EASY Hopped, OAKED Cider Recipe

We have made a lot of ciders, a LOT of ciders. We get asked a lot if they can be oaked or hopped. The answer is of course, yes, but… we hadn’t ACTUALLY done it. Until now.

Ingredients:
1 Gallon Apple Juice: https://amzn.to/4bpe2Dm
1 teaspoon Potassium Bicarbonate: https://amzn.to/4a85LTs
1/2 Packet SafAle US-04 Yeast: https://amzn.to/4bGy2BR

Additions:
French Oak Medium Char: https://barrelcharwood.com/
5.6 grams Willamette Hops: https://amzn.to/3Uop9FX
42 grams Sugar
Insurance Yeast (we used EC-1118): https://amzn.to/3Qxd2Fd

FERMENSTATION: https://youtu.be/fQE99rCnZXw?si=PhEF6gmT4ZZmVO-R
Racking: https://youtu.be/-X00d3C14z0?si=CsvZHlcdY8TOfOrR
Bottling: https://youtu.be/RN985pf9Ews?si=GfNphBZ4hKmtUED8
SWEET, CARBONATED with REAL SUGARS?: https://youtu.be/_67Nep8cr_k?si=PEvrw4_uZ-xbmbtV
_____________________________________
Stainless Steel Funnel: https://amzn.to/44oJhfL
Star San: https://amzn.to/4dpqLYE
5 Liter Fermenter: https://amzn.to/3y7w3Ic (more are on the way!)
Hydrometer Kit: https://amzn.to/4bqTiLJ
Baster: https://amzn.to/4bGykIX
pH Strips: https://amzn.to/4aZyKde
Pipette: https://amzn.to/3Uvapoy
Auto Siphon: https://amzn.to/3UqHFNO
1 Gallon Wide Mouth Fermenter: https://amzn.to/3UKkbo7
Mini Scale: https://amzn.to/3QvEpiY
Glencairn Glasses: https://amzn.to/3QxvCwW
Cheese Cloth: https://amzn.to/3Wr0sLs
Our Favorite Pitcher: https://amzn.to/4a5pVgI
Stirring Paddle: https://amzn.to/4aeoZHa
Bottling Wand: https://amzn.to/3UJ2hCq
Beer Tasting Glasses: https://amzn.to/3JLsQQX
Clear Swing Top Bottles: https://amzn.to/3QwLrUV
Amber Swing Top Bottles: https://amzn.to/3UpW9h6
Fun T-shirts: https://city-steading.com/product-category/t-shirts/

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so we made cider we’ve even Oak a cider
but we’ve never hopped an oak cider but
we will today all right so to do this we
need to make a cider really really
simple we got we got the MS this is just
MZ natural made from fresh pressed
apples and concentrate 100% apple juice
no sugar added the ingredients are apple
juice water apple juice concentrate
that’s about as good as you can expect
if you can get actual fresh apple juice
go for it if you get apple cider in the
US that’s fine too it’s the same thing
really it just has pulp in it notice
some things that weren’t in there and
that was absorbit acid or any other
preservatives and that can be
challenging to find an apple juice
commercially made that doesn’t have
those things in it we had a lot of
trouble finding this one in our grocery
store at Publix I know Costco
occasionally carries a fresh pressed
cider that we’ve used with great success
um there was another one Costco makes
another one that’s actually really
really good this one from concentrate
doesn’t bother me so much what bothers
me is seeing like IES and eights any
preservatives we don’t want those now as
I’m pouring this I am not being careful
okay you can make as much mess as you
want to just try to get most of the
liquid in your container yeah I’m also
you probably notice I’m shaking up the
bottoms of the containers cuz there’s
some goop in there that’s good for it
okay we want to we want to get all the
goop in there this time and it I’m
cracking the funnel I spilled I spilled
like two drops I cracked the funnel so
that it doesn’t get a
lock all right whatever I can’t be can’t
be as sloppy as I want to
be but I was talking about with the
funnel if you if I left the funnel like
that flat on sometimes it’ll make like
an air lock it’ll it’ll cause a pressure
leak and it’ll like bubble and spit it’s
not it’s not pretty it’s not makes more
mess than Brian does on his own yeah
exactly
I think that’s my favorite part of the
whole video I think it is too anyway so
we have our juice there’s nothing to mix
up I was just going to mix it up I don’t
even need to mix it up just juice it’s a
habit do you want to take a gravity and
pH reading on this juice you know what I
want to take a gravity and a pH reading
on that juice I think she’s right I was
getting ready to put yeast in there I
want to get a piece of paper there’s
something I’m noticing about these new
uh fermenters is that we might want to
get a longer
baster yeah you’re like just on the edge
I know if if we make exactly a gallon
it’s like right there um so this juice
comes out to it’s looking like
1.050 okay so our original gravity is
1.050 what does that mean okay that’s
the amount of sugars and potential
alcohol we could get from this Brew if
it went reserve a little bit of that so
you can do your pH please
I’m just going to do the pH right now
all right if it went you know what I’m
just going to do it I’m gonna use the
calculator teacher said I would never
have and we’re going to figure it out uh
1.050 if this went totally dry to 1.us
1. that means it’s going to use up 05
gravity right time is
131.5 before you ask the reason I’m
using 13125 instead of the normal 135 is
because this is so low in ABV that it’s
more accurate to actually use 13 3 1.25
so for that we get
6.56% that’s actually pretty respectable
for a cider yeah so yeah we don’t need
to add any sugars or anything to it but
I’m going to take a pH reading just cuz
well I’m curious I know there’s malic
acid in juice so I want to see and right
off the bat I see a
problem this is reading somewhere around
3.5 pH which means and I think this is
the issue we have had in the past with
ciders is they start off too acidic the
yeast have to stress in there and they
make a funky taste so when they add
ascorbic acid and citric acid to the
apple juices they’re making it even
worse so guess what we got to make some
adjustments yeah we’re going to actually
use
um pottassium pottassium bicarbonate yes
that we have it on the Shelf I couldn’t
have it in front of me uh so we’re going
to use some potassium bicarbonate to
bring the PH down a bit uh do you want
to reserve some of that liquid so that
we’re we’re going to mix it I’ll be
right back in case you’re wondering
what’s going on we checked the pH of
this juice and it’s a little bit low we
generally like it to be four to 5.5
somewhere in that range so we’re going
to add a buffer we’re going to raise the
ph basically and to do that we’re going
to be using potassium bicarbonate if you
don’t have any you can get some using
the link below or you can just use
baking soda probably not going to need a
whole lot but the reason we do this is
because if we didn’t there’s a
possibility the yeast could stall
there’s a possibility the yeast could
produce off flavors they could stress
they could cause you know it can make it
not as good as it could be so it’s
probably a safe thing to do could it
still ferment sure of course it could
3.5 isn’t super super bad but it’s
enough that I want to change it okay so
a teaspoon going in and it’ll usually
foam up a little bit cuz that’s the
reaction you know like if you take
vinegar and baking soda and mix them
together that kind of thing just going
to use our baster mix that up oh there
now you see the
foam it’s always a nice science
experiment when we do these if you
didn’t see it there was one where we
poured it into the fermenter and it
fizzed up over the top so that’s why we
put it in the container now now at this
point this is probably far too basic or
alkaline so I want to pour that into the
whole Mi must and mix it
through oxygenating at this point is not
a problem it’s actually suggested you
kind of want to get some in
there helps the colony build
up okay so I’m just going to give this a
quick
[Music]
swirl and now we check again oh it’s
touching the liquid I got it it’s
interesting it tastes a little bit
different you can see the color change
though right away there’s a difference
in color and according to our chart here
we’re now above 4.0 okay so it’s some
probably something like
4.2 for fermentation purposes that’s all
we need that’s where we want it to be so
we’re going to adjust our notes and
indicate that we added a teaspoon of
potassium bicarbonate okay the next
thing that we’re going to add is our
yeast and for this I’m using SA s so4 it
is probably my favorite yeast to use for
ciders it does help to keep them cidery
um keeps the sharp flavors that apple
juice can have like the malic acids it
does keep some of those so even though
we reduced the acid it’s still going to
maintain some of that but we can always
acidify more later and I already hear
you saying how come you didn’t add tea
you didn’t add any tannins you didn’t
add anything well we’re going to open
this it’s going to get Oak I’m only
going to use half the packet of yeast
because there’s a lot of yeast in here
and it for this just doesn’t need it so
I’m going to eyeball
half need three more grains and it’ll be
half there we go that’s half I’m
joking it was more like
12 and my patented folding technique
this is how you can preserve your yeast
okay take the packet fold it from corner
across like that and crease it down then
fold that
across and crease it down then fold that
down
put a piece of tape on it stick in the
fridge it’s good for long long time but
I think we’re going to be making
something else later today with this I
think we are we’re we’re keeping that to
the side for
now all right so we just need a bung and
air lock yes we do so one thing I want
to point out is notice the new fermentor
I think these things are awesome it’s a
1.3 gallon which makes it 5 l or a UK
gallon but for making a 1gallon batch
it’s beautiful because look at how much
room we have that headspace isn’t bad in
primary it’s actually a good good thing
if it starts to foam up or get crazy
it’s probably not going to overflow the
air lock or make a mess and we’ll have a
link to these in the description below
but what are we going to do with this
now we’re going to let it sit probably a
couple weeks when that airlock activity
slows down to just about nothing we’ll
be back to show you the next
[Applause]
[Music]
step time to take a reading as you can
see the airlock really isn’t moving much
at all it’s been like that for a few
days we just haven’t had a chance to get
to it and it’s about to Bubble I did
just move the bottle so you know some
degassing might have caused that it’s
probably a fair bet to say it’s finished
fermenting but we check anyway okay
little bit gassy a little bit cloudy
actually which is sometimes apples does
that if you don’t put pectic enzyme in
sometimes it’ll stay a little cloudy
thankfully it does not affect the flavor
really so plus I don’t know apple cider
being a little cloudy just works for me
we are at 1. so this actually is done
for menting so since we’re going to Oak
and hop this do we want to go ahead and
transfer it and start that process yep
we’re going to start the oaking process
today okay so we’re going to Rack this
what does that mean it means to move it
from this to this and to do do that we
use this which is an auto siphon there
are many ways to do it the auto siphon
is probably the easiest most efficient
way um please whatever you do just don’t
do like the old gasoline trick from a
car where you put your mouth on the end
of the tube that’s probably not a good
idea um but other than that you know
there’s a lot of different ways to get a
siphon going this is just the easiest
you just go like that make sure your
source is higher than your destination
that’s all there is to it okay something
I want to discuss for just a quick
second we had initially racked it into
this container and it only went to about
here this is a 1.3 gallon fermentor this
is a 1gallon fermentor I felt really
uncomfortable with that amount of head
space so we transferred it again which I
know transferring it again we could have
introduced more oxygen but I feel the
risk was worth it because we have so
little head space excuse me we also have
a lot of gas that we see so this is
still de gassing so more than we’re
probably fine we’re okay The Next Step
though is this is supposed to be a
hopped Oak cider so I have French Oak
medium toast from Barrel Charwood
products we’ll put a link below they are
uh a donor sponsor of the show we don’t
actually get anything if you buy from
them but please buy from them because a
he’s a really cool guy and B their stuff
is like the best you’re going to get
what I did though is I had some boiling
water I took the oak stuck it in there
for about 5 minutes I’ll just take it
out with my fingers that’s right I did
it with my fingers cuz the water cooled
down on it and just drop that in my
hands have been in and out of sanitizer
so don’t even worry about it my hands
were clean and we’re going to let that
sit in there with the lid on in the
firman station which is just a a cabinet
we have a new one now I have to do a we
have to do a video on that still
[Music]
anyway and this is going to sit in there
for probably a week maybe two weeks I
want to see how much of that Oak flavor
we get so we’ll be back to do like a
quick little taste on that and then we
move on to the next step
[Applause]
again all right so we put the wood in
this about a week ago and now we got to
take a taste to see is it ready to move
on does the wood need to stay what do we
got to do oh no I’m so sad that we have
to take a
taste that didn’t sound very
convincing oh it smells so good it
really does now this is 1. very
dry it’s just a basic cider um just
apple juice we did change the acid
profile in it so that it would ferment
and it totally fermented fine I think it
needs more wood I I can leave the wood
in there for another week yeah it needs
more tan it can totally yep totally go
with that more wood so we’re going to
leave that in there but next we said
this is a dry hopped Oak right so that
means we need some hops I may say this
wrong so don’t a million people butcher
me in the comments but we’re going to be
using willamet hops about a thousand
people told me that’s how you say it so
that’s how I’m going with it but
shockingly another thousand plus who had
different ideas on how all claimed they
came
fromion I swear half of our viewership
is from that area of the country and
they all say it differently yeah anyway
so what I’m going to do is first I’m
going to use a different container cuz
that’s too heavy hold on so I did some
research on how much to use for dry
hopping I’m not a big hop head so I
don’t want a lot of hops but I want to
add a little bit and the reason I’m
using WT is because it adds a little bit
of a spicy note but it also brings out
fruity and aromatic like flour type
flavors and stuff you also said peppery
peppery too so in a cider that seems to
make sense to me okay so that’s that’s
why we’re using it this time but
normally you use about an ounce for a 5
gallon bag I have to tear it up okay use
about an ounce of hops for a five gallon
batch so because we’re doing one gallon
I need about 5.6 G which is exactly 20%
of 1 o or you can use 2 O which is why
we’re using our tiny tiny scale
yes but 5.6 G is actually more than you
think and that was too
much take some
back 5.68 close enough woohoo now comes
the most critical part of dry hopping
the putting of the Hops into the Brew
it’s absolutely crucial that you do it
exactly like
this
T I’m joking of course you could just
drop them in how long will they stay in
there about a week which works out
really well because we tend to film bru
once a week so in a week we’ll be back
to taste this again and let you know how
it’s
[Applause]
doing okay so this has been sitting for
like a week on the Hops so that makes
two weeks on the wood so we’re just
going to take a quick sample can you
just hold on that just take a quick
sample the Hops obliterated themselves
they are everywhere they’re messy yeah
so just how it is probably going to get
some hops when we taste this interesting
on the smell definitely a little bit of
a hops
character still get the fru though of of
uh actually I’m getting the floweriness
of the Hops coming through it’s actually
quite Pleasant yeah the room is lovely
good give it a shot see what it tastes
like now this is warm and uncarbonated
so
wow that is actually pretty respectable
yeah it’s got the Hops note but it’s not
this is dry yeah yeah normally I’m not
into that kind of thing but this is
actually really Pleasant I
think it I could actually even do with
more I can’t believe I’m going to say
this I could do with more hops character
from it so let it sit
somewhere I’m a little afraid to though
because I don’t really want like a week
I don’t I I no you know what no
nope let’s let’s rack it the reason
being this is a cider and we want to
naturally carbonate this so if we let it
sit too much longer
well we’re going to we’re going to use
Insurance East we are but it’s better to
just let things go at their their normal
Pace yeah I think I think we’re good for
racking this so we are going to Rack
this off the Hops and off of that piece
of wood uh we do have something special
in the way we have to do that this time
so we’ll show you that be back in a sec
this is
cheesecloth this has a lot of small
particles in it and this is an auto
siphon with the capat removed so what
we’re going to do we’re just going to
stuff the auto siphon in there and then
I’m going to hold the cheesecloth by its
Four Corners by its four
corners and then shove it down in there
gently shove it gently and then get it
started because what’s going to happen
now is I can get pretty deep into the
leaves and not suck up a lot of
sediments and um pieces of hops that’s
that’s really what I’m trying to avoid
here now in case you’re wondering yes I
sanitize that piece of oh yeah that’s
why it’s wet it’s it was just dunked in
turbos so as I’m doing this it’s sucking
up a little bit of air as we go which is
not really something you want it’s just
tiny little bubbles but what’s happening
is it’s pulling all those hops out of
the liquid and they’re sticking to it
and causing it to lose suction so I’m
just moving that cheesecloth around a
little bit that’s why we used the whole
bag or the whole piece of cheesecloth
rather than just a little tiny piece I
can maneuver it around and uh find a
clear spot for it to start sucking up
again okay it’s been interact it has an
airlock put back on it there’s not even
a lot of heads space so I’m actually
pretty good about that that that comes
up a lot people ask about head space I
as long as it crosses the shoulders it’s
probably fine if you’re all the way down
here that’s a little too much and you’re
probably going to have an issue or you
could have an issue the issue being
oxidization oxidization at a lower than
10% ABV could turn into a vinegar
situation uh beond be on 10% it’s more
difficult Beyond 15% it’s pretty much
not going to happen also oxygenation can
impart cherik flavors or other
unpleasant flavors which you may want
may or may not be not for this
particular beverage Y and I’m giving
this a little bit of a mix to get some
CO2 out of it Degas it slightly and that
kind of forces some of the oxygen out or
at least displaces some of it so what
are we going to do with this now well we
need to take a note that we just racked
this and what day date we racked it on I
guess so and now because there’s a lot
of stuff that got unsettled in here
we’re going to let this sit clear out
and then we’ll be back to do the next
[Applause]
step okay it’s been another week this is
settled as much as we’re going to let it
settle before we bottle it we want to do
is rack it to a pitcher so that we can
start dissolving our sugar into it so
that it can actually carbonate we’re
going to be using our favorite picture
so that way we have our exact volume so
we know how many bottles we need to
bottle it exactly you’ve seen us rack
things before and if you haven’t we have
a video on that if I wasn’t concerned
about the little bit of lease that might
be in the bottom of this jar we could
just do it right in here but I much
prefer to do it in the picture that way
we have a measurement of it as well as
we know that lease and sediment isn’t in
our bottles so we’re going to do a
couple calculations using the calculator
teacher said I would never have handy
and the first one is our actual ABV so
so this one started at
1.050 and it ended at 1. that means it
used 05 and we’re going to multiply by
131.5 today why because this is a lower
ABV anything below like 8 or 9% I like
to use the 13125 because that’s what it
was really made for anything above that
I like to use 135 cuz it’s a little bit
more accurate gives us
6.56% call that 6.6 with a little bit of
extra from the carbonation because we
are actually going to be putting some
sugar in this and that does actually
ferment and produce a little bit more
alcohol it’s going to be about 7% so I’m
calling it seven the other calculation
that I forgot to do before I put my
phone away is to figure out how many
bottles we’re going to need so right now
we have 116 o it’s going to be more like
118 by the time I add the sugar in so
118 okay so according to my calculations
we need three 12 O bottles and 5 16 oz
bottles okay that will be full bottles
all around okay so now we have our
bottle squared away they’re in turbos
right now getting cleaned up what we
want to do is prep this for carbonation
so what I mean by that is you need some
sugars in order for it to ferment
because carbonation is just a mini
fermentation okay a lot of people don’t
seem to understand that and if you want
to use carbonation drops or whatever
that’s totally fine we just like to do
it all in the pitchure all in the batch
that way it’s all combined together and
everything is the same that way we can
use differ size bottles and not even
have to worry about it by the way
carbonation drops are just sugar that’s
all they really are so I have here 42 g
of sugar which sounds funny because 42
is the answer to the universe and
everything but it’s also 1 and2 ounces
it’s also pretty much the perfect amount
for most of the ciders that we like to
get the amount of effervescence that we
prefer so 42 gram white sugar can you
use other types of sugar like corn sugar
sure we just use plain white sugar now
we mix this is the crucial aspect to
this you want make sure this is mixed up
completely and you don’t want to oxidize
at the same time so being very careful
in how I stir it but I am making sure to
get it all because otherwise I might end
up with one bottle that has more sugar
and another one that has less sugar
another consideration here is I know
someone will ask and it’s a really good
question are we going to pasteurize or
why didn’t we pasteurize this or stop
fermentation some way it’s because we
don’t have to this was already a dry
beverage so it wasn’t going to ferment
more we added 42 grams of sugar just
enough to make the right amount of
carbonation when that stops when it’s
used up it’s done and it’s safe it’s not
going to continue fermenting so we
shouldn’t have any problem with over
pressurizing okay another reason why I
like to use the plastic pitcher can you
hear that I don’t hear any
graininess from
sugar so I know it’s mixed like to just
give it a minute or so to
settle and feel around
not detecting any more
sugar okay next step we’re going to Rack
this into bottles from for that we have
a a video on how to bottle put our
bottling wand on the end of our Auto
siphon put it in the bottles and do that
but just for the sake of expediency
we’ll be back in two
[Applause]
seconds of course right after I shut the
camera off Derica reminds me of
something that I forgot to do and that
is this has been sitting for quite some
time so we don’t really know if there’s
enough viable yeast in there to even
make a fermentation or a carbonation so
rather than take that risk we’re going
to do what I call insurance yeast and it
does make it a little bit messy in the
bottle I understand and I know we went
through all that trouble to keep as much
out as we can well that’s because we
want to keep as much out as we can so
we’re going to have just a little bit
left from the yeast but not as much as
if we didn’t do do it carefully before
right I mean that’s my story and I’m
sticking to it okay so Insurance yeast
is just this I’m using ec118 cuz I
happen to have a partial open packet and
literally just a few grains in there
we’re not looking to build a colony what
we’re looking is to have those yeast
just chew up the sugars that are there
that’s it so just a little bit in every
bottle because if I put it into the
pitcher and try to mix it around it
doesn’t necessarily mix through as
evenly so just a few grains I mean not
much I don’t know if you can even see
that you could probably count the number
of grains
the exact amount isn’t crucial you just
want enough that it’ll work so like an
eighth of a teaspoon or something like
that I mean it’s like minimal okay just
like very very little then we put the
cider in on top of that and then we’ll
be back to show you okay so we have our
bottles if you’re curious as to why I
did it the way I did it I broke it down
so that we didn’t have any partial
bottles which you could just drink that
partial bottle if you want to but I like
to uh carbonate full bottles I know
there’s it’s been explain to me that
it’s really no dangerous to do it that
way but I I’d rather have a full bottle
it’s just a thing so we have some
smaller ones some bigger ones what are
we going to do with these though we’re
going to label them first so that way we
know what the heck we bottled yeah and
then we’re going to put them in what we
like to call our bomb shelter was
basically just a heavyduty plastic tub
with a lid so that way just in case KN
cons simulated wood something goes AR
and something explodes it’ll be
contained within that container rather
than splattered across our area yeah and
making a mess in a dangerous situation
which we don’t really want how long does
it take this is always the tricky part
anywhere exactly that long yeah usually
one to 3 weeks is what I usually
recommend um so you can start checking
them after like two weeks if you really
want to we usually do and when you do
that if you if you release it you are
releasing some of the carbonation just
know that so at home leave it for 3 or 4
weeks and you’re fine because they’re
not going to over carbonate that’s the
thing they’re never going to over
carbonate you can leave just leave them
for 6 months and then come back to them
and they’d be fine for us we want to
give you the uh taste of it as soon as
we can so couple weeks this is only
applicable if your beverage is dry and
you just added enough sugar to carbonate
right if you sweetened it at the same
time that’s a different story a whole
different story we did make a video on
how to uh accomplish that though so you
uh can watch that too but in the
meantime we’ll see you in a couple
[Music]
weeks okay so this has been sitting for
about 3 weeks carbonating and check out
that
carbonation don’t
overflow I would venture to say that
this is the best naturally carbonated
Brew we’ve we’ve done it’s pretty close
I mean we’ve we’ve done some that were
awesome but this this came really it
does have a very slight Haze that’s kind
of interesting to me it smells good
smells like hopped Apple it really does
oh I even get some of the oak smells
like a sweet beer yeah and I haven’t I
haven’t drank yet but I’m actually
really digging these glasses from North
Mountain Supply mhm they gifted us a
huge amount of glasses you could
probably see over there some of them
over there she changed the background
while I wasw and I love glasses so yay
thank you I will make sure to have links
to these for you in the description but
let’s get to this drink shall we
oh
mhm wow it’s pretty much what I expected
it tastes like a
beer it it has a lot of beer like
qualities app beer yeah which you know
Sher we ho I me this is dry obviously
but that’s where the hopping and the
oaking came in to kind of round out
those flavors the carbonation I think
makes this really nice fact that it’s
cold makes it very nice obviously you
wouldn’t drink some it’s
warm that’s that’s just that’s just good
that’s good drinking as ciders
go if you like dry cider you’d love this
cuz this if you like beer too this this
is a great transition from cider to beer
right if you are one of those
unfortunate people that have to forgo
gluten this might be a really great beer
substitute yeah the oak really comes
through nicely it adds adds a little
extra character to
it it’s very crisp and refreshing yeah I
do not miss the sweetness um no I’d like
it a little bit but it’s not that it’s
not I think it would be different yeah
it would change obviously it’ be
different but I think I like this in
this iteration as a crisp dry
refreshing kind of thing and then the
sweet would be a whole different
experience oh there’s only 12 ounces
here we can finish this oh yeah we do
have a couple tastings we got to do but
you know what look at that that’s just
beautiful it does pour gorgeously I’m
not really enhancing the poure at all
like this is just a straight
poure wa tell the glass or anything but
right there’s there is a little goop in
the bottom but that’s that’s power for
the course part of what you get with
stuff like
this it’s also 7% ABV mhm so you know
it’s it’s no lightweight I mean it’s
only a point or two behind some of the
wines we’ve made yeah which is kind of
shocking it doesn’t taste like it I
don’t taste alcohol at all nope there’s
no harshness or anything like that this
would be far too easy to to consume mass
quantities of I think yeah you could
convince people it’s hopped apple juice
and they’d be like oh okay they they
believe
you I I really do think that the
carbonation level is about perfect
because it just kind of dances on your
tongue yeah rather than oh it’s sort of
there no it dances on your tongue it
helps it to go down it adds a little
acidity a little more bite to it this is
L taking that tartness of the
Apple Yeah the more I’m drinking it the
more I’m really enjoying
it okay so this is so much better than I
thought it was going to be I was like oh
no dry hopped oh boy yeah so now I have
to come up with numbers and our first
one is
repeatability I don’t think this is all
that hard to make it it’s like a 9
9.5 cuz it’s just apple cider Oak chips
and hops that we dry hopped and a lot of
that was just done to taste so only
because it’s to taste I’m going to drop
it to an 8.5 to a 9 Y which makes it
very easily in the beginner category if
you’ve ever made a cider before you can
make this yeah I don’t I don’t think
there’s any reason why you couldn’t do
it if we tried to make this sweet that
would have changed the complexity level
completely which is part of why we kept
it dry we wanted it to be very simple
yeah uh I agree with that 100% yep all
right this is this is nice though
carbonation Perfection yeah Clarity it’s
aity is like an eight and a half it’s a
cold glass though so how are you really
going to be able to tell like that it’s
there’s a little Haze sure could we have
used something to clear it maybe like
pectic enzyme or something but there’s
also the complication of natural carbing
process tends to leave goop in the
bottom so I’m not worried about Clarity
is not an issue um it’s it’s clear
enough that people aren’t going to go o
look at that you know it’s not that kind
of I mean look you can see it here let
me let me get my phone and show you just
just to give you an idea see it’s not
100% clear but it’s so close I’m not
worried about it doesn’t bother me Aroma
Perfection I love AR it’s the smell and
taste match that’s that’s something we
need to talk about more often when we’re
doing things the smell and taste
actually match it tells you what you’re
going to get the smell I’m getting more
of the the juicy ripe apple on the aroma
which makes me think it’s going to be
sweeter than what it tastes but the the
crisp bite that you get on the flavor
that you can’t get in the smell cuz how
do you smell that uh I think really
gives you that extra oomph so you don’t
really miss that juicy sweetness that
you I think the hopped Apple enhances
the tartness of Apple I really think it
well yeah cuz hopping bit but it really
brings the Apple flavor forward I didn’t
expect that I I thought the Hops was
going to take over or the oak was going
to take over those of you have have
watched many of our shows probably know
that neither Brian nor I are truly fans
of not aop hopped beverages particularly
over hopped um and for us over hopped
over hopped at all there’s there’s
enough to taste it but it’s not right
but I was concerned hopping at at all we
were going to be
like yep I’ll be honest this was my idea
it was it totally was his idea cuz I
thought this was something that people
have been asking for something like this
and I thought let’s make this a really
simple thing so it’s easy for anybody to
be able to do and I think I think we
succeeded uh for me got give score the
complexity of flavor is enough that I am
happy so it’s not just a one notee type
of thing I’m I’m getting enough uh
interest I think your brother would love
this yeah her brother really likes beer
I think he would love this I think he
would enjoy this so we got to give this
our biased score our how much we like it
Score 1 to 10 11 being reserved for
those things are just
amazing up to like 4.5 is like eh I
probably wouldn’t drink it i’ probably
dump it out 5 to seven is like this is
good 7.5 and up is great to
excellent
so do you have a number I
do okay I’m rating this for what it is
if someone handed this to me I would
guess it as a beer or a cider or a
combination of beer and
cider so that’s where I’m going to kind
of grade this on little bit of a curve
here do you have numbers I
do I think I do I have one in particular
yeah I I I think I’m pretty set on my
number all right one two three eight
whoa I was de debate excuse me I was
debating between 7.5 and eight I wasn’t
sure I put this in the great category
mostly because the the number of flavors
that were melded together to make this
work was a little bit more than some
things but not as much as others
but as a brew this is huge success yeah
I had to boost it to an eight and for me
that is actually a boost i’ I’ve become
incredibly critical I’m not really sure
why it’s just that’s where where I’ve
gone um we were expecting more from our
BR is like a a fullon solid yes sir I
will have another eight is a very good
score now in order to go above eight
it’s got to be really excellent the
reason why I gain this an eight is
because it is exceeding my
expectations I would totally drink this
I would totally pour this in a mug and
drink this there no no qualms about it
and Brian said hey let’s Oak and hop a
cider I was like do we have to yeah I
don’t I don’t know if I actually
verbalized it but I know I thought did
why why would we do that and now I know
why cuz it’s it actually is is really
really nice yeah took a plain old cider
and made it into something special yeah
we could Babble on forever about this
and you know that about us already but
as always guys thanks so much for
watching have a great day byebye
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