Your Thoughts on my Cider

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bonobo

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First time posting on these forums and not the last, I love browsing the topics on my off-time and thought it was my time to share my experience with home brewing so far. Me and my friend wanted some hard cider in the off season, and weren't even able to find non-alcoholic cider! We wanted to try brewing for a while and decide to make it in bulk for cash sake....using a gallon of apple juice...found at Big Y. It fit the bill, as there was nothing in it other than water and apple juice as on the ingredient label, we also got a packet of red star bread yeast and light brown sugar. We've been spending a good share of time researching the process, some were easy, others not. We wanted something VERY simple yet tasty in the end (hopefully sweet), but were limited in our resources due to our living conditions. A recipe attempted to follow http://www.forevermore.net/articles/hard-cider-recipe/ but in the end all we did was pour 3 cups of brown sugar into the juice and a quarter of a packet of red star yeast. No heating the sugar or cider, sanitizing or anything like that.:eek: Put a homemade fermentation cap on that bad boy using plastic wrap with a pin hole and let it ferment away in the exact plastic container we bought it in. Its been a day and a half and its fermenting well (I hope) Let me hear your opinion. My questions are. Is this stuff gonna end up as terrible prison juice? Does the plastic container make that much of a difference and type of recycled plastic? How long do you believe it will take for a strong 8%-13% ABV cider(juice). My MAIN CONCERN is whether you believe this stuff will kill us or not, is the bacteria growth that dangerous? :drunk: IF this doesn't work well just end up buying a glass jug and making arrangements to accommodate the whole recipe. Heres a PIC after 1 and a 1/2 days fermenting (dorm room closet):
Pictures by bonoboman - Photobucket
 
It won't kill you, but it probably won't exactly taste wonderful. Bread yeast usually gets kind of nasty, doesn't stay on the bottom very well, though it's still used by some.


Try getting some actual wine or ale yeast for later attempts, and stay out of trouble with the RA ;)
 
You have a large room, and it probably isnt your first time. good luck though
 
I'd put an airlock on that once fermentation slows down or else you might wish that it killed you (unless you enjoy vinegar)
 
I'd put an airlock on that once fermentation slows down or else you might wish that it killed you (unless you enjoy vinegar)

I have some in a bucket and lid with no airlock. Is it going to go bad if i leave it in there for 2 weeks before racking? its not a perfect seal i dont think
 
There really isn't anything too wrong with your approach. There have been worse. Bread yeast can be used, though it can provide some unwelcomed flavor, but not necessarily bad. Sanitation isn't too much of a concern since you just added the sugar and yeast straight to the juice while it was still in the container, though depending on the sugar that me be a bad spot.

However, I am a bit concerned about your age. Are you in fact 21? Because you say you live in a dorm room and your profile says you are a 37 yo woman. Kinda sounds like you are faking your way onto these forums, if you are in fact underage, a mod will kick you off.
 
However, I am a bit concerned about your age. Are you in fact 21? Because you say you live in a dorm room and your profile says you are a 37 yo woman. Kinda sounds like you are faking your way onto these forums, if you are in fact underage, a mod will kick you off.

24 and on my sixth year of college, Long Island Med. is a looooong road.

Any idea to when it will be at least 8% ABV? Since that last picture taken 12 hours ago its now nearly brimming with foam. Is this a sign that its developing quickly? Im guessing five days, whats your opinion?
 
Ummm if you talking when it will be done fermenting give it a week or two or three. If you are talking about ready to drink, it'll be 4-8 weeks minimum.
 
I've made apple cider with bread yeast before - yes it's drinkable, no it's not going to kill you (even if it get infected) no it's not absolutely awful (it's not great either) and finaly - no it's not as good as Edworts Apfelwein (or modified versions of it)...

I'm still not totaly convinced you are legit - I would think a med school student on his 6th year of college would know more about microbiology - and be a bit more precise in his methods...
mind you this is not meant to be an insult of course: but if you had done some simple research and spent 30 bucks you could have put togeather some minimal brewing equipment (I'm far from an elitist in this respect - I use "Liberated" 5 gallon water bottles as my fermenters)
a pack of good brewing yeast will cost you about 85 cents, and can be mailed to your dorm from any number of online brew supply houses for cheap - airlocks are about $2.50 drilled stoppers are about $3.00. everything you need to get started right can be found here: www.ebrew.com

as I say - you'll make alchohol doing what you are doing - but it'll end up tasting like you dipped a slice of sourdough bread in the cider and left it there for about 30 minutes.

next time, secure a 5 gallon water cooler bottle, a #9 drilled stopper, an airlock and a packet of red star Montrachet wine yeast, 5 gallons of tree top apple juice and if you can locate it for cheap -2 pounds of dextrose (or failing locating dextrose may I reccomend 4 16 ounce cans of concentrated apple juice) follow the receipe for EdWorts apfelwien. since drinking 5 gallons of Apfelwein alone is hard to do in a short time, perhaps you can "pass the hat" and take up a collection with your dorm mates to pay for the materials needed to do a batch of proper apple beverage? then 60 days later - have a cider party.
 
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