The wife loves woodchuck raspberry. I love their fall cider. Original sin isn't bad either. I use cider when I'm tired of beer and wine. How crap like wine coolers, smirnoff ice, and all that stuff exists when cider is around I'll never know.

jason10mm wrote:


THIS.


yes, absolutely. Especially stuff like Smirnoff Ice which is only good really cold (just like cider). I've turned so many people (mostly women) onto cider, it's nuts. WOW THIS IS GREAT. It's the perfect summer drink. I loves it.

woodchuck raspberry sounds good. A quebec cider (Mystique) just came out with a rose (accent on the e) cider which my wife can't wait to try after she has the baby....and is done breastfeeding

Frank,
I've had good success adding a couple of cans of frozen Granny Smith juice concentrate into a five gallon batch. It adds some tartness and more apple flavor.
You're gonna have a hard time retaining some residual sweetness unless you kill the yeast. But then no bubbles.
I've also used some lactose (milk sugar) since it won't ferment out.
The hardest part is letting it age properly. My first cider was nearly undrinkable at 3 months, good at one year and amazing at 5. But unfortunately only one bottle made it to 5 years.

We bottled 21 bottles from the first two gallons, and I'm completely trashed from the various tasting chores.

A: The recipe we used for the 5 gallon batch looks more like a wine recipe and less like a cider recipe. The big difference is the amount of sugar. That of course all converts directly to alcohol. Which means the stuff is really potent.

B: Thanks to Thaaad for the book recommendation. I have only gotten a chance to skim it, mostly because Sandi latched onto it immediately. She has been pretty enamored of it, and tends to giggle a lot while reading it. Sandi giggling is a little disconcerting, as it makes one want to look around the room to make sure there are no sharp objects anywhere.

C: We spent part of the afternoon playing with cider additives. This is actually quite a good idea, but certainly offends the purists.
In general, we're playing with adding some stuff to customize the brew to our tastes. Specifically:
1. Citric Acid
2. Natural Apple extract
3. Natural Cranberry extract
4. Xylitol (This is a sugar alcohol which makes it a bit sweeter. The yeast can't do anything with it. )

In our case, this is very necessary as the final fermentation produced something like a relatively dry zinfandel-like wine.

Our next worry is if we get any carbonation after bottling. We did these two with sugar but no extra yeast while bottling. Given the high alcohol, we figure we might have killed off our yeast.

How about throwing in a dose of that stuff that rewires your taste buds into a few random bottles. It could be really good...or really really bad.

Steve"If there is a big red button...push it."Avery

Yah, the author Leon for Alaska's Bootlegger's book is funny, in a sort of nutty alaskan survivialist way. I love how he actually gives the logic behind stuff, and read the section about the still made out of a sodering iron...

...but someday I would like to meet the guy that first built this one. And we should all be greatful that he chose to design stills, instead of weapons, because he'd probably have designed a nuclear derringer. ... Heck, you could carry this one around in your waist band. We all know you can get into trouble with a non permitted still. Just imagine the trouble you could get in if you got caught carrying a concealed still!... Your Guardian Angel will develop ulcers and a nervous tic if you even think about building one.

My Gooseberry wine is now nicely settled into a glass carboy, with 4 gallons of pale, straw colored wine. Causes roommate's visitors to go 'uh, what's that in the corner of the living room....'

I've always enjoyed apple cider. As a kid, I liked it sweet and cold. As an adult, I also liked it hot and sometimes with rum. But I didn't like the alcoholic cider that I've tried in recent years, though my taste in non-alcoholic cider has gradually gone more towards the non-sweetened, natural variety. Woodchuck in particular offends my taste buds. But at dinner a few nights ago, I discovered that I really love Ace Perry Cider, a pear-based alcoholic cider. It reminds me in good ways of mead, though with a drier finish. My girlfriend is a big fan of it, too. Unfortunately, Ace Perry Cider retails around here for nearly $10 a six-pack, counting taxes.

If you used a champagne yeast, it should carbonate. That stuff is good up close to 20%. It might take some time to carbonate though (2-3 months)