Hard Cider
Back in late October, I started three gallons of fresh apple cider from Noquochoke Orchards in Westport, MA in the fermenter. Now, nearly 6 months later, I have a case and a half of 12 oz. bottles of very drinkable, dry sparkling hard cider. Shot this glass of it tonight (and drank it while processing the shots.)
Nikon D7000 w/Nikkor ƒ/1.8 50mm prime. One SB-700 in 43" octabox camera right, behind and above subject, 50mm zoom, 1/2 power. Second SB-700 from the same direction, 1/10 power, 120mm zoom, through 1/4" speed grid aimed just at the glass and foreground apple. White card (with all but a 6" vertical strip blocked by a black card) camera left to add some highlight to the glass.
Color finishing, slight crop, and a bit of sharpening and detail added in Aperture.
For the brewers out there:
Initial ferment:
3 US gallons of UV pasteurized sweet cider
10 oz. turbinado sugar
10 oz. grade A dark amber Vermont maple syrup
1 package Safale US-05 ale yeast (Fermentis)
1 1/2 tsp. yeast nutrient
When bottling:
2 tbl. vodka
2 cinnamon sticks, crushed
2 cloves
1/2 tsp. cardamom seed
2.2 oz. dextrose
I combined the sugar, syrup, and cider in my brew kettle and heated it slowly to 165°F, then held it there for 20 minutes. I probably didn't need to hold, as the cider was already pasteurized, but it did get the sugar dissolved more easily. Cooled in an ice bath to 70°F, transferred to my primary fermenter, added the yeast nutrient, and pitched the yeast directly. OG was 1.059.
Took 3 weeks in the primary with almost unnoticeable bubbling in the airlock. Racked to secondary at this point. At the same time as I racked to secondary, I made a spice tincture from the spices and vodka and let that sit in a jar to pull flavor out of the spices.
After 12 weeks in the secondary, the flavors had evened out pretty well. I racked off the trub into my bottling bucket, where I added the well-strained spice tincture and my dextrose. Bottled, capped, and let bottle condition for 4 weeks.
FG was 0.996, so the ABV (excluding whatever the vodka contributed) is about 8.4%.
Hard Cider
Back in late October, I started three gallons of fresh apple cider from Noquochoke Orchards in Westport, MA in the fermenter. Now, nearly 6 months later, I have a case and a half of 12 oz. bottles of very drinkable, dry sparkling hard cider. Shot this glass of it tonight (and drank it while processing the shots.)
Nikon D7000 w/Nikkor ƒ/1.8 50mm prime. One SB-700 in 43" octabox camera right, behind and above subject, 50mm zoom, 1/2 power. Second SB-700 from the same direction, 1/10 power, 120mm zoom, through 1/4" speed grid aimed just at the glass and foreground apple. White card (with all but a 6" vertical strip blocked by a black card) camera left to add some highlight to the glass.
Color finishing, slight crop, and a bit of sharpening and detail added in Aperture.
For the brewers out there:
Initial ferment:
3 US gallons of UV pasteurized sweet cider
10 oz. turbinado sugar
10 oz. grade A dark amber Vermont maple syrup
1 package Safale US-05 ale yeast (Fermentis)
1 1/2 tsp. yeast nutrient
When bottling:
2 tbl. vodka
2 cinnamon sticks, crushed
2 cloves
1/2 tsp. cardamom seed
2.2 oz. dextrose
I combined the sugar, syrup, and cider in my brew kettle and heated it slowly to 165°F, then held it there for 20 minutes. I probably didn't need to hold, as the cider was already pasteurized, but it did get the sugar dissolved more easily. Cooled in an ice bath to 70°F, transferred to my primary fermenter, added the yeast nutrient, and pitched the yeast directly. OG was 1.059.
Took 3 weeks in the primary with almost unnoticeable bubbling in the airlock. Racked to secondary at this point. At the same time as I racked to secondary, I made a spice tincture from the spices and vodka and let that sit in a jar to pull flavor out of the spices.
After 12 weeks in the secondary, the flavors had evened out pretty well. I racked off the trub into my bottling bucket, where I added the well-strained spice tincture and my dextrose. Bottled, capped, and let bottle condition for 4 weeks.
FG was 0.996, so the ABV (excluding whatever the vodka contributed) is about 8.4%.