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Brewing Ciders


Troy Little

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45 minutes ago, Troy Little said:

Hey Guys

finished our first beer brew but wondering if anyone’s made a decent cider using the beer droid?

Recipes & instructions welcome please ;) 

Hi Troy, Mark here. Don’t do ciders myself however guys have reported success. Apparently a Mangrove Jack Raspberry and mango turned out well, also you can do a brew with 10l of apple juice (supermarket, pure no preservatives) with a cider yeast from your local brew shop. Also look at what ciders they have on offers. Remember in general the droid is a temperature controlled fermenter so any wort is suitable. With cider the ale mode should be used unless kit instructions recommend other temperature settings and therefore use the custom mode.

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On 02/11/2019 at 8:50 AM, Troy Little said:

Hey Guys

finished our first beer brew but wondering if anyone’s made a decent cider using the beer droid?

Recipes & instructions welcome please ;) 

Shamelesly stolen but

To answer a common question, Yes you can brew cider in the Beerdroid.  You can use a cider kit (if it’s a 23 litre kit you use half and then add half the usual other ingredients (if any).  Or you can make one from scratch.

 Here is a recipe I  have made this and it was excellent. 

- 7L Preservative Free Apple Juice (supermarket homebrand)
- 3 x 850ml Preservative Free Pear juice (Goulburn Valley)
- 1 tea bag of english breakfast, steeped in 1 cup (ish) of water
- 500g Lactose (stirred into mix)
- 1 x Sachet of Cider yeast (used Mangrove Jacks M02 Cider)

Brewed on custom mode: 22 degrees propagate, 12 degrees ferment


You could use all apple juice, all pear juice or add some raspberry juice – whatever you want.  Leave out the tea bag if you want.  It’s up to you.  The idea of the lactose is that it is a sugar that does not ferment so it adds sweetness to the cider (adjust this to taste)

 

 

 

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19 hours ago, Rob Courtney said:

Shamelesly stolen but

To answer a common question, Yes you can brew cider in the Beerdroid.  You can use a cider kit (if it’s a 23 litre kit you use half and then add half the usual other ingredients (if any).  Or you can make one from scratch.

 Here is a recipe I  have made this and it was excellent. 

- 7L Preservative Free Apple Juice (supermarket homebrand)
- 3 x 850ml Preservative Free Pear juice (Goulburn Valley)
- 1 tea bag of english breakfast, steeped in 1 cup (ish) of water
- 500g Lactose (stirred into mix)
- 1 x Sachet of Cider yeast (used Mangrove Jacks M02 Cider)

Brewed on custom mode: 22 degrees propagate, 12 degrees ferment


You could use all apple juice, all pear juice or add some raspberry juice – whatever you want.  Leave out the tea bag if you want.  It’s up to you.  The idea of the lactose is that it is a sugar that does not ferment so it adds sweetness to the cider (adjust this to taste)

 

 

 

I just bottled the same cider recipe Rob mentions above.  It took 21 days to finish fermenting then as per instructions I gave it at least a week in storage mode and bottled it yesterday.  I plan to follow the recommendation of allowing at least 2 months in secondary fermentation, so it should be ready around Christmas/New Year.  Only downside to brewing the cider is it takes the Droid offline for a month at least so eats into my beer brewing (I don't have the luxury of 2 droids)…. Cheers  Terry

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3 minutes ago, Rennce said:

I just bottled the same cider recipe Rob mentions above.  It took 21 days to finish fermenting then as per instructions I gave it at least a week in storage mode and bottled it yesterday.  I plan to follow the recommendation of allowing at least 2 months in secondary fermentation, so it should be ready around Christmas/New Year.  Only downside to brewing the cider is it takes the Droid offline for a month at least so eats into my beer brewing (I don't have the luxury of 2 droids)…. Cheers  Terry

With that maturity it should turn out a top drop. If it’s liked by the wife and brother-in-law then your in big trouble. However I have a cunning plan! If your wife likes it she will need her own droid. (bare in mind if you use zip pay its $40 a fortnight + $3 fortnight admin fee after 4 weeks)

cheers Mark

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1 minute ago, Barrelboy said:

With that maturity it should turn out a top drop. If it’s liked by the wife and brother-in-law then your in big trouble. However I have a cunning plan! If your wife likes it she will need her own droid. (bare in mind if you use zip pay its $40 a fortnight + $3 fortnight admin fee after 4 weeks)

cheers Mark

… Now there's an idea. ☺️

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  • 2 months later...

Thanks guys! We made the cider & sampled some yesterday, although it’s still got a week left of secondary fermentation, which will be 2 mths! It wasn’t at all fizzy!? Should it be? We used the 500g of lactose to make it! 
I read somewhere about a sweetener mix, are we able to add something before drinking to sweeten it up just a bit? 
 

Cheers for all the comments, appreciate your knowledge ;) 

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On 06/11/2019 at 11:21 AM, Rennce said:

I just bottled the same cider recipe Rob mentions above.  It took 21 days to finish fermenting then as per instructions I gave it at least a week in storage mode and bottled it yesterday.  I plan to follow the recommendation of allowing at least 2 months in secondary fermentation, so it should be ready around Christmas/New Year.  Only downside to brewing the cider is it takes the Droid offline for a month at least so eats into my beer brewing (I don't have the luxury of 2 droids)…. Cheers  Terry

Have you been consuming a few Rennce? How did it turn out?

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1 hour ago, Troy Little said:

Thanks guys! We made the cider & sampled some yesterday, although it’s still got a week left of secondary fermentation, which will be 2 mths! It wasn’t at all fizzy!? Should it be? We used the 500g of lactose to make it! 
I read somewhere about a sweetener mix, are we able to add something before drinking to sweeten it up just a bit? 
 

Cheers for all the comments, appreciate your knowledge ;)

So it’s been in the secondary for 2mths? So has it been bottled or kegged yet? Carbonation sugar added? Generally a cider doesn’t fizz like a beer and hold a head so to speak but you see carbonation bubbles slow rising in the glass.

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Any reason why you didn’t add carbonation drops? You can leave as is if you enjoy a flattish cider, like the wooden barrel Apple ciders brewed around the world. With those,  natural yeast comes from the apples/skin and some carbonation will occur in the barrel during fermentation but not much. If you want carbonation then you could reopen the bottles and put one carbonation drop per stubbie or 2 per longneck. You’ll then need to reseal the bottle and give a bit of a shake to stir the yeast sediment in the bottom of the bottle. Then leave for about 2 - 3 weeks.

Alternatively you could leave and add a bit of lemonade to the glass for some fizz when drinking. 
 

ps nothing wrong with an non carbonated cider, test to see if you enjoy.

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On 04/11/2019 at 9:22 PM, Rob Courtney said:

Shamelesly stolen but

To answer a common question, Yes you can brew cider in the Beerdroid.  You can use a cider kit (if it’s a 23 litre kit you use half and then add half the usual other ingredients (if any).  Or you can make one from scratch.

 Here is a recipe I  have made this and it was excellent. 

- 7L Preservative Free Apple Juice (supermarket homebrand)
- 3 x 850ml Preservative Free Pear juice (Goulburn Valley)
- 1 tea bag of english breakfast, steeped in 1 cup (ish) of water
- 500g Lactose (stirred into mix)
- 1 x Sachet of Cider yeast (used Mangrove Jacks M02 Cider)

Brewed on custom mode: 22 degrees propagate, 12 degrees ferment


You could use all apple juice, all pear juice or add some raspberry juice – whatever you want.  Leave out the tea bag if you want.  It’s up to you.  The idea of the lactose is that it is a sugar that does not ferment so it adds sweetness to the cider (adjust this to taste)

 

 

 

Awesome. This will be the next thing to go into the Droid once the Baltic Porter finishes up. Thanks for the recipe!

 

Should keg up end of Feb and mature until it starts getting warm out here in California. 

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12 minutes ago, Will Powell said:

Awesome. This will be the next thing to go into the Droid once the Baltic Porter finishes up. Thanks for the recipe!

 

Should keg up end of Feb and mature until it starts getting warm out here in California. 

Hi again Will, let us know how the Baltic Porter turns out If you would. Haven’t done that one yet. 
Thanks

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  • 4 weeks later...

M<y Droid is currently sanitizing ahead of a planned cider brew. I figured I'd write the process I'm planning here in case I'm doing anything drastically wrong.

 

Aiming for a semi-dry, clear cider.

10l of preservative free apple juice,

6.6g of pectic enzyme

 

Add to droid and leave for an hour.

 

200g lactose

13g yeast nutrient

2.5g Safcider 40725 Cider yeast

 

Propogate at 72, ferment at 55.

 

I'll bottle half with carbonation drops then add 1 sachet of Brewart sucrose to the rest before kegging it.

 

Does this make sense?

Is there any benefit to letting it sit in storage mode before bottling?

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11 minutes ago, Will Powell said:

M<y Droid is currently sanitizing ahead of a planned cider brew. I figured I'd write the process I'm planning here in case I'm doing anything drastically wrong.

 

Aiming for a semi-dry, clear cider.

10l of preservative free apple juice,

6.6g of pectic enzyme

 

Add to droid and leave for an hour.

 

200g lactose

13g yeast nutrient

2.5g Safcider 40725 Cider yeast

 

Propogate at 72, ferment at 55.

 

I'll bottle half with carbonation drops then add 1 sachet of Brewart sucrose to the rest before kegging it.

 

Does this make sense?

Is there any benefit to letting it sit in storage mode before bottling?

There are others with better knowledge of cider than me however not sure why you wait the hour. You will need to dissolve the lactose as it will just clump if added direct to the droid and as a non- fermentable will not be “eaten” by the yeast as such and will stay the lump. If the above is a recipe and you do wait the hour, save some apple juice to dissolve the lactose. (you may have to heat a bit).

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6 minutes ago, Barrelboy said:

There are others with better knowledge of cider than me however not sure why you wait the hour. You will need to dissolve the lactose as it will just clump if added direct to the droid and as a non- fermentable will not be “eaten” by the yeast as such and will stay the lump. If the above is a recipe and you do wait the hour, save some apple juice to dissolve the lactose. (you may have to heat a bit).

It's not a direct recipe, just a guess from reading others. The instructions on the pectic enzyme state to wait an hour before pitching but I'v no idea why.

Thanks for letting me know about dissolving the lactose! I totally would have missed that!

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11 minutes ago, Will Powell said:

It's not a direct recipe, just a guess from reading others. The instructions on the pectic enzyme state to wait an hour before pitching but I'v no idea why.

Thanks for letting me know about dissolving the lactose! I totally would have missed that!

Good, follow the advice and wait the hour. 
ps. I personally would not go to store mode before bottling/kegging however would wait min 24hrs after fermentation and gone into the ready to keg mode as this will allow for yeast to clean up and sediment to settle to the bottom.

Will be interested in the result and will wait as you will😴 to consume

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  • 3 weeks later...

16 days later and fermentation is complete. I've bottled half and kegged the other 5l.

Very pale and dry, with just a hint of sourness to it after primary fermentation. Strong apple smell and very light, coming out at 5.8%. 

 

I've added 2 of the brew art sugar pouches to the keg, and 1/4 tsp lactose to each bottle, as well as 2 carbonation drops. We'll see how they turn out in a couple of months.

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16 minutes ago, Will Powell said:

16 days later and fermentation is complete. I've bottled half and kegged the other 5l.

Very pale and dry, with just a hint of sourness to it after primary fermentation. Strong apple smell and very light, coming out at 5.8%. 

 

I've added 2 of the brew art sugar pouches to the keg, and 1/4 tsp lactose to each bottle, as well as 2 carbonation drops. We'll see how they turn out in a couple of months.

Appears to have turned out well Will. The extra sugar in the keg may over carbonate? The bottles are PET long necks and not glass? 

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Bottles are PET so the 2 carbonation drops is standard I think, so those shouldn't explode.

 

Keg might over carbonate, and that was a concern. I quite wanted a high level of carbonation for this, so figured at best it would do that, at worst it wouldn't all be eaten by the yeast so might add to the sweetness which is desirable, and if necessary I can bleed off a little excess pressure every now and again. 

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