I've always wanted to make home brew,
but I don't want to do a lot of work, so I became really interested
when I came upon Sandor Katz's recipe for quick and easy hard apple
cider in his book, Wild Fermentation. I bought a gallon of apple
cider from the Libertyville farmers market. I made sure that the
cider had no preservatives. I put the plastic jug on my kitchen
counter, took the lid off, and covered the top with a single layer of
cheesecloth, which I held down with a rubber band. Then I waited.
Since I capture yeast for my sourdough bread starter from the air in
my kitchen, I figured that the same good guy yeasts would start to
grow in the cider. I took a taste of the cider every day to monitor
the progress. During the first few days the cider was still sweet,
but definitely had some alcohol and some fizz. I knew that the yeast
was alive and well, eating the sugars in the cider and creating
alcohol and carbon dioxide. As the days went on, the cider became
more alcoholic and less sweet. On the sixth day I capped the cider
and stopped fermentation by putting it in the fridge, where the cold
temperature stops the yeast from working. It's important not to let
the fermentation go too long, because if you do, the cider will turn
sour.
Is the cider good? Take a look at the
photo. I started with the full gallon, and now it's about one half
gone, so it's obvious that I like it.
