Craft Hard Cider: Recipes, Tips, and Ideas for Making & Enjoying Hard Cider
I am a big advocate that hard cider should reflect your local area. If you are lucky enough to live in England, France, Spain, or even some places in the US that have cider apples, maybe local hard cider would means a traditional cider. That could be dry, tannin-rich and farmhouse, keeved and sparkling, or … Continue reading Hard Cider: The Local Way
It’s pizza and cider time! If you didn’t know that I like pizza and hard cider, or you need some more inspiration for some wonderful pizzas, you should also check out my other three posts: Part I, Part II, and Part III. For Part IV, the unique crust flavors continue and are becoming a major … Continue reading Pizza and Hard Cider – Part IV
In my original post on the color of cider, I asked the question what color hard cider should be. I described cider in the context of wine. Should cider be white and red or something different. I did this because in both cases, you are using fruit juice. While there are some natural variances in … Continue reading A Study in Color: Making Cider Silver
I brought reinforcements and a better plan for my second visit to apple paradise. Our COVID friend met us at the experimental orchard, my apple paradise, to help us find and pick apples. We introduced him to varieties that he’d never heard. We were also able to spend a fair amount of time talking with … Continue reading A Day at the Orchard: Apple Paradise Revisited
In part III of my developing your method post, I explore carbonation and how this can impact your method for making hard cider. The method I generally use, is force-carbonating. The most common method to force-carbonate is using a kegging system. Kegging systems can come in various sizes, but 5 pound CO2 tanks and 5 … Continue reading Hard Cider Tip #26: Force-Carbonating
I often see questions online from people wondering whether their hard cider is done fermenting. I have written several post about elements of fermentation and I am certain I will write more. But, I’ve never specifically talked about the point when fermentation is complete. Let’s first cover some terms that often get used when talking … Continue reading When is fermentation complete?
If you are American or grew up in the US, you learned that cider doesn’t mean an alcoholic beverage. Cider meant this cold cloudy drink you would get with doughnuts when visiting an orchard or farm stand. It seem mystical or at least in your memory it is. There must be a special recipe for … Continue reading Making “American Cider” (a.k.a Apple Juice)
If I asked you to define the color that hard cider should be, what would answer? I’m not talking about an adjunct hard cider, but a tradional hard cider made from apples or pears. Would you tell me it should be a dark amber? Should it be a golden hue? What about a yellow so … Continue reading The color of Cider
When you pick apples in Southern Arizona, whether you sweat or not isn’t often a choice. Even at cooler elevations over 5000 feet, the sun can be brutal and I often work up a good sweat gathering apples for my hard ciders. Believe it or not, apples can also sweat or at least they lose … Continue reading Hard Cider Tip #25: To Sweat or Not to Sweat
There is a saying in many English speaking countries that summed up my weekend apple picking experience. That saying is “like a kid in a candy store”. This year, I have been searching southern Arizona for new and unique apples. It has taken me to several new orchards and so far, I have found 6 … Continue reading A Day at the Orchard: Apple Paradise
