Making Cheap Hard Cider From Scratch
[Photograph: The Paupered Chef]
Serious Eats contributors Nick Kindelsperger and Blake Royer explain how they made hard cider on the cheap over at The Paupered Chef. They made four batches using two kinds of apple cider and yeast, and found that Whole Foods' apple cider was great for making easy, cheap hard cider: "It's cheap ($6.99), comes in perfectly sized bottles for fermenting, and makes a balanced, refreshing beverage in about 7 to 10 days." Start a batch soon and you'll have a great beverage for Thanksgiving.
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5 Comments:
Hey Robyn, I'm a little bummed to see that once again you've posted a "quick easy" cider recipe. As I wrote a few months back, (http://www.seriouseats.com/2009/06/how-to-make-apple-cider.html) it’s great that folks are starting to ferment cider themselves, and it will be a lot better than the super-sweet Woodchuck-type “cider.” But there’s a real art to cidermaking, which is really a lot more like winemaking than most folks realize. You won’t get a great cider out of a quick, 3-4 week fermentation. It’ll work and get you buzzed, but starting with quality (ideally raw) juice and taking it slow will be a lot more rewarding in the long run.
I won't bother to recap my previous post, folks can click through to check it out if they like. I will, however, offer this link to Andrew Lea’s cidermaking page for those who are intrigued enough: http://www.cider.org.uk/.
Celeriac at 4:33PM on 11/05/09
My friend grew up on an apple farm in pa. Every year they make a ton of delicious cider from left over apples. Its awesome
rumanddiet at 4:37PM on 11/05/09
@Celeriac: I mean no disrespect to the art of cidermaking. If you know of a good post/article about a more involved method, I'd be interested in reading it! (Alas my skills, or lack of, probably wouldn't take me much farther than the method above. I have friend who likes to brew his own beer though; he'd be into a cidermaking project.)
Robyn Lee at 4:43PM on 11/05/09
Hey Robyn, I know you don't. True cider, which was once the most traditional American drink, is coming back, but prohibition basically wiped it out of our collective consciousness.
I'll keep an eye out for good articles (I realize the site I linked to is way too thorough for the standard curious citizen) but I will reiterate a 2 key points from my previous post:
1) The juice is the key. Mass market, pasteurized cider is very sweet, and probably not much else. A good juice blend needs a balance of high sugar with some balanced acid, aromatics and (most elusive, given our modern apples) tannin. Raw juice is best, but UV-treated is a lot better than fully pasteurized. Heat robs the juice of its more subtle aromas. A typical home fermenter would be well served to buy their juice directly from a local orchard -- hard in NYC but easy in much of the country. If you know of an orchard that grows older variety apples, go with them. Their juice is more likely to have some moderately tannic apples, complexly flavored apples. It's possible that they will be willing to fill up a carboy or other fermenter directly, at a lower cost, and maybe even raw, before they treat it. Late season juice (like RIGHT NOW) is best for fermenting.
2) Ferment slow and cold, and be patient. You can start it warm to make sure it builds up a good vigorous initial fermentation, but then move it somewhere nice and cool, like a cellar (50 degrees is great). If it's not dark, wrap the carboy up so that light can't get in. Leave it be until the fermentation has completely stopped -- this may take upwards of two months. Then rack it (that means transferring it to another, clean carboy), leaving behind the sediment that should have fallen out. Fit the new carboy with an airlock, and continue to be patient. I wouldn't bottle it until at least 4 months. Last year I waited about 6.
But seriously, thank you for encouraging people to make their own cider! It's very easy and delicious.
Celeriac at 5:33PM on 11/05/09
@celeriac -- Thanks for your information about how cider can be an even more interesting drink. We'd love to know more, and you're right, this post is about the absolute easiest, entry-level cider. Contact us at pauperedchef@gmail.com because we'd love to learn more about it.
Nick Kindelsperger at 10:31PM on 11/05/09