Potters?)

10/27/2024 Update

Updated summary table following an active period of cider brewing after a ~6 month inactive period. Seems like I got tired of making cider as the Spring semester picked up. During the summer, I drank through my cider reserve and was generally impressed with how well the bottles developed. However, I was also disappointed with a sort of "bready" off flavor and the results of a disappointing taste test with KM, SP, and JP in the late summer, so I decided to start trying some new things and experimenting further. Another interesting development was the availability of many free apples at a neighbor's house, which was a great opportunity to try making my own apple juice (method summarized below).

Here are a few things that I learned/decided:

1. The only solution to the "bready" flavor that I have found so far is pouring the cider into a glass as opposed to drinking straight from the bottle. However, I find that I usually don't care after a few sips even if I am drinking from the bottle.
2. The bentonite clay seems to effectively remove the sediment during fermentation, and not before. I am still unsure about this.
3. Going forward, my preferred method is to use the tailings from the previous batch to inoculate the next batch. However, it seems like the yeast works more slowly in this way (see Nathon/Nasson vs Oziel/Omran)
4. I haven't tried the "Lazarus" batch made with sourdough starter yet. My family was worried that I might get food poisoning, which I think is silly.
5. The juice made from my neighbor's apples doesn't seem to have yielded a better cider, but more blind tasting is necessary.

Apple processing method

Note: a 5-gallon bucket, or ~26 lb of apples, will yield a little over a gallon of apple juice. I would recommend proccessing one 5-gallon bucket-full of apples at a time. Budget about 2 or 3 hours to get through a batch of apples.

• Wash apples using ~1/4 cup of dish detergent plus a bucketful of water in a big plastic tote. Set a timer for 5 minutes and manually churn the apples in soapy water with hands and arms.
• Rinse apples using a 5-gallon "filter bucket" with some holes drilled in the side for soapy water tom come out. Transfer back and forth between big tote and "filter" bucket for rinsing a few times.
• Process apples one food processor's worth at a time.
• Don't worry about coring the apples -- just quarter them and toss them into the food processor (or an intermediate bowl)
• Use "chop" setting as apples are added to the food processor.
• Run the "low" setting about three times until bubbles can be seen moving through the suitably-liquidated apple slurry.
• Manually wring out the juice into a big bowl using a cheese cloth, and then transfer into a big stock pot.
• Pasteurize apple juice by heating to 160 F for 5 minutes.
• Cool stock pot to below body temperature in a cold water bath using the big tote.
• Refrigerate, siphon away from sediment, and treat with bentonite clay (I haven't fully figured out this part yet).

231010 Jeb: Very funky nose/taste, dry, mild flavor, low acidity.

231016 Zeke: Very boozy and dry, nice apple flavor. Carbonation did not occur at all after bottling.

231107 Abe: Excellent flavor, dry.

231116 Buz: Weird unpleasant bready/grainy flavor after two weeks of bottle conditioning, but this seems to have disappeared after a few weeks to a month later.

231127 Cyrus: Tastes like a dry cider made with grapes. Very tart, high acidity, clean taste otherwise.

231216 Daniel: Failed experiment: the preservatives in the cider did in fact prevent the yeast from fermenting at a very high rate, so I dumped it out.

231225 Elias: t.b.d.

Working recipe

Rev. ~spring 2024 (very outdated)

Materials:

• Juice
• Yeast
• Sugar
• 9 glass beer bottles
• Steel bottle caps + capping tool
• Plastic tote (20 qt?)
• Empty 1 gallon jug (e.g. from milk or cider)
• 1" OD flexible plastic tubing
• ~1 qt glass bottle or jar or airlock cap
• "One step" sanitizing powder
• Plastic funnel
• Rubber party baloon

Method:

1. Make sure you have everything, especially 9 bottles before starting a batch.
2. Mix sanitizing solution in plastic tote using package instructions (1 Tbsp + 1 gallon of warm water using extra recycled jug).
3. Transfer ~1 qt of the solution into a clean 1 gallon plastic jug, and shake vigorously, then dump the solution back into the tote.
4. Transfer juice into the plastic jug.
5. Add yeast to the jug.
6. Cap with a baloon and store somewhere not too cold for a few days.
7. Vent the baloon as needed, and replace with airlock after the messy part of fermentation is over.
8. Monitor the bubble rate: when the rate falls below 5 bub / ~120s, it's time to bottle (after 7 to 10 days).
9. Prepare more cleaning solution as before.
10. Rinse bottles out with warm water, then sanitize, then dry (each step for all 9 bottles in series)
11. Secure siphon tube end using a chop stick going ~1 cm past the end.
12. Put bottles on the floor on a couple of paper towels, and secure the siphon tube.
13. Don't forget to put an empty pint glass on the floor to capture the excess cider.
14. Start siphoning process, and use flashlight to monitor fluid level. Stop filling leaving ~1" of head space.
15. Put bottles back on the counter, and sanitize caps leaving them on a paper towel to dry
16. Add 3/4 tsp of plain white sugar to each bottle.
17. Put down a paper towel to cushion bottles while capping.
18. Cap the bottles, clean them off, add labels, and clean up.
19. Write down notes.

Contents

• 1 — 231010 — Materials and method for first 1 gal cider batch (Jeb).
• 2 — 231011 — Jeb progress
• 4 — 231016 — New batch: Zeke
• 6 — 231019 — Bottling Jeb
• 7 — 231029 — Bottling Zeke
• 8 — 231107 — New batch: Abe
• 8 — 231111 — Taste test: Jeb & Zeke
• 10 — 231116 — Bottling Abe
• 10 — 231116 — New batch: Buz