Sim_Player 1,939 Posted January 12, 2016 Report Share Posted January 12, 2016 (edited) Two months old and I'm guessing 15%. Very tasty. I like sweet but, you can limit the sugar. This was 4 cups sugar, two apple concentrates and 1 gallon of water, minus the ingredients. We appreciate the simple stuff. Edited January 12, 2016 by Sim_Player 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
storm6490 2,768 Posted January 12, 2016 Report Share Posted January 12, 2016 I did that with grape juice concentrate, sugar and some yeast from the kitchen. It turned out OK I guess. I think I got a buzz!? Good old hooch. Did you use canned juices or crushed apples? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Hawk451 2,230 Posted January 12, 2016 Report Share Posted January 12, 2016 gO hoMe, ratttelsnaik, your drunk... Hope your results weren't sideways or upside down. Cheers! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Heartbreaker 1,085 Posted January 12, 2016 Report Share Posted January 12, 2016 Wow, it's so strong it ignores gravity! 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sim_Player 1,939 Posted January 12, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2016 (Fixed the pic.) I've tried grape juice several times and never cared for the results. This recipe is also great with a teaspoon of cinnamon (per gallon)! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
G O B 3,516 Posted January 12, 2016 Report Share Posted January 12, 2016 One of the smoothest liquors I ever tried was apple whiskey! Homemade in the hills of Virginia. One of the smoothest liquors I ever tried was apple whiskey! Homemade in the hills of Virginia. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gunfun 3,931 Posted January 12, 2016 Report Share Posted January 12, 2016 IMO the best hard cider is simple. I've lived in orchards or near them about half my life now, so I get to be picky. to make your pulp, start with 2 buckets of granny smiths, if you have other tart tough skinned varieties, they are good too. Then add a bucket of sweet apples. I like a mix of red delicious and goldens. The thing is these apples are actually very good tasting when they go "water core" around halloween. The ones you have eaten were picked a month and a half before they were ripe for cold storage reasons. Then one more bucket of Romes or Brayburns or some other skin flavored baking apple. PInk Ladies or Johnagolds work well as a substitute for the red & golden delicious portion. If using fujis, I add a little more of the tart apples. Grind that all up and press it. You will get a juice with layers of flavor with a good balance of sweet/tart. Since you used ripe apples, the whole batch will be sweeter than most people are expecting. (Cold storage motivates picking long before ripe for store and fruit stand apples), Most guides will tell you to add sugar and yeast. I say neither. Sugar is to make up for the fact that your apples probably aren't really ripe.(and therefore lack a lot of the flavor) Added yeast ends up with cider that tastes like beer. I prefer to let fermentation start on it's own. In theory there is a risk that the wrong wild yeast will take over and ruin the batch, but I have yet to see this happen. It's possible, but the risk is small enough not to balance against the probable better flavor. I usually have a bunch of milk jugs set aside for cider season. I fill them about 2/3 with the juice. Then I squish the air out of the jugs and put the caps on. I like this better than using a vent mechanism. Firstly because it is free, and second because it gives a good indicator of how fast fermentation is going. The jugs should be put somewhere in the shade ~50*f. i.e. a garage attached to your house. For me this worked out to burping the gas out and crushing the jugs before going to work. When you need to burp the jugs in the morning and when you get back, they are really close to done. Taste test and when you have found the degree of fermentation you like, chuck them in the freezer to stop fermentation. Put one in the fridge to serve. It will ferment a little more, at a reduced rate, but you'll drink it before you get to vinegar. I like to stop it at sweet and zingy. If you want a dry, beer-like cider, give it another 2-3 days. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
patriot 7,197 Posted January 12, 2016 Report Share Posted January 12, 2016 (edited) After it's fermented, if you want a real treat, freeze it, cut the jug off (in a basin), break it up and filter out the liquid. A pointy coffee filter works good. Freeze the liquid one or two more times. Raisin jack works good this way too. Same recipe, just add raisins to the cider before fermentation. Very nice and POTENT, but you won't get much. Freeze distillation works. Edited January 12, 2016 by patriot Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gunfun 3,931 Posted January 12, 2016 Report Share Posted January 12, 2016 After it's fermented, if you want a real treat, freeze it, cut the jug off (in a basin), break it up and filter out the liquid. A pointy coffee filter works good. Freeze the liquid one or two more times. Raisin jack works good this way too. Same recipe, just add raisins to the cider before fermentation. Very nice and POTENT, but you won't get much. Freeze distillation works. I haven't tried that, but I thought about it. Good to hear it works. Frankly I like the lower ABV. That means I get to drink more of it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sim_Player 1,939 Posted January 13, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2016 (edited) Beware of freeze distillation. It concentrates the methanol (and other nasty stuff) that steam distillation can remove, from what I understand. Edited January 13, 2016 by Sim_Player Quote Link to post Share on other sites
patriot 7,197 Posted January 13, 2016 Report Share Posted January 13, 2016 Beware of freeze distillation. It concentrates the methanol (and other nasty stuff) that steam distillation can remove, from what I understand. Source please... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sim_Player 1,939 Posted January 14, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2016 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional_freezing Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JonWienke 131 Posted January 14, 2016 Report Share Posted January 14, 2016 With normal distillation, the first bit of distillate contains the methanol, since methanol boils at a lower temp than ethanol or water. If you monitor the condensation temperature carefully, you can determine when the distillate is transitioning from methanol to ethanol and you can safely consume the distillate. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tundra1 391 Posted January 14, 2016 Report Share Posted January 14, 2016 Looks good, Sim. I've got 5 gallons of honey porter fermenting as I speak. Got a kit for Christmas, first time doing a home brew. I'm already thinking about what my next batch is going to be. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
patriot 7,197 Posted January 14, 2016 Report Share Posted January 14, 2016 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional_freezing Use the right yeast and you're good to go. I guess some didn't know that part. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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