first time brewer

Hey there everyone,
This is my first time brewing cider and I was looking for some guidence from some veterans. I am going to go to a brewing supply store soon to pick up some supplies. I currently do not have too much money and wanted to get the basic supplies necessary to get my cider going. What are some supplies that are not as necessary as others? A few questions in specific are:

1)I have a 5 gallon plastic bucket with a lid. Do I need to buy a glass gar or will the plastic one suffice?

2)I read about gravity readings in some of your forums. Do I need to buy some device or will I know when to bottle the cider by how often the brew bubbles or some other trick like that?

One last question I had was does the brew eminate a bad smell or is there acider explosion danger involved with this process?

Thanks everyone.

Luke

1) Plastic is fine.
2) gravity readings are useful for monitoring ales, but with cider just waiting for the bubbles to slow to less than one a minute works. Cider ferments can be slow, however, I've never seen one get stuck.
3) Some people don't like the smell, some do. Don't fill your fermenter more than 3/4 full and you shouldn't have a blowoff.

I'd say most basic things are:
1--primary, secondary fermenting containers
2--some sort of siphon tube/hose
3--airlock
4--campden tablets and yeast
5--some sort of sanitizing cleanser for all containers/hoses
6--apples or juice

maybe you could do without the campden and sanitizer but I wouldn't like to

Talcottsk said:

I'd say most basic things are:
1--primary, secondary fermenting containers
2--some sort of siphon tube/hose
3--airlock
4--campden tablets and yeast
5--some sort of sanitizing cleanser for all containers/hoses
6--apples or juice

maybe you could do without the campden and sanitizer but I wouldn't like to

Click to expand...

This list covers all you'll need really to start - It'll cost you next to nothing to get these items - You may have them already. A hydrometer is a nice touch but not essential to start as david_42 said.
Campden tablets aren't needed if you use ale/cider yeasts but some form of sanitizer is essential!

Well you can start that way with equipment or you can do some junkyard brewing as I and my fellow deviants did in high school. Find a jug of apple juice, glass prefered dump some yeast in, put a sanatized ballon with a pinhole in it over the mouth and set it out of the way.

brandonj said:

Well you can start that way with equipment or you can do some junkyard brewing as I and my fellow deviants did in high school. Find a jug of apple juice, glass prefered dump some yeast in, put a sanatized ballon with a pinhole in it over the mouth and set it out of the way.

Click to expand...

A cheap brew I started with before moving in to a proper set up was get an average soft drink bottle, get the corresponding amount of concentrate apple juice, fill with water, add a cup of sugar, add 1/4 tsp of bakers yeast (now I know better haha). Stick a balloon on the top. Leave it until it stops bubbling. Add about 2 tsp of sugar to another bottle, pour the cider into this bottle, leave it for two weeks.

Tasted like bread haha....I wonder why...

If you can't stretch to the price of a bit of equipment AND ingredients(including with mates too!) then i'd suggest leaving brewing til you can.

Sorry it has taken me so long to respond to your comments. Its been a busy few weeks for me. I really appreciate the insight you all have shared. I really like the sound of the junkyard brewing. I will probably do some variation of that style. Right now I am not able to brew do to the fact that I am living at my brothers house and I dont think he wants anything smelly and potentially explosive going on in the casa, but I will probably move out soon and will start experimenting. I'll keep you all posted when I do.

Thanks again everyone.
Luke

nothing is going to explode, man, as long as you have some way for the gas coming from the fermentation to get ot of the jug (like the balloon or $1.00 proper airlock.)

-walker