How to Make Hard Apple Cider
Servings: 40 pints
Calories:
Guide for making outstanding hard apple cider at home.
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Ingredients
- 5 gallons apple juice
- 18 oz turbinado sugar
- 1 pack Safale S-04 ale yeast
Instructions
- Bring the juice to room temperature if needed. Pour 1/3 of the juice into a sanitized carboy. Add the sugar and shake well to dissolve. Add the remaining juice. Check specific gravity to make sure it reads 1.06 or whatever SG you are targetting. If not, adjust.
- Next, oxygenate the juice. Close and shake the carboy for a few minutes or give it a 30-second blast of oxygen.
- Next, remove any air from the carboy's headspace to prevent oxidation by blowing some CO2 into the carboy.
- Quickly close the carboy with a cap fitted with an airlock. Fill the airlock with plain vodka or distilled water and let the cider ferment at 68F for 4-5 days.
- Starting on day 4, start periodically checking specific gravity using a hydrometer.
- Once the FG of 0.016 (or whatever your target) is achieved, transfer the cider to another sanitized carboy. Purge the headspace air out with CO2 gas, close with a cap with an airlock (using the original one is fine), and put the cider in the fridge a 34F - 38F for 24 hours.
- After 24 hours in the fridge, the cider will become very clear and most of the yeast will drop to the bottom.
- Transfer the cider to a keg, and purge the air if doing open-air transfer.
- Set the CO2 regulator to 30 PSI and let the cider chill in the kegerator and carbonate for 24 hours.
- After 24 hours, purge the CO2 out and set the pressure in the keg to 12 PSI (or higher if you like your hard cider more carbonated). The cider is now ready for consumption but will improve its taste as it ages.