How To Make Hard Cider and Apple Cider

[GlassByThaddeus]

I would've added more sugar and yeast then distilled it

[erochow]

@GlassByThaddeus yeah, i 'm learning as we go here. did not have a big apple crop this year for cider. hoping for a better one next year. thx, eric.

[rocknrollpriest]

Love the dogs! Mine help me brew all the time! When your done pressing the apples you should add a campden tablet per gallon of must; it kills all of the wild yeasts in the apples, which could have gave it the vinegar taste. If your finding it to still be rather tart, then add a few cans of concentrated apple juice. Happy brewing!!

[ambashells]

i use champagne yeast as this is a higher alcohol tolerant yeast and therefore turns more of the fructose and the added sugar i use into a stronger cider - but crushing the damn apples is a pain -i have to make a better crusher -seems like you can get all the kit in america -unlike here in england where it costs the earth

[Illidan1337OG]

lol at the end

has anyone ever really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?

[MarijuanaRomaneasca]

The vinegar taste is probably from the unwanted oxidation of alcohol.

[erochow]

@MarijuanaRomaneasca yeah, i made a few mistakes on this one. going to try again this year. thx, er c

[BeeRich33]

@MarijuanaRomaneasca Vinegar is from a bacterial infection. It is not oxidation of ethanol. The apples were crushed and it has plenty of bacteria and wild yeasts on them, as well as the press. Sanitation of the fermenter is pretty much moot at this point. Should have made a larger starter than the envelope. But it is good to see him using good yeast. Bottling is a huge pain, so keg it. It's still cider, not specifically dry cider.

[SummonSuffering]

@MarijuanaRomaneasca how do you avoid that?

[ThegnThrand]

Also if not adding sugar to mix its safer to taste like I am telling and use wild yeast because when bottled it will carbonate the place in the fridge.Because alcohol levels will be low.Wild yeast has lacto-bacillus causing a small amount of lactic acid to form meaning with carbonation and refrigeration will stop fermenting and preserver it. the lacto-bacillus could have caused the off flavor also since you did not pasteurize the mixture before fermenting. I would say you fermented to long.

[barronredneck]

You can use a hydrometer to measure and adjust the suger content so that your cider will taste sweet and not dry. With the right suger content the yeast will stop fermenting before all the sugers have fermented.

[jcali619]

Tastes like liquid gold. X )

[riurijjir]

Nice people with lovely animals and precious fruits. Look at the second man's move !!!Lovely. This is hilarious.Toss for apple vinegar!!

[doornan]

hilarious video!!! we loved the dogs and Bill...he still has the tag on his hat. :-) it inspired us to try our own concoction of apple cider, we're drinking it right now and it's delicious!

[doornan]

loved the video! the dogs make it all the more hilarious! we were inspired by this to try our own concoction of apple cider and are drinking it as i write this. delicious!!

[xcaluber]

I agree, you went through all the trouble of sanitizing your equipment, but you did not boil the apple juice. The wild yeasts made is tart/source. If you boil the juice then you will get excellent hard cider :-)

[Perilous3D]

Bill is fucked!

[teddyd30]

Great video! Cute pups!

I make apple wine (cider?) from apple juice concentrate from the grocery store. I use montrachet yeast and then I rack it off into a sterilized bottle and put malolactic bacteria into it for a couple weeks.

I drink it young and it usually makes my nose run and sneeze. Have you ever heard of this happening to anyone else?

I appreciate your advice. Thanks a lot!

[SeattlePioneer]

Brilliant video of things NOT to do.

Having your dogs around while processing food is unquestionably a bad practice.

[bmott20]

it looks like apple juice

[Willus1069]

Cool vid.. After reading all the comments and having a few drinks i had to post something.. SeatllePioneer - I've been brewing beer since 94, wine 2000 and cider in 2000.. I have 4 dogs and are always with me.. Unless there eating, sprayin the mellow yellow or doing the doo doo duckie brown your alright.. just having dogs around doesn't ruin your brew.. Someone else posted about waste.. I give mine to 1 neighbors horses, another neighbors pigs and i make a snack in the oven with the rest.

[kylegameboy100]

very helpful and nice

[SeattlePioneer]

Ugh.  Keep your dirty dogs AWAY from areas where you are preparing food, especially uncooked food such as cider!

It's unbelievable that someone who has never practiced, let alone mastered a skill will make videos purporting to give advice on a subject.

[PeterRabbit01]

@SeattlePioneer calm down. who says he needs to be an expert to give advice, its the receiver of the advice that chooses if they will follow it or not.

[Hashishin13]

@SeattlePioneer Its unbelievable that someone with no videos of their own complains about anyone else making videos of ANY nature at all.

[Chris92593]

@SeattlePioneer oh no! dogs!

[NoCountryMembers]

If you can't wait and want to experiment search for Turbo Cider on YouTube and the net. It takes about two weeks to make (including a week in the bottle) and is a lot less hassle as it uses supermarket apple juice (NOT pasteurised).

Great stuff. Hic!

[07Bolla]

cool dogs man

[beaubicknese]

You should have boiled and added sugar too Yeast would have attacked cane sugar

[erochow]

@beaubicknese thx for the info, this was an experiment, next time we'll do it right. thx, eri c

[shmoab]

Apple Juice is not Cider. Cider is an alcoholic beverage. Cider IS Hard Cider. They are one in the same.

[digmatology]

Look at Eattheweeds channel the video about making vinegar, and then remeber how mach flies love to walk on apples.

[ed7hunt]

I brew beer and I think you could have avoided making vinegar by boiling the mash to kill off the bacteria.

Let the mash cool to below 95F before adding the yeast and you are set for making good cider.

[ed7hunt]

I think you could have avoided making vinegar by boiling the apple mash and letting it cool before adding the yeast. This way, you kill the bacteria that is competing with the yeast.

[trankpill]

The reason it turned to vinegar is because the fermentation vessel was too large, ie: Too much air space between the cider and the lid. Air causes oxidization.

[breckjarsmash]

There are tablets you can buy and drop in for a little while to kill the bad yeast, I believe they are sulfur dioxide tabs. Check a local homebrew store.

[mixmmick]

2 white labs and 1 chocolate lab. Kind of a reverse Oreo thing going.

[2puttking]

less talk about the bloody dogs!

[ImATruthSeeker]

Hay Eric,

I was wondering if you made a batch of cider this year, as you had planed. If so, how did it come out? Hope you don't give up on making more. Some of the post, pointed out the fact that you should use sugar and let it set longer next time. Both of these points are true. But knowing how you guys like honey and raise bees you should consider, Mead. Check it out, I think you'll like it.

Thanks for the great shows.

[short10102]

Chances are you let it ferment for too long. The longer you let the cider ferment, more of the sugar is converted to alcohol and co2. You can try adding additional sugar or honey at the beginning but you should only need to let it ferment for about a week. There will be less alcohol content but it should taste much better! Hope this helps!

[erochow]

thanks all for the info. i think we also erred by not killing the wild yeast before adding the liquid yeast. eric.

[RonOverdrive]

Honestly some people swear by using just wild yeast, unfortunately with wild yeast its a hit or miss regarding how good it is. Commercial yeast is selectively cultivated to produce the best results for its intended purpose. Looked like you were using beer yeast, next time try champagne, wine, or cider yeast. Also how long did you let it sit? From my understanding Hard Cider should be transferred to a secondary after a few weeks then left to age 6 - 12 months to regain its flavor.

[erochow]

thanks for the info. i let it sit for 2 months. i'll try again next year. thx, eri c.

[ThegnThrand]

@RonOverdrive I do all my brewing with wild yeast. My cider will be ready with in week to drink I do not rack it. I do allow it to carbonate in the bottle most of the time. But the cider is low sugar content and even when finished out will be like 3% to 4% alcohol at best. Meaning it dose not take long to ferment. You should check it after 2 days and taste it , if taste right bottle it if not the way you want leave it longer. They way you did it it could have also had wild yeast it as well.

[TheVoorwaarden]

burst out laughing when the old man tasted that cider lol hes quite a character. Great video thanks for this

[MRCHUPKE]

The yeast consumes the sugars of the apples. If you didn't add additional sugar, then that's why it was so tart or "dry".

[dakine156]

take the access apple mash and u can sell it to ppl with cattle.

[jellogarden]

Great video!

Yea, I think more sugar would have helped the taste. Try brown sugar, turbinado, or honey. Also stay away from tart apples. And bruised apples are okay to use as long as there aren't critters inside them.

Overall, great job. Don't let an unsatisfactory batch stop you from making cider again.

[erochow]

thx for the info. i did not add sugar. would that have helped?

[markoj34]

"We're just going to ignore the frisbee for now, ok?"

Great reaction by the dog!

[cromagx34]

you can add sugar too

[jakey00000000001]

that looked like a great little press grinder combo........

[erochow]

yeah, its my neighbor's rig. not cheap, but great. he makes wine with it. thx, eric.

[wazzita]

Looks like fun! Your dogs are awesome!

[skidoo399tnt]

Nice job. i use to make hard cider all the time when i lived in mid michigan.up the road was a cider mill.he has the best cider to make hard cider with. well nice job.

[drunkfux1]

good video

and nice dogs

[mopbrothers]

He likes his dogs. I was looking for a video made by a person knowledgeable about making good cider, Why do beginners feel a need to teach when they do not yet know?

[erochow]

i've never said i know what I'm doing. Gardenfork is all about trying new things and seeing what happens.

its not fake, its not staged, what happens happens.

if you don't like that kind of experience, then our show is not for you. best, eric.

[samosapowis]

those dogs are so cute! :)

[reggie15norman]

wait im confused do i need apple juice of cider to make hard cider ?

[nemesisnz88]

hey, great vid i was just wondering, instead of an old fashioned press could i just use a blender or juicer kind of thing? thnx :)

[erochow]

you can use a blender, though it will take while. have fun. thx, eric.

[ruggsterg]

I am not familiar with all the terms here so I have to ask what the 'apple must' is. I made some cider but there were some soft spots on my apples. Why not use those apples? Is it possible to continue on to make hard cider from these apples? As I said, I have the cider. My next step will be to add the yeast and let it sit. I was considering using the kegerator that I use for my regular home brewed beer. Are there any contraindications? Thanks for the video!

[erochow]

thx for the questions. the apple must is the cider as it ferments. i would cut out the soft spots of the apples, then use them. the kegerator will work fine, you must heat the cider to about 180F or use campden tablets to kill the wild yeasts, then pitch the cider yeast. check out viewer forum for more info. thx, eric.

[Neologian]

Great video and I like your "don't worry have a cider" style but a rough guess says your sanitation left something to be desired. There are a host organisms that can kick in, particularly during secondary fermentation that can turn things sour or to vinegar. Your blend of apples (or single type in this case) can have a big effect on overall acidity or sweetness as well.

Thanks for putting up the video. Those interested in more on cider making can get Cider Hard and Sweet on Amazon.

[erochow]

yes, i do agree the type of apples make a difference. there's a bunch of different ways of making cider on the web, i'll try again next year.

my apple trees didn't produce a whole lot this year. eric.

[agbz]

Thanks for the video. I would have liked to see the racking process and filling the bottles. Other than that, great job!

[webcajun]

I agree with insurgent88 I fermented my first batch of cantaloupe wine this year. Everything I read about it always stressed the importance of sterilizing every container and all equipment used in the process. I did that and had no problems. It came out pretty good so next year Im definitely planting more cantaloupe. lol ...... Donald

[mywootgarden]

omg! why dont you have a video about that?

[Insurgent88]

It tastes like vinegar because you did not properly sterilise the apple must, bucket, and yeast package exterior. The wild bacteria will turn ethanol into acetic acid.

[erochow]

i did sterilize the bucket and yeast package, but did not heat the cider. according to Mother Earth News, there are several ways to do this, several methods use no heat, but yes, there is the potential for wild yeasts. thx for the comments. eric.

[loki1200]

Always wanted to do this. Now I am going to. Thanks for making it look so simple. Hope the dogs recover ok.

[erochow]

thx, the dogs are fine. i did a few things wrong , have to sterilize the apple must. thx, eric.

[MadBadVoodo]

Cool Video Man!!!

Five Stars!!

[rotatingwah]

that was great fun! it's nice to see someone as personable as yourself on here. bet you're no different in person either. thanks and i'm glad i subscribed.

[erochow]

thx for the kind words. you might want to check out our viewer forum, the web address is in all of our videos. thx, eric.