Stumbling into my 1st Cider Part #3 & Tasting Session

 

 

Continuing on my journey attempting to make a quaffable cider, (if your catching up please read part #1 and part #2) With all the fermentation things done, this cider's ready to bottle.  I wanted to bottle all, leaving none on draft, so stopping any future (potential) fermentation is of vast importance.  I always try to avoid adding any chemicals into my beers or ciders.  So using any type of sorbates is out of the question.  Bottling with my Blichmann beer gun under pressure and pasteurizing them on my stove is the way to go.

Stumbling into my 1st Cider Part #2

Continuing on my journey attempting to make a quaffable cider, (if your catching up please read part #1) It's time to back-sweeten the must.  My cider came in at .997 FG after primary fermenation (Which started at 1.060 OG) so back sweetening was a necessary part in the process as the remaining residual sugars are not present to support/balance out the cider.  Making it to dry for me.  I really wanted to be around 1.010 for a finishing gravity, (to cut out this step).  Which I overshot during the fermentation.  So to give the cider some sweetness I purchased another gallon of Organic Apple Juice and moved it over to a sanitary plastic bag and placed it in the freezer.  (Alternatively, you could also purchase a can of concentrate and skip this step.) What you are looking for is a mostly frozen block of ice.  The juice, with the lower freezing point will then be poured out the bottom of the bag into some sort of collection device. 

Stumbling into my 1st Hard Cider

Plus the beer on the left that you have to be quaffing while making a cider

Over the years I've heard that making Cider is easy compared to brewing but I've always ignored Ciders for some reason or the other.  To be honest, I don't even know if I really like them, it's always been a rocky relationship between us.  Maybe the root of the problem is the Apple terminologyin the USA and Canada.

• Cider (USA and Canada): Is used to describe a cloudy unfermented beverage for sale at farmers markets and groceries.  Basically Apple Juice with a different name.
• Hard Cider (USA): Any Apple product that is fermented and contains alcohol.  
• Cider (The World): Any Apple product that is fermented and contains alcohol.
• Sweet Cider: The common name of unfermented apple juice in the USA and the world, mostly used by Brewers.
• Pressed Cider:  The juice from Apples extracted at the orchard.
• Apple Juice (USA): The same as cider really, as I can not find any legal difference for selling the product in the USA.

So over the years mixing the names and not really caring about what is what really lead to a small confusion about the overall Cider making process.  Only recently a fellow homebrewer and good friend brewed (ok, it's not brewing, it's mixed/mixing or better yet, fermented a...) cider.  I was kind of jealous of this fact, to be honest.  I really don't know why, I don't drink them, neither does my wife.  Something down deep told me I had to create a Cider, or err Hard Cider and attempt to enjoy it.