Some science teachers who have fun brewing their own Hard Cider, Wine, Mead, etc.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Aging Hard Cider
That's the Oak Barrel my boy got me for Christmas. The first batch of cider to go in the Barrel has been about 2 weeks, and I had to sneek a small taste. It's starting to get the smokey oak flavor of a quality whiskey but since it is a Hard Cider it's not nearly as strong and much smoother. The cider I'm aging is of the standard recipe for beginners, 5 gallons of apple juice, 2 pounds of light brown sugar, and pitched with Red Star Campaign yeast, fermented till the bubbling stopped (2 weeks), then 3 gallons of that was siphoned off the top and put into a a glass carboy with 1/4 tsp dissolved gelatin to aid in clarification.
After a week of clarifying 2.6 gallons of the perfectly clear amber liquid was put into the barrel and the bung was inserted. This is a small oak barrel with medium charring, at 10L (2.6 gal) it has a much larger surface to volume area so ages spirits much faster than 55 gallon barrels do. The manufacturer recommends 2 to 3 months of aging. If 15 days was any indicator 2 months will make a fine mellow dry cider.
I'll keep you up to date
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