Cherry Cider

Preface

Brewing is a craft that revolves around on Planning and Sanitation — make sure you have all ingredients and equipment ready and sanitised: this will save you a lot of headaches later on.

However, Brewing is also about Experimentation and Enjoying Yourself. As a wise man once said: Relax. Don't worry. And have a homebrew.

Making Cherry Syrup — [1/4]

Cider Ginger has natural yeasts present on its skin — we'll be cultivating this into a Ginger Bug which we later use to bless ourselves with alcohol. This process will take us two to three days. Don't worry: it's hardly any work at all.

• Fill a mason jar with 500ml of room-temperature water, and add in 25 grams of granulated sugar.
• Use a grater or kitchen knife to couresly grate 25 grams of ginger. Remember to leave the skin on. Add the grated ginger to the mason jar, and use a wooden or plastic spoon to stir.

The Blend — [2/4]

During The Boil we prepare the Wort for The Fermentation Phase by making sure all fermentable materials are mixed well in our liquid.

• Grab a pot that can hold at least 5 liters, and place it on your stove. Pour 3.8 liters of water in the pot, and turn on the stove.
• Add 500 grams of granulated sugar, and peel- and shred around 100 grams of ginger. Add these to the pot too.

The Fermentation — [3/4]

During The Fermentation we use our best friend Saccharomyces Cerevisiae — also known as Brewer's Yeast — to turn the Wort we just created into Beer! For this to happen, two things are crucial: Sanitation and Temperature Control.

• Make sure anything that (indirectly) touches the Wort from now on is sanitised!
• Cool the Wort (in an ice bath, or using a Wort Cooler) until it reaches 21°C.
• Use a Racking Cane to siphon your cooled-down Wort into your sanitised Fermentation Vessel.
• Pitch your Yeast (or Yeast Starter if you are fancy 🎩).
• Aerate (introduce oxygen) the Wort and Yeast by thoroughly shaking the Fermentation Vessel while closing the top.
• Set up a Blow-Off Tube by attaching rubber hose into a sanitised screw-top stopper, and place the other end in a small bowl of sanitiser solution.

• Take off the screw-top stopper, and sanitise- and reassemble it using an airlock filled with sanitiser.
• Sanitise a muslin bag, and add your Centennial hops inside. Lower these in the fermentation vessel.
• Add the final ingredient: 100 ml of Red Beet Juice. This will ensure our brew has that ominous red hue that we're after.
• Finally, add screw-top stopper back on the fermentation vessel, and keep it in a dark place at room temperature for two further weeks.

Bottling — [4/4]

Our final step in this journey. In the Bottling phase we … bottle our brew. For this step, make sure you have sanitised bottles, and a way to close them off (using bottle caps, or swing-top bottles).

• Take off the screw-top stopper from the fermentation vessel, and siphon your (now alcoholic) beer into a sanitised bottling bucket.
• We want our brew to be properly carbonated. This can be done by adding some extra sugar (Priming). Warning: do not overprime your beer, you'll end up with dangerous bottle bombs!
• As a rule of thumb, add ~7.90 g of sugar per liter of homebrew. For this recipe, this means we add a total of 30 grams of sugar to the bottling bucket.
• Allow the sugar to dissolve in the bottling bucket, and siphon your brew from the bucket into your bottles.
• Make sure the bottles are securely shut, and store them in a dark place for one to two weeks. Place them in the fridge the night before you want to enjoy them. Cheers! 🍻

Stats for Nerds

Finally, here are some statistics that brewing nerds would appreciate. Keep in mind these have been measured using homebrewing equipment, and may not be lab-accurate. If you managed to get your hands on a bottle of this brew, we would recommend you experience it using this tasting sheet!

Initial Specific Gravity (OG)	1.060
Final Specific Gravity (FG)	1.012
Alcohol By Volume (ABV)	5.9%
Bitterness (IBU)	0
Colour (SRM)	0
Clarity	Clear