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October 16, 2020
Last updated

How to make a Snakebite: Cider and Beer

Owner of Clawhammer Supply
snakebite: cider and beer - how to make

What is a Snakebite Drink?

A snakebite is some combination of cider and stout or lager (or any other type of beer for that matter) layered in the same glass. If done properly, the cider and beer do not mix and remain separated in the same glass.

 

Full Video Recipe

 

Why Does A Snakebite Not Mix?

Snakebites, as well as black and tan beers, do not mix (if poured slowly) so long as they are the same temperature and the densities of the liquids are different. It's basic science, y'all: less dense liquids float on top of more dense liquids. For example, oil (less dense) floats on top of water (more dense) in the same way that the our cider floats on top of the stout we made in our snakebite. This happens because the stout final gravity was 1.014 whilst the cider was only 1.003. Note, it's possible to float stout on top of cider if it is less dense than the cider.

pouring cider with a spoon

In order to pour the cider slowly, we bent a spoon and poured the cider over it

Brewing Homemade Hard Cider

Picking / Buying Apples

We picked about a bushel of a mixture of sweet and tart apples at an apple orchard. We also bought cider apples, which are apples that are bruised, blemished, and not desirable from a display standpoint, but plenty good enough for cider. Bonus, these apples are about half the price of the "you pick" apples.

picking fresh apples

Picking fresh apples

Crushing and Juicing Apples for Hard Cider

We used a standard apple crusher but modified it to accommodate a motor. The motorized apple crusher build video is here. The video lists all of the equipment you will need to make the crusher. This made crushing very easy and is well wort the investment if you are going to be making a lot of cider.

throwing apples into motorized apple crusher

Throwing apples into our motorized crusher

We juiced the apples using a Macintosh Apple Cider Press. There are probably cheaper options out there but the probably aren't as durable as this one. Note, we put the crushed apples into nylon strainer bags before adding to the press which makes managing pulp very easy.

adding apples to press

Adding apples to our press

spinning press

Emmet spinning the press

Chemically treating / Pasteurizing Cider

We opted to chemical treat this batch of cider with potassium metabisulphite as opposed to heat treating it. One or the other needs to be done before fermentation in order to kill natural bacteria and yeast (unless you are trying to make "natural" or "wild" cider, which is a thing). We've heat treated and chemical treated in the past and both work great.

bag of potassium metabisulphite

Your local homebrew shop should carry this

Fermenting Hard Cider

We fermented this particular batch of cider with Lithuanian Farmhouse Yeast from Omega Yeast. It produces a super interesting lemony profile with an incredibly full mouthfeel. We fermented at 66F for about 10 days.

pitching yeast

Pitching our yeast

Brewing An "All Seasons" Stout

This stout is for any time of year. It's an all-purpose, basic, get the job done kind of stout.

Brewing Water

We started with 7.5 gallons of Asheville, NC city water. The only chemistry adjustment that was made was the addition of some gypsum at the start of the mash to get the pH into the correct range. We took a reading with a pH meter and added gypsum until we hit the target, which was roughly 5.2 to 5.4.

Grains and Mash

The grain bill consisted of 6 pounds of pale, 2 pounds of flaked barley and 1 pound of roasted barley. We double crushed and then mashed in the Clawhammer Supply 10 gallon BIAB brewing system at 152F for 60 minutes.

double crushing grain

Pouring grain into our mill to double crush it

mashing in

Mashing in

Boiling and Fermentation

We boiled the stout for 60 minutes and added 2 ounces of Willamette hops at the start of the boil.

adding willamette hops to the boil

Adding hops to the hop basket

After the boil we cooled to pitching temperature and added Nottingham English Ale Yeast.

transferring wort

Transferring wort into a fermentation bucket

pitching nottingham english ale yeast

Pitching Nottingham English Ale Yeast

This beer fermented for a good 10 days. But it didn't ferment down as far as we expected. Final gravity was 1.018, which is probably good because the cider fermented down to 1.002, which is very low. This helped us get quite a nice separation between the two drinks when poured into the same glass.

Tasting

The cider and the stout on their own taste great. High marks to both. Mixing the two together is even better. This was a super fun project and is highly recommended.

drinking finished snakebite

Ross said, "From concept to execution here, we really went the distance Emmet."

If you like this recipe you should check out these other recipes we've made

Honey Cider

Hard Apple Cider

Kyle Brown is the owner of Clawhammer Supply, a small scale distillation and brewing equipment company which he founded in 2009. His passion is teaching people about the many uses of distillation equipment as well as how to make beer at home. When he isn't brewing beer or writing about it, you can find him at his local gym or on the running trail.

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