Small experimental batch

Hey guys,

I'm brand new to the forum, and have done a small amount of homebrew with spirits (hooo boy was THAT an experience, good times), wine (also epic), and now got interested in ciders. We had a box of apples given to us and they suggested cider, so I gave it a shot.

I took half the box and pureed some, and handsqueezed some. It took a long time, and by the time I got 2L in, I think I nearly perfected the hand-squeeze technique

I added a couple cups of white sugar and a pack of EC-1118 champagne yeast. Threw an airlock on and now I'm eagerly awaiting cider.

Anyone know : expected ABV?
expected taste?
about how long until it should be finished?
how many mistakes I probably made?

1) To calculate your ABV you'll need your starting gravity. If you took that, you can plug that into an abv estimator and probably assume that you'll end up with a final gravity around 1. You can find a calculator here: http://www.rooftopbrew.net/abv.php

Sounds like your measurements are a little imprecise to get ABV with any accuracy, though.

2) It'll be drier than you expect. The sugars in apples are super fermentable so almost all of them will be fermented out, leaving not much sweetness. You can kill the yeast and backsweeten if you'd like.

3) Probably a few months until it's drinkable, though it will certainly be done fermenting sooner.

4) Oh, and - this is a US-based forum, and moonshining is illegal here, so the mods don't tolerate a lot of talk about making your own spirits. Not tryna scold you, just giving you a heads up.

Haha whoops, sorry, I'm Canadian! We can find homebrew supplies even at the local grocery store.

What I've gathered is that I can kill the yeast with a campden tablet, is that correct? If so, will it affect the taste?

Camden don't kill yeast it just stuns it. Slows reproduction. Gives the yeast you introduce a fighting chance.