Simple cider from store-bought juice

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paint_it_black

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Okay, so I've been reading a lot of posts in the forum here, but nothing has straight-forwardly answered my question of whether you can make a decent cider out of store-bought juice and not much else.

Basically, I'm looking at buying some store-bought apple juice, adding enough dextrose to get the OG up to about 1.60, pitch a dry ale yeast, let it ferment out to about 1.01-1.015. Does that work?

Specific questions:
- Is pastuerised juice okay?
- Do I need pectic enzyme?
- Is Safale 04 alright? Or do I want Nottingham?
- When adding sugar, do I want to add it in a water solution (like when bottle priming), or just mix it straight in with the juice?
- Does the juice need to be boiled or have anything done to it before yeast pitching, or just dump it in the carboy?

As a side-note, the ciders I'm used to and like are the standard British Magners or Strongbow. So that's more or less my goal (though I realise using store-bought apple juice instead of proper fresh-pressed apples specifically for cider can only get me so close...)
 
1) yes, as is absorbic acid (vitamin C). you want to avoid anything with sulfites as it will make it harder for the yeast to do their thing
2) not if you don't heat
3) yes; 04, 05, or notty all work well
4) nah; you can add it to a half empty bottle of juice and shake to dissolve
5) nope; straight into the carboy

Keep in mind; this will ferment dry as the yeast is capable of ~10%+ ABV. If you want it to be 1.010-1.015, you either need to stop it (hard to do), or stablize and backsweeten to your taste
 
This sounds an awful lot like Apfelwin, you might want to try a quick search for apfelwin btw.

Anyway AZ_IPA has got it right. I actually have used Lavin KV-1116 with great success with pasteurized apple juice with added dextrose to end with OG = 1.065. The 1116 stops naturally around 1.010 for me which is perfect for my taste, sweet and kinda dry.

Anyway
1) Yes ascorbic acid is okay. Avoid anything else. No Name apple juice not from concentrate works for me.
2) No you don't even need it if you heat it.
3) 04, 05, notty, 1116
4) I boil my dextrose/sugar in a small pot with some apple juice, it works fine.
5) Just dump the rest of your juice in a carboy, do you self a favour and use a funnel.
 
one question form me that wasn't answered i dont think , my first cider will be hopefully today, but you all said if you heat up the juice you dont have to add pectic enzyme, heat to what ?? a boil ? and then kill the heat.
 
This sounds an awful lot like Apfelwin, you might want to try a quick search for apfelwin btw.

A couple years ago I looked into Apfelwein and Graff, and what I read on the main Graff post was that Apfelwein takes a long time to age and get to a point of drinkability, so I made the Graff instead. Haven't done anything cider-related since.

Is it true that Apfelwein takes a lot of aging? Because I want this stuff to be ready to drink for the Fall/winter seasons, preferably by the end of October/early November.
 
one question form me that wasn't answered i dont think , my first cider will be hopefully today, but you all said if you heat up the juice you dont have to add pectic enzyme, heat to what ?? a boil ? and then kill the heat.

No reason to heat at all.

A couple years ago I looked into Apfelwein and Graff, and what I read on the main Graff post was that Apfelwein takes a long time to age and get to a point of drinkability, so I made the Graff instead. Haven't done anything cider-related since.

Is it true that Apfelwein takes a lot of aging? Because I want this stuff to be ready to drink for the Fall/winter seasons, preferably by the end of October/early November.

It's all personal taste. I can actually enjoy Ed's apfelwein at ~6 weeks. At 1+ year I absolutely love it. I know people that have spit out 18 month old apfelwein.

Young, it's (to me at least) a really dry, tart, white "wine" taste. At 1+ year, it's a more mellow, appley, almost champagne taste.
 
This does sound like Apfelwein, and it does take time. I recently learned the value of patience with it. I bottled some in February and did not care for the taste. Six months later, I pulled a bottle out of the garage and was stunned at how good it was.
 
No reason to heat at all.



It's all personal taste. I can actually enjoy Ed's apfelwein at ~6 weeks. At 1+ year I absolutely love it. I know people that have spit out 18 month old apfelwein.

Young, it's (to me at least) a really dry, tart, white "wine" taste. At 1+ year, it's a more mellow, appley, almost champagne taste.

Yeah, it's just, I want something akin to *cider*, and neither the early age dry white wine, or the older apple champagne taste are what I'm looking for.
Is this approach of mine not going to turn out like cider?
 
What most people refer to as "cider" (as in commercial hard ciders) is actually a type of malt beverage...

Someone correct me if I'm wrong....
 
What most people refer to as "cider" (as in commercial hard ciders) is actually a type of malt beverage...

Someone correct me if I'm wrong....

I don't think so man... I've never heard of there being malt involved with cider (except for that "Graff" recipe found here on HBT). And not like Wikipedia is the definitive source of knowledge, but they don't mention anything like that here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cider

It's possible what is commonly sold as "cider" in the US is somewhat different, and could involve malt for all I know. *shrug*
 
I know the true definition of cider is fermented apple juice...I just thought that some producted labeled as cider many not be - kinda like how mike hard lemonade is not really anything close to what you'd get from fermented lemonade...

Though, I'm not sure that what you're looking for is true cider, as you did state that the flavor of apfelwein is not what you're looking for...but that's what you get when you take apple juice, and add sugar and yeast.

I'm not familar with the names of cider you mentioned in the first post; so I'm no longer of any help here. :eek:
 
I did this and was ok but Apple juice will ferment very dry and with out me adding any sugar it tasted more like white wine while only fermenting to about 6% abv.
 
I did this and was ok but Apple juice will ferment very dry and with out me adding any sugar it tasted more like white wine while only fermenting to about 6% abv.

Hmm, okay. Do you think this could be fixed by racking to a secondary, leaving as little yeast in as possible, and adding sugar to that? Or would I have to somehow pasteurise the carboy's contents, then rack and sweeten? Or would that even help?
 
Anyway AZ_IPA has got it right. I actually have used Lavin KV-1116 with great success with pasteurized apple juice with added dextrose to end with OG = 1.065. The 1116 stops naturally around 1.010 for me which is perfect for my taste, sweet and kinda dry.

i have used that yeast a lot, especially good for meads, but the alcohol tolerance is 18% and unless your fermentation stalls, it should take it to dead dry everytime.
 
i have used that yeast a lot, especially good for meads, but the alcohol tolerance is 18% and unless your fermentation stalls, it should take it to dead dry everytime.

Just did two batches back to back using No Name Apple Juice - Not from concentrate with added dextrose.
Batch 1: OG 1.064, FG = 1.010
Batch 2: OG 1.065, FG = 1.010

I think the yeast has a hard time finishing dry with the apple juice for some reason. I plan to try it with a mead soon though.
 
I just recently started my first batch of cider using store bought juice. I used 2 gallons of Whole Food's 100% Apple Juice and split a packet of Safale-04 between the two. The one on the left I just pitched the yeast and it had an OG of 1.049. The other has 1/4 cup dark brown sugar added and had an OG of 1.055. I think I might try to halt fermentation somewhere below 1.01 to try and keep some sweetness. I'm not sure what to do about bottling yet. My initial thought is to bottle with corn sugar to carb, then try to pasteurize.

image-2204187042.jpg
 
Just did two batches back to back using No Name Apple Juice - Not from concentrate with added dextrose.
Batch 1: OG 1.064, FG = 1.010
Batch 2: OG 1.065, FG = 1.010

I think the yeast has a hard time finishing dry with the apple juice for some reason. I plan to try it with a mead soon though.

i believe you, i just don't understand why. i use this juice for a weak cyser (4.5 gal's AJ, 5 pounds honey) that comes in around 11% and dry as a bone. it's also a great yeast for dry white wines. pretty sure i have used it for regular cider before and i don't like sweet or semi sweet, i like it dry. just bought about 30 packets for this cider season, so i will need to go back through my notes and look a little closer.
i would be seriously concerned that it would for restart at some point because pretty much all yeast should be able to dry apple juice down as it is nearly all fermentable sugars.
are you using nutrient?
 
i believe you, i just don't understand why. i use this juice for a weak cyser (4.5 gal's AJ, 5 pounds honey) that comes in around 11% and dry as a bone. it's also a great yeast for dry white wines. pretty sure i have used it for regular cider before and i don't like sweet or semi sweet, i like it dry. just bought about 30 packets for this cider season, so i will need to go back through my notes and look a little closer.
i would be seriously concerned that it would for restart at some point because pretty much all yeast should be able to dry apple juice down as it is nearly all fermentable sugars.
are you using nutrient?

I am also using 1116 in a cyser (5 gallons local pressed apple juice with 5.5 lbs of local honey), I haven't checked the FG yet but I will report back on that one. I think my OG was 1.080 but I am not exactly sure.

I really don't understand it finishing so soon either, but I'm not complaining, it stopped when I wanted it too. Also not to worried about a spontaneous fermentation restart... I have one batch in a keg and the other batch is just sitting in secondary for a long time. Also I added campden and k-meta bisulphite to put those yeasties to bed.

Additionally: Yes I used nutrients in my ciders. I used nutrients and energizer in my cyser.
 
Generally the only time you would heat the must/cider is if you are "bottle pasteurizing" so that it can be stored without refrigeration ... this is heating done after bottling and is quite specific ... there is a sticky note on this.

In general, cooking or "boiling" the juice changes the flavor of the cider and you would not want to do it.

As far as the pectic enzyme addition with regard to heat ... it is used IF you intend to heat/boil/cook a wine must.
You run the risk of "setting" the pectin when you heat or cook a must that has pectin in it ... this risks developing a haze in the final product. So, IF you were to intend to significantly heat a must, particularly then you would use treatment with pectic enzyme to reduce the “insoluble” pectin so as not to have haze problems.

To give you an example of the use of pectic enzyme and heat ...
When I make banana wine, particularly, I need the greatest reduction possible in insoluble pectin because part of the process for that wine is to also use heat and amylase (another chemical) to convert the starch as well. So, it is necessary to treat the pectin first.

I carefully heat the banana must to about 120* in a double boiler arrangement, and then add a double dose of pectic enzyme, cover, and let sit in a warm area for about 3 or so hours. The heating is done in a double boiler like this because the bottom of the stock-pot on the stove gets hot enough (and retains enough heat) from the flame to denature the pectinase (the pectic enzyme) after you stir it in ... and as well could set the pectin during that initial heat-up.
After the treatment with pectic enzyme, I go on to re-heat the must for the amylase operation which takes the must to about 140* or so.

Personally, I always do add pectic enzyme to my cider just for good measure. I add it to room temperature must and let it sit and do it’s thing. However as noted above, pectic enzyme is not absolutely necessary for cider production.
 
Okay guys, here's an UPDATE:

I used 5 gallons store-bought juice, 2 lbs destrose, and Safale -- either 04 or 05, I forget.

OG: 1.068
after 10 days it's fermented down to 1.007. It's tasty! but could stand to be drier.

My question here is, how far down will it continue to ferment, and if not stopped, will it ferment to be TOO dry? Do I need to rack it or bottle it to do something to stop it before it goes to far, or should I just leave it until it stops bubbling?

And then at that point, do I want to leave it for a few weeks, or rack it to secondary for a few weeks, or can I just go ahead and bottle?
After to bottle, will I need to pasteurise after a couple weeks of bottle conditioning, or will it be fine if left alone?
 
Nope, not possible to be too dry. It all depends on your taste.
1.007 is fairly dry. You could let it go a little bit more, or rack it.

Fermenting until there is no sugar left leaves you with a dry, non-sweet product. Then, if you want it a bit sweeter you can backsweeten.

Personally, I would rack it into the secondary, put the airlock back on and wait til it stops bubbling. To avoid oxygen exposure, make sure you are using a racking can and/or tubing to rack and not just trying to pour it off. My ciders are a bit higher in alcohol and so I tend to bulk age them for a month or two before bottling.
If you read-around you'll find that different people bulk age their cider for different lengths of time ... some up to a couple years ... depending on the style of cider.

You need to decide about the carbonation in the cider and the sweetness ...
carbonated and dry
carbonated and sweeter
non-carbonated and dry
non-carbonated and sweeter
Each takes a different technique.

Also, if you will sweeten ... what sweetner will you use? ... sugar, apple juice concentrate, artificial sweetner ...

I like the fizz ...
Though technically you could bottle it at any time ... if you hope that any yeasties still floating around in the must will also be the ones that help you to carbonate the cider through bottle conditioning, then you might go right to priming and bottling now. Because cider is poor on nutrients and your product is pretty much heading toward complete dryness, the existing yeasties in the cider needs to be thrown a lifeline before too many of them perish.

For dry fizzy cider, personally, I would say rack (now) to priming bucket and prime and then bottle ... or use priming tablets and rack right to bottles.

If you are interested in pasteurizing, that is mostly done to cider you have put carbonation into by “bottle conditioning”. The pasteurization kills the yeast so that they don't gradually ferment your bottles of cider into hand grenades.
If you are going to pasteurize then you need to come up to speed (through reading) how to do that very specifically.

Of course the alternative to pasteurizing a small batch of bottle-conditioned, carbonated cider is; when it has developed the amount of carbonation you want ... to store it permanently on the lowest shelf in the icebox until drank.
 
Awesome, very helpful, thanks!

I'm thinking I'll bottle straight away. I don't want to have to mess around with backsweetening. I'm a bit worried it might dry out too much before I can get around to bottling it, but we'll just have to see what happens.
 
UPDATE AND NEW QUESTION

Right so my first batch turned out pretty damn good, albeit a bit drier and higher in ABV than I expected. I got a second batch going while that one was bottle conditioning. It's been fermenting over at my Opa's house, so I haven't been able to check on it. Been about two weeks. He says it's been bubbling pretty strong still, but I'm worried it'll have fermented out too dry. I'm going over today to check it out and do to it whatever needs to be done (bottle, leave it, rack it, whatever).

If I find that it's already fermented out too dry and needs ot be bottled, how exactly do I backsweeten? (Never done it before). I dont' want it too sweet, but a little sweet appley flavour would be nice. Is it a good idea to just add more juice? Would that work double duty for priming for bottling?
 
Is it a good idea to just add more juice? Would that work double duty for priming for bottling?

Juice or AJ are both options depending on what AVB you're aiming for. I backsweeten to taste, then add about 35g of sugar worth of whatever i'm using to each gallon to produce about 3VOLs of CO2. Wait a few days then pasteurize and drink.
 
Juice or AJ are both options depending on what AVB you're aiming for. I backsweeten to taste, then add about 35g of sugar worth of whatever i'm using to each gallon to produce about 3VOLs of CO2. Wait a few days then pasteurize and drink.

That sounds like a lot more sugar and carbonation than I'm looking for. I'mt hinking more like 2 volumes CO2. Will adding, say, a half gallon of juice provide enough sugar, and enough sweetness do ya reckon?
 
Using my local cider 1/2 gallon would add about 240g of sugar along with an extra 1/2 gallon of dilution and raise the SG by about 0.004 (ish).

Since you seem to like dryer cider I would think that would be about right for your taste. Assuming it's totally fermented out that is. alternatively you could just add juice slowly and keep tasting until you hit your sweet spot. Then add a bit more juice to make up for what you will loose to the secondary fermentation, somewhere around a quart of juice to get 2VOLs by my mental calculation.
 
UPDATE AND NEW QUESTION

Right so my first batch turned out pretty damn good, albeit a bit drier and higher in ABV than I expected. I got a second batch going while that one was bottle conditioning. It's been fermenting over at my Opa's house, so I haven't been able to check on it. Been about two weeks. He says it's been bubbling pretty strong still, but I'm worried it'll have fermented out too dry. I'm going over today to check it out and do to it whatever needs to be done (bottle, leave it, rack it, whatever).

If I find that it's already fermented out too dry and needs ot be bottled, how exactly do I backsweeten? (Never done it before). I dont' want it too sweet, but a little sweet appley flavour would be nice. Is it a good idea to just add more juice? Would that work double duty for priming for bottling?

Check out EASY RECIPE: How to make Homemade Hard Apple Cider - Make your own Hard Apple Cider for a great method and introduction on how to backsweeten bottle carbonated and conditioned cider.
 
Okay, so here's what happened with batch #2 yesterday:

It had fermented down to 1.006 and was still working pretty herd (bubbled about every 5-6 seconds in the airlock). I personally thought it tasted a bit too tart, but my family tasted it and said it was good, so we went ahead and bottled, priming at about 2.25 volumes CO2 with dextrose.
Because it was still so active at the time of bottling, I'm a bit concerned about bottle bombs -- is this a legitimate concern? Or should I not worry?

I'm wondering how it would have gone if I would have let it ferment out pretty much totally dry and just added more juice at bottling...I like a good balance of dryness and apple taste. might try that next time. Also next time I think I might try making a batch with just juice and no added sugar (I added 1 lb dextrose to this batch, brought it up to 1.059 SG)
 
Okay, so here's what happened with batch #2 yesterday:

It had fermented down to 1.006 and was still working pretty herd (bubbled about every 5-6 seconds in the airlock). I personally thought it tasted a bit too tart, but my family tasted it and said it was good, so we went ahead and bottled, priming at about 2.25 volumes CO2 with dextrose.
Because it was still so active at the time of bottling, I'm a bit concerned about bottle bombs -- is this a legitimate concern? Or should I not worry?

I'm wondering how it would have gone if I would have let it ferment out pretty much totally dry and just added more juice at bottling...I like a good balance of dryness and apple taste. might try that next time. Also next time I think I might try making a batch with just juice and no added sugar (I added 1 lb dextrose to this batch, brought it up to 1.059 SG)

Yes, bottle bombs are in your future. The cider will continue fermenting until its dry, that plus your priming sugar will give you exploding bottles.

You should read the web site I posted above - if you ferment to dry, then add more apple juice, the yeast will eat up all the new apple juice sugars, too, leading to a dry cider (in the best case) or exploding bottles (in the worst case).
 
Hmmm, righhtt.... So I guess once I start to see some decent carbonation in the bottles all I can really do is try to refrigerate all of it. That might help me avoid explosions...

Yep, I was just reading that site. Thanks for the help and the link. So for future batches, if I want a more appley tasting cider, can I stop fermentation before it's fully dried out by racking to a secondary and/or cold crashing, then bottling?
 
Check out EASY RECIPE: How to make Homemade Hard Apple Cider - Make your own Hard Apple Cider for a great method and introduction on how to backsweeten bottle carbonated and conditioned cider.

After having checked out the site, a couple random points about cleaning & sanitizing ...

In brewing/vinting we clean and sanitize. Sterilization is unnecessary and is used in the practice of medicine. Sanitizing, which kills most microorganisms, but does not guarantee the elimination of *all* microorganisms and pathogens, is the standard in brewing/vinting.

Right-on about not using bleach.
She is absolutely correct about not using bleach. The bleach issue is worth a quick explanation.
Around winemaking using bleach is considered an extremely bad practice ... one should avoid the habit of anything “chlor”.
Chlorine is one of the two elements that create TCA (trichloroanisole) ... known for the musty, moldy taint it causes, this is a compound that even in very small amounts is a really fast way to ruin a large batch of wine and so is a big concern in commercial fine winemaking. Corks are known to absorb TCA... this is “cork taint” ... natural corks also allow TCA to transfer thru them from the environment during long term storage. Bentonite and filter pads are known to absorb it too (viz. good storage practices).

Hypochlorite containing solutions are avoided throughout the winery; cellars, barrel rooms, tasting rooms etc. This includes avoiding washing equipment or anything else in a commercial dishwasher which uses hypochlorite as the sanitizer.
Sani-Tabs, Bar-Rinse, bleach etc ... are all out. Not in floor drains (chlor based floor washes or bleach), not for cleaning surfaces, nothing.

When big wineries use municipal water, they actually use carbon filters to remove the chlorine and chloramine. We use, metabisulfite. This is a good practice for any wine which you are going put down to age if you do not want to take the risk of it possibly ending up smelling like a wet dog.
 
Jacob, I'd like to respond, not to criticize you or your critique, but because I worry that a new, inexperienced cider maker may decide not to look at the site based on your critique. I think this site is a great resource for the beginning cider maker who hasn't got their mind around the challenges of making semi-dry or sweet sparkling cider that's bottle conditioned. Paint_It_Black in this thread is a great example - he wants to make cider, but isn't clear on the concept that the yeast will eat up all the apple sugars and so now what do you do?

Jessica does not get everything exactly right, but she gives beginning cider makers a great and easy to follow tutorial on how to make cider will be semi-dry, sparkling and bottle conditioned, and that won't blow up on them.

. . . Just a few things I noticed right away ... in one section the site suggests that cider from the grocery store contains sodium chlorite ... oh man ... it does *not* contain sodium chlorite! (um, made in china? ;-)

I couldn't find this on the site. But what I did find was her clear instructions to not use juice or cider that has preservatives in it - Vitamin A (ascorbic acid) is fine, but not anything else. Pretty regularly, there are posts here about fermentation not starting off, and it almost always turns out to be that the poster used juice or cider with preservatives.

I disagree with Jessica's warning to never use regular, clear grocery store apple juice. I use that for my basic, simple sparkling cider that my spouse loves. But again, her basic point is on target, I think.

In another section it suggests that yeast not only eats sugar but also eats spices. Yeasts do not eat spice.

But her point was that adding spices before or during fermentation changes the flavor profile of the spice, which is correct. One of the big mistakes beginning cider makers make is over- or badly- spicing ciders - a good alternative is to spice after fermentation, to taste.

The site further suggests that it is the amount of yeast added during priming that creates bottle-bombs and that bottle carbonated cider is safe to store at room temperature if you did not add too much yeast at priming! ?!?!

I don't see that, but she clearly makes the point in at least three places that I see that leaving sugar in the bottle or adding sugar beyond priming to the cider and then bottling will lead to exploding bottles. While she recognizes other methods, her method is to let the cider ferment dry, backsweeten with non-fermentable, prime and bottle. That is exactly what many beginning cider makers need to do.

The website author has the difference between cleaning, sanitizing and sterilizing in cider-making, incorrect. Never mind the definitions he tries to give.
In brewing/vinting we clean and sanitize. Sterilization is unnecessary and is used in the practice of medicine. Sanitizing, which kills most microorganisms, but does not guarantee the elimination of *all* microorganisms and pathogens, is the standard in brewing/vinting.

Yes, its unfortunate that she even uses the word sterile, its not correct. But if you look at the five numbered instructions she gives, she gets it right - clean and then sanitize with star san. She makes the point clearly that many newbies don't get - those are two different and distinct steps. If they follow her steps, they will get it right.

And that's my basic point - if a new cider maker follows her instructions, they will make good, semi-dry, sparkling, bottle-conditioned cider, without blowing up bottles.

Honestly, I think many newbies find it easier to ask their questions here rather than read this easy to follow resource. Then they end up bottling cider that is still in mid-fermentation, like in this thread, and wonder if their bottles will blow up. I wish more new cider makers would read her site.

I don't think Jessica hangs around here very much and I don't remember her user name, in any case. You could send her an email, though, I'm sure she'd appreciate hearing from you, Jacob.

Again, this isn't a criticism of your critiques, like I said, she doesn't get everything exactly right. But, in my opinion, her method is sound and very helpful for a new cider maker.
 
Hmmm, righhtt.... So I guess once I start to see some decent carbonation in the bottles all I can really do is try to refrigerate all of it. That might help me avoid explosions...

Yep, I was just reading that site. Thanks for the help and the link. So for future batches, if I want a more appley tasting cider, can I stop fermentation before it's fully dried out by racking to a secondary and/or cold crashing, then bottling?

Racking and cold crashing can work, but then the only way to carbonate it will be to keg it. If you knock the yeast out, they can't do the work to bottle condition and carbonate. So you will end up with semi-dry still cider, which can be delicious.

Another option that I use is to bottle pasteurize. In some ways, its ridiculously simple. But some people have had bottles explode on them - after dozens of batches, I've not had that , but I don't doubt their experiences. For me, it works well.
 
Jacob, I'd like to respond, not to criticize you or your critique, but because I worry that a new, inexperienced cider maker may decide not to look at the site based on your critique ...

I didn't realize that was a member's website. I would have withheld the criticism ... for the tons of websites out there, all with varying degrees of accuracy, in hindsight I would not have been so critical ... both of somebody actually from homebrewtalk, and also who obviously put a lot of time into it. And as you suggest ... instruction - and good instruction - is where you find it. And that website certainly has valuable info too. Thanks for mentioning it, Pappers.
Mea Culpa ;-)
 
Jacob_Marley said:
I didn't realize that was a member's website. I would have withheld the criticism ... for the tons of websites out there, all with varying degrees of accuracy, in hindsight I would not have been so critical ... both of somebody actually from homebrewtalk, and also who obviously put a lot of time into it. And as you suggest ... instruction - and good instruction - is where you find it. And that website certainly has valuable info too. Thanks for mentioning it, Pappers.
Mea Culpa ;-)

I think your critique is fair, Jacob, no mea culpa is necessary. I also think that following Jessica's method and instructions would be helpful to some new cider makers.
 
While she recognizes other methods, her method is to let the cider ferment dry, backsweeten with non-fermentable, prime and bottle.

She mentions one product that I have never heard of. If the plan is to fully ferment and carb with CO2, what can be used as a non-fermentable sweetener?
 
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