Great Hard Cider Recipes

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Hard cider recipes the easy way; Learn how to make cider from our great hard cider recipes!

Whether you associate hard cider with the year getting colder and the nights getting longer, or you are just curious to see whether you can learn to make hard cider into a tasty alcoholic beverage, you'll see that brewing your own hard cider is a lot less difficult than you might think it is.

All you need to get started is a “sweet” cider, which is nonalcoholic, and you'll discover that you can make a great drink. Brewing hard cider recipes is a creative process and is not difficult. Just think how wonderful it might be to have a late summer or autumn drink to share with your friends and family. The steps that you need to take are fairly easy, so check out how very little it takes to get started with your hard cider recipe in hand this fall.

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First, where are you going to get your sweet cider from? Though you can certainly pick some up from the store or from a roadside stand, remember that the best hard cider comes from cider that is as fresh as you can get it, from apples out of your local orchard.

Ideally, you will make cider on your own, with your own cider press. One great reason to only use cider that you have made yourself is because then you can be sure that it has no preservatives. If you have preservatives, they will kill the yeast and you won't be able to ferment it at all.

If you do need to get your cider from elsewhere, check the label and make sure that neither potassium sorbate or sodium benzoate are listed, as they are among the most common commercial preservatives.

Another reason that you are going to want your sweet cider to come from your own cider press and your hard cider recipes is that most commercial cider makers end up pasteurizing their cider due to local laws.

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Though you can make hard cider with cider that has been pasteurized, you'll find that it does affect the flavor. If you have no other options, try to make sure that the cider was cold pasteurized, which means that it was purified with ultraviolet light. It is the heat that is used that affects the taste of cider, so as long as cold pasteurization was used, you should be fine.

After that, get online and look for hard cider recipes or Google how to make cider or head to your local home brew store and pick up some brewing yeast. Dry or liquid will do and you'll discover that there is such a variety to choose from that you might be confused.

There are special yeast packs that are meant to help you ferment your cider, but remember that dry wine yeasts will tend to do just as well and are far less expensive. You should be able to find these packets for under one dollar each.

Now you have just about everything that you need to get started making hard cider. To make sure that your yeast is alive, open up a bottle of preservative free apple juice and remove a few ounces. Then put one yeast packet into the bottle before sealing the bottle up again. This will help you make sure that your hard cider bubbles and ferments well.

Pop the top to let out the pressure in your bottle, then recap it and keep it in the fridge for three or four days before you start brewing.

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When you are ready to brew, take your cider and throw it into a pot big enough to hold it. Then simmer it over a medium heat for about forty five minutes, as this will let you kill off the wild yeast that might interfere with the yeast that you have already created. Be sure not to let the cider boil, as this will definitely make the flavor turn odd and prevent you from making a sparkling cider.

At this stage, you need to add in two pounds of brown sugar or honey. Then put the cider into a sanitized fermentation bucket and let it cool to room temperature before you throw in your yeast or your starter. Stir it with a plastic spoon to help it aerate and then seal the lid and lock the airlock. Make sure that the fermentation bucket sits for in a room that is as close to 60 degrees Fahrenheit as you can get it.

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You'll see bubbles within a day or two, and when the bubbles stop, wait for another week to let the yeast settle, and it is ready to drink. Whether you drink it now or go to take the steps that turn it into sparkling cider, you'll have a lovely beverage that is ready to share. Making hard cider from our hard cider recipes is even better than you can buy at the famous Woodchuck cider company!