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Fall Harvest: Apple Beer, Cyser and Hard Cider

© John Gorton

As the weather cools down in many parts of the world, more and more people dig out their homebrewing equipment and fire up the kettle for another batch of sweet wort.

A few weeks ago, I headed up to my grandfather's orchard with my father-in-law and harvested boxes and boxes and boxes of apples. Yesterday, we got out the cider press and made 18 gallons of apple juice. If you've never made apple juice using a hand-cranked cider press, it's something everyone should do at least once in their lifetimes. Otherwise, there's simply no reason for me to feel like my arm is going to fall off today.

There are three recipes that I'm going to use to make the most out of my hard-earned apple juice.

APPLE BEER:

Ingredients:

6 lbs. light malt extract 1 lb honey 1 1/2 oz. Hallertauer hops (flavoring) 1/2 oz. Halletauer hops (aromatic) 1 quart of apple juice (if you haven't made your own, choose an apple juice without preservatives from your grocery store--many preservatives inhibit yeast growth). 2 packages of Nottingham Ale Yeast (make starter).

Procedure:

Boil 5 gallons of water. Add extract and flavoring hops. Boil for 60 minutes. Add honey and aromatic hops and flame-out. Chill to 170. Add apple juice. Top off with water to make five gallons. Chill to 75 degrees and add yeast starter. Rack after one week to secondary. Bottle or keg after fermentation is complete.

CYSER:

Ingredients:

5 gallons fresh apple juice (no preservatives) 10 lbs. clover honey 5 tsp. yeast nutrient 2 packages of Nottingham Ale Yeast (make starter or use yeast cake from apple beer)

Procedure:

Mix juice, honey, and yeast nutrient. Heat to 170 F for 20 minutes. Chill and pitch yeast. Rack from primary fermenter to secondary fermenter after one month. After four months, begin checking to see if fermentation is complete. When fermentation is complete, bottle as still cyser or force carbonate in keg. Age for one to seven months longer. The longer you can wait, the better it will taste. Hardest part: being patient.

I made this recipe early last spring, and it started out tasting like gasoline. Now, it's smooth, powerful and goes down nicely. Consume with care; it sneaks up on you with a wallop.

HARD APPLE CIDER:

Ingredients:

5 gallons fresh apple juice (no preservatives) 5 tsp. yeast nutrient 2 packages of Nottingham Ale Yeast (make starter or use yeast cake from apple beer)

Procedure:

Mix juice and yeast nutrient. Heat to 170 F for 20 minutes.