OK here it is finally, how to make sidra / cider after some teasing in a recent post about yeast, and one before that. Had to be sure how to do it. So now you can make your own apple booze at home, or any other fruit!
Makes u realize what cheap shit alcohol actually is. Low cost to produce. But at least its 100% natural ingredients.
Drink your fruits!
Dead easy, even if ur retarded. Easier & quicker than tuak too.
This recipe is based on 12 liters of juice.
1. Get the juice – recommended brand – Berri – which comes in 2.4 liter bottles. So get 5 bottles.
2. Stir in 1kg (one pack) of fine white sugar to some warm apple juice until its dissolved.
3. Pour this and the rest of d juice into a container (an air-tight one, that is, the fermenter).
4. Add in a tablespoon of pounded yeast n stir. Seal the container but create an air-lock.
5. Wait a couple of weeks.
6. Have a party. (& invite me)
Yeast can be bought at Chinese medicine stores. I get mine from Centerpoint, PJ. 6o cents a pop, which is equal to 2 tablespoons. It’s “sweet yeast for Chinese wine”. Aka chao peng.
Yeasts are our friends
The only part that requires a brain is the airlock. If u can buy one, good. Otherwise a crude one that works is a tube running from a created air-tight gap in the top of the air-tight container (the fermenter) into a bottle of water. Co2 produced by the yeast can exit the fermenter into the water via d tube, but O2 and outside air cant go back in. Easy.
Coz if too much air goes in, u could end up with vinegar.
The 'airlock' of the future
After two weeks, sample d shit everyday until it tastes good, and u can feel some alcohol. My last one was bottled at 18 days & tasted dam good.
My fermenter - phat. With airlock (top) & tap (right)
For the fermenter, i used a beer fermenter – a plastic barrel that holds about 25 liters. It comes with an airlock & tap. The other option is a polycarbonate water container, available at Tesco for about 40 bucks, and its perfect. Comes with an airtight cap. Capacity 15 liters.
Great as a fermenter
For that, you’ll need 6 bottles.
Raw booze. About 10 bucks for 2.4 liters
Just punch a tight-fitting hole in the rubber cap for the outlet tube / airlock. Seal any gap around the hole with some shit, like Blu Tack or silicone. It comes with a tap, so u can easily sample d shit.
Plan B
A quicker, low-quantity method is using a bottle instead of a barrel. All u need is..
A funnel & balloons
Pour any fruit juice that is preservative-free into a bottle – glass / plastic. Add like 8-10 spoons of sugar via the funnel & mix well. Add a quarter teaspoon of yeast & mix. Seal the bottle mouth with a balloon over it, and you’re practically done. Takes five minutes.
After a few days, the balloon will inflate. Good. It means the fuckin yeasts are doin their job. Use a needle to stab a hole – as tiny as possible. CO2 will escape slowly from d bottle, but no O2 will go in.
About 2 weeks later, u got booze. Filter the booze thru a strainer to strain out the yeast sediments & foam, then drink!
Trillions of yeasts workin their butts off, creating a whole lotta CO2 that races to the top (pix taken after 5 days)
I guess since bottles dont have taps, u cant really test. Its ok to remove the balloon occasionally to taste-test d brew, but do it too often, u might end up with fucking vinegar.
Collection of juices being fermented - mango, orange, mixed fruits
When the brew is ready, bottle them, preferably in plastic bottles to avoid glass bottles explosions, and close the cap air-tight.
Its basically ready-to-drink. Place in fridge so that the fermentation ends. Cold temperature makes yeast chillout n stop working. The brew might even go clear after a few days. But murky is fine!
If u’d like more fizz, pour into a plastic bottle, add a teaspoon or two of sugar and close the bottle cap. The yeast will feed on the sugar and release CO2. Coz the cap is sealed, the CO2 cant escape & will get absorbed into the drink, makin it fizzy. (Yeasts r freaks dat dont need oxygen to survive.) After a day to two, u can test, then place in fridge. I suggest u store & reuse the apple juice bottles, but rinse them before u store, or the little remaining juice makes the bottles go moldy inside after awhile.
Release some air if the bottle looks like its gonna pop.
So there will still be yeast in the sidra when u drink. Its fine. Good for health. B-complex & protein.
Plastic bottles are preferred if u plan to add more sugar at the end, and seal the cap for fizz, coz the pressure build-up in glass bottles can cause them to explode. Throw them at the cops i guess.
Hmm. Maybe for the next protest.
The most important thing to remember – hygiene. Everything has to be sanitized (washed with soap) just before u start. Your hands, the utensils, the bottles, the fucking balloons, the fermenter, the goddam caps. And no chemicals. Yeast can die on contact with soap, so make sure u rinse all d soap off. Everything has to be natural.
And no, u wont go blind, unless u add methanol to your brew.
More yeast = faster process. More sugar = more alcohol. More yeast AND more sugar? Try n lemme know.
There are lots of resources online, like this. Plan to make chocolate wine, but dont know yet where to get preservative-free chocolates.
Anyway, there it is! Fruit juice + sugar + yeast and u got it made.
If ur cheap-ass, sugary water + yeast does the job too!
Enjoy!
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