Eat The Weeds: Episode 09: Making Hard Cider

In the frig it will last several weeks, if not a couple of months, though it will slowly grow less sweet and alcoholic, and more carbonated. And considerations? I used the same recipe and yeast with concord grape juice (shortening the fermentation to three days not five.) In three weeks I did have one bottle break under the gas pressure. So, one can go in, let off the pressure, and reseal.

How long will the hard cider remain drinkable and delicious in the capped bottles? Is it ok to use beer bottles?
Any special storage considerations?

A few grains per bottle from a campden tablet will kill the yeast.

How can you kill the yeast if you add store bought yeast. The yeast keeps going for 2 weeks and I can't stop it it makes me sick if i drink it because it ferments my stomach!

Thanks, and the cider is good, too.

AWESOME! This is by far my favorite (what can I say, I like to drink!) video so far. I like your suit as well Mr. Dean, you look very stylish. Keep being green!

Apples are usually pressed and are covered with yeast so yeast ends up in the must. Without pressing you'd have to add water, and that will make a weak flavored liquid. Grapes can add sugar but also grape yeast. More so, young grape wine is harsh where as young cider is not. Mixing the two can end up with strange drink. As for making vinegar out of the stuff... don't even try that until you have some kind of cider made or you will get a cross contamination and end up with only vinegar.

Ok so. Im going to use your method to make some cider and some vineger this "fall".
Strangly enough parakeets seem to be eating all the fruit this year in the UK, so I was wondering if I harvested my apples earlyer and added some grapes for extra suger would this be ok?

Also In your oppinion whats the best way to make yeast, does it ever grow around the fruit?

To press the apples Im going to peel and core them, cut them up. Rot, mash and filter them?
Should I use a blender instead of rotting?

If you measure your specific gravity you can get get a good measurement of the proof any time you like. But not knowing how much sugar you added and using brewer's yeast, there is really no way to tell. Brewer's yeast, despite the name, is not usually used for fermentation. What you can do is taste it along the way and stop it when it gets to a point you like.

Hey thanx for this awesome video.I have a batch fermenting right now for about 4 days.
I'm not sure if i'm going to keep it longer than a week to up the alcohol content but I did add extra sugar and if I don't let the yeast ferment most of the sugar it's probably going to end up being way too sweet.
anyways how much alcohol do you think it'll have after 2 weeks of fermenting? I'm using baker's yeast.

awesome!

from what i can tell there isnt any preservatives but there is phospates

To be honest, I've never heard of powdered apple cider. I'll have to find some. If there is a preservative it will be in the ingredient list, usually a nitrate or a potassium of some kind. What does your ingredient list say>

would powdered apple cider work or does it have preservatives in it?

Yes, that's correct. It's a sliding scale. A some point the cider will become sour unless one adds more sugar, which is possible as well. If you want to vary the alcoholic content it takes some experimenting with the juice you are using. Also, the longer it ferments the more it takes on the character and harshness of wine. There is a window of opportunity that can be stretched but at some point one has left the cider/beer arena and entered the wine one.

Another great, informative video! Can't wait to try making my first batch. Question for you, as you say that charging and then refrigerating arrests the fermentation, I'm assuming if I wanted a drier/harder cider, I'd let it ferment for longer than 5-7 days? Thanks!

Deane, the first batch of cider came out Great!!! second batch bubbling away(saved "dregs" of yeast and added more juice at bottling time of first batch'Used swing top bottles,as I have made a batch of beer in the past year. Thanks, look forward to more of your videos and also "weeds" web-site,..ACE...