Bineta Applebum Hopped Cider

Story: My first hopped cider experiment, which turned out to be a success. Not “experimental” in the sense that no one is doing it, but experimental in the sense that I just winged it without bothering to do any research on how they are doing it. I just did my thing. It was easy to brew and came out refreshing. ‘Nuff said.

I brought a pint of the juice to a boil, then turned off the heat and added a half-ounce of Cascade and yeast nutrient. I steeped this mixture for as long as it took me to sanitize the fermenter and pour the rest of the juice into it. Once the bulk of the juice was in the fermenter, I added the hot hopped juice and pitched the yeast.

The name is a reference to the song “Bonita Applebum” off the first album by A Tribe Called Quest, but spelled B-I-N-E for bine, like a hop bine … get it?

Fermentables:

• 2 gal unfiltered apple juice (Trader Joe’s Honeycrisp Apple Cider)

Hops:

• 0.5 oz Cascade (7.1% AA) at flameout
• 0.5 oz Cascade (7.1% AA) – dry hop for 7 days

Yeast: Mangrove Jack’s Burton Union Yeast (M79)

OG: 1.046

FG: 0.996

ABV: 6.6%