22
Jun
To start combine apple juice with yeast in a container to start a process called fermentation. Age your bottled cider for another month or two for best flavor.
During fermentation the yeast converts the sugar in the juice into alcohol and gas.
Making hard cider from store bought cider. How i make hard cider with store bought juice. I started with 1 gallon of musselman s apple cider that i purchased at a local grocery store. Using a hydrometer i measured the original gravity of this juice at 1 044 which i calculated would produce around 5 5 abv if i fermented it to near dry or near 1 002 fg.
An abv in this range is perfect for me so i did not make any sugar additions. If you want to make hard cider from store bought cider look for juice without ps there are a few out there and worth the drive to find them. It would be a waste of time trying to make cider with potassium sorbate.
Why not just buy some apple juice at walmart musslemans which has no potassium sorbate or buy some organic frozen apple juice. This hard cider recipe can be multiplied for nearly any batch size but 1 gallon and 5 gallon are most common. Typically one pack of yeast is enough for up to 5 gallons.
Once the fermenter is full and the yeast is pitched place the cider in a cool and dark area to ferment for about two weeks. Using store bought apple juice is the easiest way to make hard apple cider. Here s a basic overview of.
A hydrometer isn t necessary however it s the easiest way to test how much sugar is in the apple juice and when it is ready for bottling. As mentioned above the basic process of making hard cider is simple and straightforward. To start combine apple juice with yeast in a container to start a process called fermentation.
During fermentation the yeast converts the sugar in the juice into alcohol and gas. Ferment the cider for an additional one to two months. Four to five months from when you started your hard cider should be ready to bottle.
You can use regular beer bottles or bail top bottles like i use for kombucha. Age your bottled cider for another month or two for best flavor. From a broad perspective learning to make hard cider and then actually making it is fairly straightforward.
You basically just get yourself some fresh apple juice either by mashing the apples. Hard cider is also a trendy drink in the united states. It is called hard cider to distinguish alcoholic from non alcoholic cider known as sweet cider.
Hard cider is also closer to wine than beer. When we learned how to make hard cider at home we just had to share it so you can too. I m always interested in simple quick boozey experiments that i can do in my limited space apartment.
If you are too then grab a gallon of apple cider and a little yeast and you too can make booze at home. I had conceptualized with some friends the idea of making hard cider from store bought pressed. The first time i made hard cider i bought fresh squeezed cider from an orchard it worked fine but it was expensive and not cost effective.
You could press your own apples for juice but you would have to add an extra step of pasteurizing it. Today we are going simple.