This year I made two kegs using Wyeast 3068 yeast. Both came out really good. Its Kay’s favorite recipe. The last batch was the first keg to float at the St Patricks/Solstice party. Although its made with a hefe yeast, it tastes nothing like a hefe. As ciders go, its very big and fruity, but not overly sweet. It doesn’t require much aging, so it’s a good one to make if you want something you can drink soon.
Ingredients:
5 3/4 gallons fresh pressed cider apples (for 5 gal keg)
18oz organic cane sugar, 9 oz dextrose (starting from OG 1.050 – use enough to bump OG to 1.060)
1/8tsp potasium metabisulfate (optional)
Wyeast 3068 hefe yeast
Stats:
O.G. – 1.060
F.G. – 1.015 to 1.030 (to taste)
Alcohol - sneaky
Instructions:
Find some good fresh pressed juice, preferably unpasteurized or UV pasteurized. I used a blend of Staymans and Winesaps for the first batch and Yorks and Fujis for the second batch. Some people have reported decent results with store bought juice, which I’m not too crazy about, but if you don’t want to wait till Fall, you might want to give it a shot. If you get the store bought stuff, make sure it doesn’t have preservatives in it.
For unpasteurized juice, add 1/8tsp (half the recommended dose) of k-meta and wait 24 hours. If the juice is really fresh and the press is spotlessly clean, you can skip this step.
Add enough sugar to bump the sg to 1.060. I use a mix of 2/3 organic cane sugar (light turbinado) and 1/3 dextrose, because that tastes the most like apple sugar, but plain white sugar is pretty close. If you have a better bottle carboy, you can roll it around on the floor to mix the sugar.
Pitch the yeast – Pour it in and roll the carboy around some more. No starter needed. I usually smack the pack a couple of hours before I add the sugar so it will be ready by the time I’m finished with the sugar.
Put a blow-off tube on the carboy. Ciders don’t usually need a blowoff tube, but the 3068 does. It produces a lot of soapy bubbles if left on its own. Put the other end of the blowoff tube in at least 9 inches of water to increase the pressure inside of the carboy, so foam doesn’t start coming up the tube
Let sit in a cool (~60 degrees) place for 2-3 weeks
When the ferment starts slowing down, start checking the SG and check the taste. I stopped the first batch at 1.030 and the last batch at 1.020. That sound sweet, but it doesn’t taste that way because the 3068 accentuates the citric acid in the juice. If you let ferment all the way out it will taste like getting punched in the head with a lemon. If that happens, you will need to let it age a long, long time for the citric acid to mellow out.
When you’re happy with the taste, rack the cider off the lees. I’ve been able to stop the ferment with 3068 by just racking. You’ll still get some bubbles, but that is likely malolactic fermentation – the SG shouldn’t drop. If it does, you might need to cold crash (chill it to near freezing, wait a couple days for the yeast to drop and then carefully rack the juice off the top)
Keg it, carb it up to 25 psi for at least a couple days, preferably a week and drink
Hefe Cider