Step 1. Prep the Fermenter.

Carefully cut a flap on the top of the water jug with sharp knife and pour out the water. *Make some sun-tea with the water so you don’t waste it!” Let the water jug air dry in a clean place. If you immediately remove the water before starting the cider, there is no need to clean the inside of the jug. It will be sterile already.

Step 2. Add the Juice.

Shake up the unfiltered apple juice and pour it into the fermenter. Make sure you get all of the sediment in the bottle. That’s the good stuff!

Step 3. Add Nutrients.

Add 1/2 teaspoon of yeast nutrient.

Step 4. Add Campden Tablets: (Sulfites)

Crush one campden tablet in a ziplock bag with hammer into a VERY fine powder. Make sure the tablet is completely powdered and there are no tiny chunks left. Pour the powdered tablet into the juice and give it a quick stir to mix the sulfites well Be careful not to whip too much oxygen in it when you stir. Cover the top of the fermenter with a clean towel and let it rest for 24hrs.

Step 5. Inoculate with Yeast.

Once the cider has rested for at least 24hrs from the time campden tablets were added, pour in your packet of wine yeast. DO NOT SIR. Wine yeast like temperatures between 65-80 degrees. Keep it on the warmer side when introducing the yeast to the cider and then move it to a cooler area to keep the temperature lower while it actively ferments. If the temperature is too cold, the yeast will shut down. If the temperature is too warm, the fermentation will become stressed out and you can blow off delicate aromas.

Step 6. Ferment the Cider.

Fermentation can take as little as 24hrs or as long as a few weeks. Give the jug a gentle shake twice a day to slosh around the must (juice). The yeasts strains I suggested are all fast fermenters so I would expect the average fermentation time to be between 2-4 days. Without using a tool called a hydrometer, there is really no way to tell how far along the cider is fermenting so you will need to taste it regularly. When the cider is still actively fermenting (bubbling) but tastes very dry, then it is time to bottle. This part of the process is where it can get tricky. Bottle too soon, and you might have an a mini version of old faithful spewing out of the bottle, bottle too late and your cider won’t have any sparkle (We can fix that:).

Step 7. Prep the Bottles.

Rinse bottles in a solution of 16 crushed Camden tabs per gallon of hot water. Do not rinse off after soaking in the campden-water solution. Let the bottles air dry. This will keep them in an acidic state. USE GLOVES!!!

Step 8. Bottling.

If your cider is dry but still has bubbles, proceed to bottling the cider in the sterilized swivel top bottles using the spout on the water jug. Do not stir the cider before bottling. The sediment on the bottom of the jug is called “Lees” and you want to leave as much of that sediment on the bottom of the jug as possible.

Step 9. Priming with Sugar. *Skip this step if you bottled the cider while it was still fizzy. This is only if your cider has gone completely flat before bottling.

If the cider has fermented so fast that it’s gone completely dry and still and you don't see any bubbles left, add back 1/4 cup minus one tablespoon of granulated sugar to the cider. Stir it well and bottle after 20min to allow the lees to settle down. The added sugar will make the cider re-ferment in the bottle and make it carbonated again. *It will also slightly raise the ABV

Step 10. Let it Rest.

Once bottled, leave the cider in a climate controlled room around 70-75 degrees for 2-3+ weeks. The longer you leave it, the better and more clear it will become. I would recommend to keep this in a covered box/safe place. It’s possible that the tops can blow off the cider if they were bottled too soon so be careful!

Step 11. Drink it!

If you made it this far, you should have a delicious Pét Nat cider that is ready to chill and drink! The alcohol by volume should be somewhere between 5-7%ABV! Cheers!!

Pét Nat Apple Cider

Ingredients

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