Brewing a Crabapple Cider with Apple Juice

sugar

🥗Healthier: honey

💰Cheaper: agave syrup

Honey adds sweetness with additional flavor.

cinnamon

🥗Healthier: cinnamon sticks

💰Cheaper: ground cinnamon

Ground cinnamon is more accessible and easier to use.

vanilla extract

🥗Healthier: vanilla bean

💰Cheaper: vanilla essence

Vanilla essence offers a budget-friendly flavor alternative.

Rinse the crabapples in a large tub of water.

Use a breel juicer to extract juice from the crabapples, resulting in a chunky juice with foam.

Pour the juice through a small metal sieve to remove foam and clarify the juice as much as possible.

Add approximately 15.5 liters of crabapple juice to a large pot.

Add 18 liters of store-bought apple juice to the pot.

Add 7 liters of filtered water to the mixture.

Heat the mixture to pasteurization temperature (around 130°F or 54°C).

Skim off any remaining foam from the surface of the juice.

Add whole crabapples to the pot for additional flavor and color, without cutting them.

Cover the pot and let the mixture steep for 2.5 to 3 hours at the pasteurization temperature.

After steeping, fill two carboys with the mixture, leaving behind any solids.

Prepare a solution of pectic enzyme by boiling 100 mL of filtered water and dissolving 4 teaspoons of pectic enzyme in it.

Add approximately 50 mL of the pectic enzyme solution to each carboy before adding yeast.

Aerate the mixture in the carboys for about a minute to introduce air.

Rehydrate the Mangrove Jax cider yeast in 150 mL of water before pitching it into the carboys.

Cooking Techniques

Equipment Needed

Spice Level:

Dietary