My first attempt at Cider

Well where do I start. My friend started brewing beer about a year ago. He recently told me about some cider recipes that peaked my interest. He sent me here where I have lurked for a while and finally decided to sign not to long ago. Went to Whole Foods to get me a few gallons of juice. The pics should finish up the explanation of ingredients and everything. I hope to report back in 4 to 6 months about my outcome. I also want to try my hand at some kind of apple/cranberry mix cider and mead in the coming weeks.

If you use cranberry or any other acidic juice....plan on aging it for a long time because it will be VERY tart.

You could also balance the tart by using crystal grains in a steeping process and add that to the wort.

Great looking experiment and welcome to HBT! What kind of yeast did you use? I can't quite make it out in the picture.

Take any specific gravity readings of the mixes of cider and sugars? I'm just curious because I'm doing an organic cyser for a friend as a Christmas gift and I'm not sure how much honey to add in order to get a final alcohol by volume of approximately 9%. I could do some guess work and take a bunch of readings to find out but... why do that if you might know?

Brandon O said:

If you use cranberry or any other acidic juice....plan on aging it for a long time because it will be VERY tart.

You could also balance the tart by using crystal grains in a steeping process and add that to the wort.

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Ok,thanks for the advise. I don't mind letting things age. What do you consider a "long" time?

SeamusMac said:

Great looking experiment and welcome to HBT! What kind of yeast did you use? I can't quite make it out in the picture.

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Thanks for the welcome. It's White Labs WLP023 Burton Ale