Okay, so check this out. I decided to try making apple cider “beer” that’s gluten-free. I know, sounds kinda weird, but I was bored and had some apples lying around.
First, I gathered my stuff. Apples, obviously. I used a mix of whatever I had – some Galas, some Fujis, you know. Then I grabbed some champagne yeast (figured it’d give it a nice fizz), some pectic enzyme to help clear things up, and some yeast nutrient to keep the little guys happy. Oh, and some Star San to sanitize everything!
Next up: making the cider. I washed and chopped the apples, then threw them in my juicer. Got about a gallon of juice. It was kinda pulpy, but I wasn’t too worried. If you don’t have a juicer you can blend the apples with water and strain through cheesecloth, but that is a real pain to do, trust me.
Then I poured the juice into my sanitized carboy. I added the pectic enzyme and the yeast nutrient, gave it a good swirl, and let it sit for about 24 hours. This gives the enzyme time to do its thing and break down the pectin, so the cider will be clearer in the end.
The next day, I pitched the yeast. I rehydrated it in a little bit of warm water first, just to wake it up. Then I poured it into the carboy, popped on an airlock, and stuck it in a dark corner of my basement. That corner stays pretty cool.
Now, the waiting game. I let it ferment for about two weeks. I checked on it every few days, and it was bubbling away like crazy. After two weeks, the bubbling slowed down a lot, so I figured it was done.
Then it was time to bottle it. I added some priming sugar (corn sugar, to be exact) to give it some fizz, and then I carefully siphoned the cider into beer bottles. Capped ’em up, and let them sit for another couple of weeks to carbonate.
Finally, the moment of truth! I chilled a bottle, popped it open, and… it was actually pretty good! It was dry, a little tart, and definitely fizzy. It didn’t taste exactly like beer, of course, but it was a nice, refreshing, gluten-free alternative.
Lessons Learned? Maybe use a different kind of yeast next time to get a bit more “beer-like” flavor. Also, filtering the juice before fermenting might make it even clearer. But overall, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. I will definitely be doing this again.