Recent content by jayott

You should be able to get it out after you have transferred your cider to a bottling bucket by filling your carboy with water.

Potassium sorbate is not a problem if you make a starter AND cut it with non sorbated juice AND not use sulfites. Typically orchard juice fermented alone is thin (one dimensional), so other juice is necessary unless the proper blend of apples is pressed with maybe the exception of Winesap...

Don't use bread yeast. If cheap is your goal, at the very least, culture yeast either from apple skins, or raisins, Raisins and water alone can make a halfway decent wine when allowed to ferment from the yeast already present. Instead of bread yeast, many bakers use yeast from raisins and...

Ferment another batch using different kind of apple juice and mix with the previous one.

This looks like Virginia Creeper. If so, then the berries are poisonous to humans.

Here's a recipe that calls for a little bit of citrus for balance when the proper apples cannot be obtained. I haven't tried this yet. http://www.urbanpeasantsf.com/events/2009/04-fermentedbev/hard_cider.pdf

The purpose of pasteurizing in individual bottles is to allow for carbonation AND some sweetness. If you bulk pasteurize you can add sugar, but if carbonation is desired, you will have to do it artificially since pasteurization kills yeast.

I would cut your three pounds of buckwheat honey to just one pound or maybe a pound and a half.

Yes, it will clear in the primary. However, if you don't rack to a secondary, it is likely that (apart from filtration) you would stir up the sediment on the bottom of the primary. If that stuff gets into your cider, it tastes bitter or will even possibly contribute other off flavors. The...

I threw a small handful of dried cranberries in a one gallon test batch, fermented to dry them primed with 1/4 cup sugar. In lieu of the right balance of dessert, bittersweet, bittersharp and sharp apples, I think cranberries are the answer since they contain quinic acid, which is tannic, malic...

What kind of apples did you juice? What methods of sanitation did you use? Did you use campden tabs to kill wild bacteria and wild yeast , etc.? True vinegar (acetic acid) is produced by a particular microbe, with in the air, juice, or equipment. Air cannot be a a avoided, and if the...

Approximately 80 pounds of apples will yield 5 gallons of juice. That's just under 2 bushels.

If you are careful, you can carbonate with dry ice.