Homebrew Hard Apple Cider

Homebrew Hard Apple Cider

Introduction

It turns out that scientists are not immune to hard economic times. I was trying to find ways to use my science to improve my and my family’s situation.

My first thought was wine. There are lots of health benefits to a daily glass of wine: the antioxidants in wine can help prevent heart disease.¹ Additionally, there is evidence that certain polyphenols (such as resveratrol in red wines) retard the effects of aging.^2,3 There’s also a great deal to be said for having a relaxation routine - a moment to yourself in which you kick off your shoes and sip a glass - to combat the immune-suppressing effects of stress.⁴

However, even with a modest $10 bottle of wine amounts to $2.50 a day - almost $1,000 of your annual budget.

That’s where science - and cider - come in. While brewing beer can be time-consuming and investment in ingredients can be costly, you can fill eight to ten 12-oz bottles for about $5 in a relaxed half hour.

Reagents

½ gallon clear glass jug - $3.49

Alternatively, the airlocks we use fit quite nicely in a 4L (slightly more than 1 gallon) wine jug, such as those made by Livingston. If you’re going to pay for a glass jug, you might consider one with wine in it.

stopper - $0.99

airlock - $1.29

funnel (optional) - $0.75 on Amazon.com

tablespoon

measuring cup - $5.55 on Amazon

Easy Clean - $3.29

In addition to Easy Clean, there are several other means of “sterilizing” your materials, such as Powdered Brewery Wash and BTF Iodophor.

yeast - $0.69

We chose champagne yeast because we wanted our hard cider to be very effervescent, but there are plenty of varieties with which to experiment.

yeast nutrient - $1.39

pectic enzyme - $1.99

potassium metabisulphite - $1.99

*cider ~ $4/gallon

If you can’t get your hands on fresh-pressed cider, make sure you get cider that isn’t fortified with vitamin C. Ascorbic acid (vitamin C) acts as a preservative, which means it discourages microbial growth. This is exactly what you don’t want if you’re trying to culture yeast in your cider. Certain juice brands (such as Langer’s and White House) do offer juice without vitamin C; we had bad results with White House and good results with Langer’s, but you may have different results.

Procedure

Initial/Primary Fermentation

1. Sterilize everything that’s going to touch your media. This includes the glass jug, stopper, airlock, funnel and measuring cup. The specifics of the sterilization procedure will vary depending on what sterilizer you use, so just follow the directions on the package.

2. Measure your sugar. We found that one cup of white sugar plus one cup of brown sugar per gallon works well. However, the whole point of this blog is to experiment; please try whatever types and amounts of sugar you wish.

3. Add some of your cider (make sure it’s either fresh-pressed or not fortified with vitamin C) to your sugar to partially dissolve it. This will make it easier to pour the sugar into your fermenter jug.

4. Add yeast. If this is your first time, you’ll need to reconstitute the yeast according to the package’s instructions. If you’re using yeast from a previous batch, just make sure the bottle you’re using didn’t come in direct contact with your mouth. If it did, it’s certainly contaminated by the bacteria living in your mouth, which will foul up your fermentation.

5. (Optional) Add yeast nutrient, pectic enzyme, and/or potassium metabisulphite. Truthfully, I haven’t noticed much difference between batches with yeast nutrient and batches without it, but you’re probably the kind of person who wants to see for yourself. Pectic enzyme (also called pectinase) breaks down some of the more complex carbohydrates in cider into sugars that are more easily utilized by the yeast. Again, I haven’t noticed pectic enzyme making much difference. However, the fresh-pressed cider I get is different from batch to batch - different apple varieties and different proportions of these varieties go into each batch. You may find that pectic enzyme helps you control for some of this variation. Potassium metabisulphite will kill any wild yeast languishing in your fresh-pressed cider, leaving real estate for your own yeast (you don’t need potassium metabisulphite if you’re using cider you purchased at a grocery store).

6. Attach the airlock. Fill the jug at least up to the neck. Insert the stopper and the three-piece airlock on to the fermenter. Partially fill the airlock with hard liquor, so that it covers the slates of the loose piece but not so full that the liquor leaks back into your media. The liquor will allow the loose piece to bob up and down as it releases carbon dioxide that the yeast evolves during catabolism (metabolic breakdown) of sugars. At the same time, any contaminants that enter the airlock are sterilized by the liquor. Of course, there are other liquid sterilizers you could put in your airlock (such as bleach), but if you bump the airlock and some of your liquid sterilizer enters the fermentation, a little bit of liquor in your hard cider is infinitely preferable to a little bit of bleach.

7. Ferment. A dark, cool basement or garage is a great place to incubate your fermentation. However, our lab is at room temperature, and we haven’t noticed any effect on our cider. Whatever your conditions, let your reaction incubate for at least two weeks.

Initial/Primary Fermentation

8. Rebottle. After at least two weeks of initial fermentation, it’s time to kickstart your yeast to make even more bubbles and ethanol. Of course, rebottling also allows you to repackage your hard cider into more consumer-friendly bottles.

Once again, your first step is to sterilize your bottles, and everything that’s going to touch your medium (bottles, funnel, tablespoon), just as you did for the initial fermentation. Add sugar (I found that about 3 tablespoons of sugar total per 12-oz bottle works really well) to each bottle. I found that varying the types of sugar you use (e. g., one tablespoon each of white sugar, brown sugar, and agave per bottle) makes a big difference, so experiment widely. Distribute your initial fermentation into your bottles, seal the bottles and wait at least two more weeks before sampling your work.

9. Enjoy! To reiterate, open your bottle carefully and pour it into a glass rather than drinking from the bottle. If you like what you’ve made, seal the bottle back up and leave it in the fridge until you’re ready to start your next initial fermentation.

References

1. Opie, L. H.; Lecour, S. 2007. The red wine hypothesis: from concepts to protective signalling molecules. Eur Heart J. 28(14): 1683-93

2. Sandhya, K.; Venkataraman, K.; Hollingsworth, A.; Piche, M.; Tai, T. C. 2013. Polyphenols: benefits to the cardiovascular system in health and aging. Nutrients. 5(10): 3779-3827

3. Marks, S. C.; Mullen, W.; Crozier, A. 2007. Flavonoid and hydroxycinnamate profiles of english apple ciders. J Agric Food Chem. 55(21): 8723-30

4. Padgett, D. A.; Glaser, G. 2003. How stress influences the immune response. Trends Immunol. 24(8): 444-8