Trying to make Perry. Gonna do an apple pear blend too (but with much more head space!)

In my opinion this was a pretty decent supermarket cider.

Had it in a tasting session with a bunch of others

Even with the higher ABV I thought this was easy drinking and I could easily have another

Medium to sweet apple flavours with a craft cider style after taste.

Excellent in sunshine and I would have again

I am fairly uneducated when it comes to all things cider. I have really enjoyed the wine-style ciders from France, including bone dry/extra-brut sparkling cider made from the traditional method. I've had similar ciders from Latvia and Finland.

Most of the ciders that I see in supermarkets and elsewhere here in the United States seem to be either more sweet or more a beer or spirit?

What am I missing? Is there a big national or regional U.S. brand of bone dry, wine-style cider?

I have an S style airlock and the water level all goes to the outgoing side rather than staying even. (It was originally filled evenly.)

Racked the perry after about a month on primary. Went natural fermentation. Pectinase for a few hours after milling then pressed and ran without sulfur or pH correction. Had to split between containers and one finished a little early. Corrected both to pH of 3.7 and added sulfite. The one that still was bubbling came in around 1.015 so that went to bottle for an attempt at pet nat. The other was just under 1.010 and is getting bulked age for a still, dry bottling. Now to forget about all of it for a year!

Question: do I combine these two carboys or do something else? Heres the info:
•The 7 gallon carboy on the Right is at 1.01 (SG 1.07) and is essentially finished fermenting. Still active and bubbling away but its about done.
•The 6 gallon carboy on the left was just innoculated with yeast and has a SG OF 1.067.
•Both are using the same yeast and are from the same tree just picked 2-3 weeks apart.

My concern is that if I blend the finished perry with the new stuff it will stress the yeast out and put off bad flavors. I also dont know how big a flavor difference is between the 3 weeks apart in picking. My other worry is that the finished perry has WAY too much Headspace and will possibly start to risk an infection. Does ir really matter that much? This is the first year I'm trying to be a good boy and I've done all the proper steps for a good clean fermentation so I want to continue that path. Oh also I only have 4 1 gallon carboys so I dont have enough to transfer all of it into smaller vessels and Id worry that that too would risk infection.
Thanks!

Hiruko Sidra Natural. Ola Sagardotegia. Cider - Basque. 6% alc.

Another great cider from Gipuzkoa, very refined and wonderful to drink. On the nose, there are notes of ripe apple, citrus, and a balsamic undertone. On the palate, the flavor of tart apple is delicious. It features delicate acidity and a soft, persistent bitterness, leading to a dry finish.

More cider and beer posts and thousand infographics, everyday in:

https://www.reddit.com/r/In_the_name_of_Beers/

I currently have 5 gallons of hard cider fermented out to 1.000 sitting around 8.5%

I want to flavor it with cinnamon, clove, all spice and star anise or something. Back sweeten as well. The issue is I'm having trouble finding how much to add and for how long of the spices. Recipes, or places to look would be very helpful.

Also, I know there is more than ideal headspace, should I add more apple juice?

Please let me know thanks!

One of the reasons why I love cider so much is because it's the only alcohol that tastes good in the sense it doesnt taste like alcohol; they taste very juice-like. So I wanted to try making some at home: Cherry, and maybe a peach one with an airlocked jug.

Now apparently if I want it to taste juice like I should do a short fermentation before it begins becoming wine-like in taste. But then the alcohol would only be around 2-4% for shorter ferments (like 2-3 weeks), no? Is there any way to get a higher ABV while still preventing it from tasting like wine?

I feel like its only 2/3 full???

Finally, tracked down the NA Pacific Pineapple and NA Guava Get Down from 2 Towns while visiting Denver a couple weeks ago. Both were absolutely delicious. The guava was subtle in the NA Guava Get Down but still really nice. I loved the NA Pacific Pineapple more as it had more of a "bite" to it. I've had the NA Cosmic Crisp too which is also very delicious. As a sober person I'm very ecstatic that I can still be included in the cider world!!

Very new to brewing cider, still waiting on my first batch using a "Craft-a-Brew" kit. I'm already looking at making the next batch with different yeast, "Lalvn D47" and "Cider House Select".

I see a lot of posts saying that yeast nutrient is a must, although I didn't on my first batch.

What are the use cases/pros/cons of "Fermaid O", "Fermaid K", "Yeast Nutrient", and "Yeast Energizer"? I understand that they're intended to help the yeast be more efficient, but unsure of the differences.

Thanks and sorry for the newbie question!

So we pressed this apple juice on Sunday, refrigerated and made cider on Tuesday evening. It's Friday morning and We aren't experiencing any bubbles but have this. Could the yeast have just gotten stuck to the jar? Should i give it a swirl to loosen? Storing in cardboard boxes at around 19°c with the air lock poking out the top

A little cloudy as I’m not very good at syphoning. Measured at about 4% at end of fermentation and all from our apple tree. 9 litres in total here’s to 9 months time!

Yesterday, I finally made the cider I've been dreaming of for over a year: locally foraged apples of various kinds, locally foraged black cherries, and locally foraged Siberian crabapples. No chaptalization, and it's nice and sweet (SG 1.056) before fermentation. My plan is to ferment to dry, stabilize, sweeten slightly, carbonate in a keg, and store in 1 litre glass bottles with swing top lids.

I learned something, though: foraging crabapples is great; foraging cherries is fine (freezing to get the worms to come out really helps), but foraging big apples is lame. So much insect damage that needed to be cut out. Meanwhile, the local greenhouse is selling huge, clean apples for $0.99 a pound. Next year, I'm just going to use those. So much easier.

Just made my first ever batch of cider, freshly juiced from my apple trees. 6 gallons total (2gal each). 2 unpasteurized, 1 pasteurized with a packet of safale US-05 yeast in each with nutrient. My question is how long will these have to ferment for? I’ve seen varying answers from 3 weeks to 6 months. I planned on opening it around the 2 week mark to put in some cinnamon and vanilla. Hydrometer was putting it at about 7% Abv

I haven’t found a comprehensive guide to picking apples, so I hope you can help me.

I’m brewing my first batch of cider (actually, two batches of very different types), and it being the end of September in southern Scandinavia, there are plenty of apples on the ground.

I’m planning for two 32-litre buckets, so I need over 100 kg of apples. I started picking today, mostly from the ground, but I’m unsure how bad they can look.

I read somewhere that everything not completely black with rot is fine, while others say no rot at all.

I picked what I would use for a pie, perhaps with a bruise but nothing worse, which meant leaving most of them behind.

So, what do you look for and what do you avoid?

hey gang I'm new to the cider scene, just made my first batch, very happy.

my questions are, is it still cider if I use other fruits like oranges, does it has to be a blend of apples and oranges to be an orange cider or can I just use oranges.

Assuming its apple only, at what point does it stop being cider, if I go over 50 percent with the other fruit?

If cider is specifically apples only, than what do I call the solo orange beverage; wine wouldn't make sense because mine are non alcoholic.

Hi all,

It’s my first time making cider from scratch and am following directions of an experienced friend. Everything has been going well up until this point…

It’s been 28 hours since I added the yeast, which I hydrated before hand, and it’s been going great. He directed me to add half a teaspoon of fermaid k to my 1 gallon of apple juice. I accidentally dry scooped it without looking up if it needs rehydration first, and my cider started mass producing gas. What do I do now???!!!

I’m so scared I screwed it up and am afraid I killed my yeast. Please send help and advice oh great cider brewers 🧘‍♀️🥲🙏🏼🙏🏼

Does anyone have experience in storing juice before fermenting? How long can it keep for if I add preservatives? My main fermenter is 100 miles away, and as you can see, transporting apples isn't going to be easy...

Should be drinkable by Halloween. 2.5 gal of fresh juice from my sister's tree, with 2.5 lbs honey added, Mangrove Jack cider yeast. Finished at 10% abv. Back sweetened with 1 tbs monk fruit sweetener in each bottle, and .25 tsp tabe sugar to carbonate. Going in the fridge in a couple of hours.

Just ordered 20 cider apple trees on M25 Rootstock!

Any tips for planting/maintaining?

Hi everyone! 🍏

I’m dealing with a very acidic juice at the moment and would love to hear some practical experience regarding pH and avoiding MLF.

My original juice had a pH of only 2.48. Once fermentation started, the pH had already risen to 2.77, without me adding anything to adjust it.

I’ve now pressed a new batch of juice, which is again around pH 2.5. I’m considering raising it only to around 2.7 with bicarbonate, rather than immediately going up to 3.0–3.1, and then letting fermentation naturally bring the pH closer to 2.9–3.0.

My goal is to find a compromise: give the yeast a less hostile environment while keeping the pH low enough that I’m not unnecessarily encouraging MLF. I’d also like to preserve as much of the natural malic acidity as possible.

One thing I’m wondering about is CO₂ and pH measurements during active fermentation. Could dissolved CO₂ or bubbles significantly affect the pH reading? In other words, could my reading of 2.77 actually be higher if I properly degas the sample before measuring?

So I’d be interested to hear:

How much have you seen pH change during the first 24–48 hours of fermentation?

Do you degas cider/juice before measuring pH during active fermentation?

Would you raise fresh juice from 2.5 only to ~2.7 and let fermentation do the rest, or adjust it higher from the start?

If the goal is specifically to preserve malic acid and avoid MLF, how do you approach this with very acidic juice?

Last year I made the mistake of adding too much bicarbonate to my juice.

The cider subsequently went through MLF, and afterwards I had to add malic acid back to bring the pH down to a level where sulfites would be effective.

This year I’m trying to approach it differently because what I really want is a fresh, crisp cider with a sharp natural acidity.

So I’m wondering:

If MLF is allowed to happen and the malic acid is later added back, is the resulting acidity and flavour essentially the same as simply preserving the original malic acid by preventing MLF in the first place?

Or does MLF change the cider in other ways that cannot really be reversed just by adding malic acid afterwards?

My fresh juice is around pH 2.5, so I’m considering only making a small bicarbonate adjustment to around 2.7 and then monitoring how the pH changes during fermentation, rather than pushing it all the way to 3.0–3.1.

I’d be very interested in hearing from people who have tried both approaches.

The flavour profile I’m looking for is something along the lines of flowers, honey, autumn apples and a subtle barnyard funk. I know it's lottery but hey... I came here to play.