Homebrew – CiderBock
I finally got the CiderBock bottled and ready to go after being in the fermenter for about eight weeks. This stuff is very easy to make and, like any other venture in home brewing, you can get creative with it as much as you like. I wanted to try something a little different with this cider, so I changed up my technique for back-sweetening it after fermentation. The original gravity of this cider was 1.070. I fermented it with Montrachet yeast and the final gravity after eight weeks in the fermenter was 0.996, which gives an ABV of 9.7%. After back-sweetening, my ABV settled down to 8.6%. The difference in back-sweetening on this batch is that instead of using all apple juice concentrate, I used some brown sugar and pure molasses to create a little flavor and color change. If you compare the color of this cider with my original Apfelwein, you can see that it is significantly darker. It has just about the same sweetness level with slightly higher alcohol content. This stuff also has the same "creep up on you and kick you in the arse" trait as the Apfelwein. It goes down way too easy...
Here is a mock-up of the label I printed for this bottle...
March 14th, 2010 - 11:46
Greetings- I found you on HBT looking for info on how to make cider. There is soo much info, too much for a newbie. I was wondering if you could tell me the difference b/w cider and apfelwein? Are they the same thing w/ different names. I am trying to decide what to try, I was thinking about (1Gal) EdWorts Apfelwein or the Southern Sweet Cider and now that I am here, CiderBock. Do you think the Southern Sweet and Ciderbock are similar in taste/sweetness? Any suggestions for a newbie??? One more thing, which one would I be able to drink first :) Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated- thanks.