Sorachi Ace Farmhouse Cider

When you learn to brew beer the hard way, making a simple cider from store bought juice is like child’s play.  Buy juice. Empty juice into carboy. Pitch yeast. Wait. Bottle.  It’s a refreshing change from beer and adds a little variety to your pipeline.

Knowing that apple juice has only simple, readily fermentable sugars, you know your cider will finish out crisp with a low, low gravity unless you can kill the yeast and force carbonate.  I don’t keg so I’m stuck with a bone dry cider; but that’s how I like them anyway.  In lieu of going to an orchard and blending the perfect mix of tart and sweet apples for a real authentic cider, I use store bought juice, it’s much more readily available.  Select a quality juice, one with no preservatives and preferably organic.  I use Whole Foods brand juice, it’s organic and paseutrized and is relatively cheap at $8.99 a gallon.  If you want to bulk your alcohol (which will be pretty high already because of the low FG) you can add simple sugar of any kind.  For complexity, maybe add spices, or dry hop.  Aside from that, dump the juice in the carboy and aerate.

Yeast choice is a matter of preference.  There are cider yeasts that are supposed to attenuate less and generate a slightly sweeter product, but I have never used one.  My first batch I pitched S-05, for this one I used Lallemand Belle Saison, hoping to generate a touch of spice and fruit notes.

We dry hopped our cider with Sorachi Ace.  A lot.  We used two whole ounces for a five gallon batch.  I really wanted to add something to this cider, and thought that the super pungent lemon aroma and hop freshness of Sorachi might be nice.

Here’s the recipe!

Beer Name: Sorachi Ace Farmhouse Cider
Style: Dry Hopped Cider
OG: 1.054
FG: 1.004
ABV: 7.2%

Grains:
5 G Pasteurized, Unfiltered, Organic Apple Cider

In the Boil:
Nothing

Fermentation:
Lallemand Belle Saison Dry Yeast in primary
Dry hopped with 2 oz Sorachi Ace Hops in secondary
Primed with 3.25 oz raw sugar

Brew Notes:
23/06/13: Brewed
Fermented wrapped in blankets
30/06/13: SG of 1.004
07/07/13: SG of 1.004, racked to secondary
21/07/13: SG of 1.00, bottled

Tasting Notes:  Pours a cloudy peach juice with a thin bubbly cap.  Medium to high carbonation with a thin body.  Aromas of lemon, herbal hop, apple, pear and a touch of yeasty spice.  Smooth and refreshing, a great summer quencher, just be careful, they pack a punch.

Overall, this is tasty stuff, the girlfriend loves it.  I really want to see how it comes along over the next six months.