Tag Archives: Apple Cider

Brew #9 – Cidre Épicerie (AKA Grocery Store Cider)

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I’m getting close to having my cider recipe down pat. In fact, I think I’ve finally settled on a name — “Cidre Épicerie.” Simply translated to “Grocery Store Cider,” as all the ingredients (except, perhaps, the yeast) can be purchased at your local grocery store.

For about the first month of bottle conditioning, I was concerned that I might have ruined the batch, as I detected some off-flavor in early sampling. However, since first tasting this batch, the off-flavors have mellowed and the results are have been pretty enjoyable! Continue reading →

What’s Brewing? – 11/13/13 Update

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It’s been awhile since I’ve done one of these updates, so I thought I’d take a few minutes on my lunch break to share what’s been brewing — literally!

Two weekends ago (11/2/13) I had an enormous brew day where I brewed 5 gallons of bock (my co-worker, Derek, appropriately called it “NernBock”), 5 gallons of cider, and 1 gallon of a mini-bock (AKA, “NernBock Jr.”), which I collected from the spent grain.

This was my third all-grain batch and I’ve really been enjoying the whole all-grain process! I’ve also been thinking to myself, “WHY did I ever start with EXTRACT BREWING?!?” Continue reading →

An image of the apple ciders in their fermenters.

Brew #4 – Simple Apple Cider v2.0 and v2.1

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A few months ago I made my first apple cider — it was good, but it needed some improvement. I had a few ideas on how to improve the recipe, so for my second batch I decided to experiment with a few factors that differentiate these batches from v1.0, specifically: the juice type, the type of sweetening/priming sugar used, and the time for conditioning. Continue reading →

Picture of the freezer and cider.

Brew #2 – Simple Apple Cider

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For my second brew (though this may not be appropriate title, since nothing was actually “brewed”), I fermented a small, one-gallon test batch of apple cider.

When my first beer was fermenting, I was telling some friends about my new-found hobby, and several mentioned that it would be neat if I made a hard apple cider. One of whom especially loves Woodchuck Amber! Knowing this, I set out to make a simple, semi-sweet and carbonated apple cider. Continue reading →

What’s Brewing? – 10/19/12 Update

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In an effort to come up with some content for this blog, I’ve decided that every once in a while I’ll provide updates about my homebrew journey — aptly named “What’s Brewing?”

Since my first homebrew experience, I have acquired a 7 cubic foot chest freezer, and a temperature control unit to gain greater control over the fermentation temperature of my future brews. I was actually able to get this freezer at no cost, since my buddy’s parents had one they were looking to get rid of it — score! I purchased the control unity online through Northern Brewer. Continue reading →