We started our first hard cider kit in March — Mixed Berry Hard Cider! Sorry Susan, this one’s gonna be a bit too sweet for you!
First step … fermenting in the Primary Fermenter … it starts out as apple cider (juice) …
Next we racked it into a carboy to “rest” …
17 days after we started, we Primed and Bottled! Priming the hard cider meant that we added some more dextrose (sugar), and the mixed berry flavoring and a sweetener. The dextrose was added because we are carbonating the hard cider in the bottle … the remaining yeast “eat” the sugars and CO2 is given off, but it’s trapped inside the bottle!
We used 22 oz (a little bigger than a UK pint) glass bottles with caps, and got the equivalent of 60 x 12 oz (355 ml) “regular size” bottles.
The hard cider is sitting in the dark, carbonating away … we’ll check on it in a couple weeks, then move it to the basement to age for another month.
We had a bit at the end that wouldn’t fully fill a bottle, so we carbonated it with our Soda Stream, added some ice, and had a taste test! The verdict? Lovely! A bit sweet, but that will lessen as the dextrose is used up, and most definitely “immature”, but that will improve over the next 6-8 weeks!
And the name? Stay tuned! 😄