Making Ice Cider at Home

[@snail415]

Chip’s back in the groove. Thanks to everyone who supports his passion.

[@ChopAndBrew]

I'm in the zone!!!!

[@ngaese]

Ohh yeah Chip thank you. Shout out from Quebec! Fun fact I used to be the neighbor of La Cidrerie du Minot in Hemmingford, a small town 5 minutes drive from the New York state border. Lovely place, wide open apple orchards all over the region and it's about an hour south of Montreal. The love for cider is very much a French-Quebecer affair and it dates back to when French settlers first brought apple trees as seeds from France to Canada and it has since been not only one of our biggest crops but also I most iconic Libation. I also learned cider and apple wine making while living on orchards as a kid, and living in Montreal you can literally buy cider anywhere at any convenience and grocery store. Cheers chip and thanks again!

[@ChopAndBrew]

Thanks for the great comment/info.

[@NilesBlackX]

I love how chill these guys are. I feel like hanging out with them would be really enjoyable.

[@ChopAndBrew]

Thanks! The ice cider certainly helps increase the chill factor.

[@donosborn]

"It's everything-ier." If I had ever heard of Ice Cider I thought it was more like Eis Cider and where you freeze the already-fermented cider to remove ice/water and thus increase the alc content. I had no idea it was doing this. Very interesting. Also, some alcohol appears to have been harmed in the filming of this episode. :) Great stuff.

[@poisonpotato1]

donosborn you mean applejack?

[@donosborn]

@@poisonpotato1 I don't really know what that is but if it's the idea of freezing a fermented beverage and removing ice, then maybe I guess?

[@Kapucino2]

Thanks for the video. I'm starting my batch in 2 days. Still not sure which yeast to use. I'd probably decide after measuring the gravity of concentrated juice.

[@Kapucino2]

Ended up with 4.5 liters of 27 brix concentrate. not too shabby. Going with 2nd batch and will stop collecting earlier and maybe concentrate part of the 1st batch 2nd time to reach 28+. I'm probably going with UCLM 325 yeast. There's very little info on this style. especially regarding the yeast. And there's limited selection of yeast in my country, mostly under different brands than i see on brewing forums.

[@JeremyArnone]

That is a sick brew-house Jeremy Olsen! Very interesting; love learning about new/different styles! Thanks Chip.

[@ChopAndBrew]

We are definitely hoping to get back to his place for an actual brew day episode. We didn't get to show off any of that awesome equipment down there!

[@JeremyArnone]

@@ChopAndBrew Cannot wait, that would be a great episode too

[@jeremyolsen]

Looks like ChopAndBrew will have to be back soon for an electric brewing video. I better get to cleaning so it looks halfway presentable and organized.

[@alexweedon1601]

Love this episode. Learned a ton. I want to do this. But man that's a complex process.

[@Silverholic]

I have to try this! Ice cider tastes so good, I did not know you could make it at home! Of course it's really expensive to make, having the volume reduced so much but for special occasions, this is like the king of alcools IMO.

[@ChopAndBrew]

Agreed, it is a special beverage for sharing and celebrating.

[@jamesd.wheeler6190]

very interesting! I have been making cider, beer , mead, wine for 27 yrs and only knew of ice wine. I have to try this ! Thanks Go Vikes!

[@jeremyolsen]

Great game against the Packers last week

[@jamesd.wheeler6190]

@@jeremyolsen It sure was Jer I ordered ingredients for a cider/mead from inspiration from this vlog. Cheers!

[@Rob-hw5wr]

where do you get the equipment to add pure oxygen?

[@ChopAndBrew]

I have this Oxygenation Kit at home that comes with a wand and sintered stone. You hook this up to a small (or large) tank of pure oxygen (O2) and let it buble through wort, cider, mead, etc. to aerate it and help your yeast be more healthy and strong during fermentation. I almost always do that before fermentation, and for bigger beers or beverages I might give it another blast 24 hours after fermentation begins. Help this helps! www.northernbrewer.com/products/oxygenation-kit

[@aaron5222]

I feel like my cider world has been changed for the best

[@boymeetswort4375]

So much great information here! Great job Chip and Jeremy! Thanks for providing all the notes and details on ChopandBrew.com as well! We'll def be taking another crack at ice cider this winter! Cheers!

[@MereCashmere]

How long is the ferment for these?

[@ChopAndBrew]

According to Jeremy's recipe (linked in description): "Primary fermentation: 60° F for 60 days. Primary fermentation is complete when it reaches a stable final gravity."

[@MikeP350]

Interesting, I have only heard of freeze concentrating post fermentation. I wonder how this would turn out with wort.

[@ChopAndBrew]

Woooooahhhhh!

[@nathanhassey4724]

Chip, lets see some of your experimental brew days. I miss those. Cheers!

[@ChopAndBrew]

Aye aye. I got some brew video from this year on deck. What kind of stuff do you want to see for the future?

[@comesahorseman]

Thanks for posting!

[@superbrookdonnon]

I found myself with the same problem of having too much Potassium Sorbate and Sodium Benzoate in my store bought cider after freezing it and collecting the run off. My cider won't even start, how exactly did Jeremy bubble CO2 thru it?

[@manatoa1]

I'd be interested to see what the leftover ice would do as water in a beer or mead recipe.

[@CraftBeerPours]

Excellent stuff! Cheers

[@BigEdsGuns]

Very nICE cider video. I learned a lot.

[@ChopAndBrew]

We did, too. Dr. Ice Cider is a great resource. Stay nICE!

[@NoshwithTash]

Holy cow. I want this!!!

[@dicktophone4184]

Wonder if frozen apple juice concentrate would work for this

[@ChopAndBrew]

Not sure. I'll ask the good doctor.

[@jeremyolsen]

There was an article in BYO sometime in the last year about this. While it'll technically work, I doubt you'll really get the depth of flavors you would get from freeze concentrating the actual juice.

[@donosborn]

@@jeremyolsen got ya. I'm sure you would not get the same result but if someone was curious to give it an initial try it's nice to know if it would be an option. I got BYO for like 15 years and then stopped...

[@SimpleHomeBrew]

Very nice.....

[@TheSireverard]

Immediately makes me wonder if you could start with frozen concentrated apple juice like you would use to backsweeten. What do you think?

[@donosborn]

Hmm. Wonder how it would ferment. You could let it thaw completely, bring up to room temp, and take a gravity reading. That would be the first question. Then it could be dilluted to the desired OG. But yeah that would be a fairly cheap (probably) way to make a gallon of the stuff.

[@jeremyolsen]

See the reply above

[@TheSireverard]

@@jeremyolsen I agree on a room-temp gravity reading of the FCAJ, but I don't think I would dilute. If anything I think you'd need to concentrate. Typically, it's a 3 parts water to 1 can of concentrate to dilute for drinking, and your ciders were 8:1.5, rather than 4:1, but it might be close. Something 1130 or higher is a good starting point?

[@jeremyolsen]

Eddie Rowe 1.130 is a good starting gravity. I don’t know the the Brix of frozen apple juice concentrate is. I use a digital refractometer so it has temperature correction built it.

[@TheSireverard]

Just measured gravity of frozen concentrate after thawing and bringing to room temp. 1.180!

[@poisonpotato1]

Is ice mead a thing?

[@ChopAndBrew]

I sure as heck hope so! Wiki says there is something called "honey jack." : O en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mead

[@faizanrana2998]

Koobec is so cool

[@martin.m4306]

ummm, this isnt a new style, it's just unfinished applejack

[@jeremyolsen]

The difference is that this is freeze concentrating the sugars and flavor prior to fermentation. Applejack is freeze distilling an already fermented cider. The flavors are completely different.

[@ArmyGray]

Similar but different process than Applejack. Ice wine concentrate is pre-fermentation. Applejack is post-fermentation. It's going to give you two totally different products. I would personally never stop concentrating Applejack at 9%.