few beginner questions please

Hello all,
I'm starting out my first fermenting experiment ever and I'm trying to follow Edworts thread.

Here's what I have: 5gal Better bottle, 1 pack Montrachect yeast, Juice, 2lb dextrose, airlock, stopper, and hydrometer.

The thread is pretty complete, but I've tried searching for the answers to these questions but have had little luck:

1. I understand how to get everything started. How do I test with the hydrometer? Just pull the stopper and take a reading?

2. After at least 4 weeks how can I get everything into smaller bottles? This is the most confusing part i've come across i think. I think I can carbonate or leave it as is. Ideally I'd like to use the plethora of left over Newcastle bottles my buddies have.

Do I just siphon off the top of my carboy into the bottles and cap for a still? Or siphon into a bucket with sugar, THEN into bottles for carbonated?

thanks in advance, and i'm sorry if these questions get asked alot. I know that happens on alot of web forums.

I have seen most of these questions answered in other posts, I would try another search. If you dony have any luck I will help you with what I know as I am a noob also.

1. Take a sample of the brew out of the carboy, using a siphon, wine thief or just a turkey baster, whichever you choose make sure to sanitize it first. Put this sample into your hydrometer test tube, you can just the clear plastic tube it came in if you don't have anything else. Drop your hydrometer in and read where the bottom of the meniscus lines up to a mark on the hydrometer. The meniscus is crescent top of the liquid. The lines on the hydrometer match up to specific gravity readings. I believe Ed's apfelwein starts in the 1.07-1.09 range and should end below 1.000. Just keep that in mind, reading the hydrometer can be confusing the first few times.

2 You can bottle it straight from the carboy (better bottle) or rack it into a bottling bucket, to try to get rid of as much sediment as possible. You will need a racking cane, tubing that fits tightly over the racking cane and preferably a bottle filler. Assemble all the pieces together, fill the tube with water or sanitizer, and let gravity siphon your brew out of the bottle. Using the bottle filler will provide the right amount of headspace in each bottle, just fill to the top and when you remove the filler, whammo perfection.

3ish. You can bottle it either still or carbonated, that is your preference. If you choose to bottle carbonate, then add 1 oz of sugar per gallon of brew to enough water to dissolve that, boil it then dump it into your empty bottling bucket. Siphon your apfelwein on top of this priming sugar and it will mix thoroughly. Bottle as already mentioned.

Do a search, these are certainly covered in great detail.

Also, visit the following link for detailed information of everything:

How to Brew - By John Palmer

1. Get a wine thief or turkey baster, sanitize, remove a sample of apfelwein and test gravity.

2. You can leave it still or carbonate it just like beer (1 oz per gallon of apfelwein). It's a personal choice.

3. You will need to rack (siphon) it into a bottling bucket and bottle from that using a bottling wand. If you are bottling still, bottle up what you want to leave still, then add the simple syrup (priming sugar boiled with water) and stir GENTLY. You do not want to add oxygen but you do want to mix it thoroughly. Alternatively, you could buy carbonation tablets and just add those to the bottles you want to carbonate.

edit: I need to type faster. Welcome to HBT! BTW, telling someone to go search is NOT normal operating procedures around here so go ahead and ask questions.

[telling someone to go search is NOT normal operating procedures around here so go ahead and ask questions.[/QUOTE]

really?

sakalmon said:

[telling someone to go search is NOT normal operating procedures around here so go ahead and ask questions.

Click to expand...

really?[/QUOTE]

Really. If you get a reply to a question that says "go do a search", please let a moderator know so we can help out. However, there is nothing wrong with encouraging a search, while providing some helpful links, like howtobrew.com, or to our wiki that can provide some insight. We want to be helpful and welcoming, and your post was fine since you did offer to help, even as a relatively new member yourself.

We also want to keep all posts on topic, so we'll get back to the original poster's question now.

Since it's your first batch, you may find that you aren't sure if you want to carbonate it or not. I like my ciders still, but many like it carbonated. You can easily bottle half of each, and then decide which way you prefer.

sakalmon said:

[telling someone to go search is NOT normal operating procedures around here so go ahead and ask questions.

Click to expand...

really?[/QUOTE]

Well if you would have asked I may have said it.
For a first time poster it's a bit of a different story.

Feel free to say, a lot of these questions do get asked a lot, so you might find your answers quicker if you use the search feature, but... and answer his question. Yeah some questions pop up everyday, but we are here to help, right?

thanks for the responses guys, i dont mind being referred to the search engine. I've been on countless forums that seem to get eaten up by "newb" posts and push legitimate questions out of the way.

For a beginner though, trying to find an answer to a topic you know very little about can be tough when you dont know the necessary lingo to search for.

But back on topic! I'm going to get it all going tonight! I'll let you guys know how it turns out!

I think I'm going to take your advice and do 1/2 and 1/2 as far as carbing it! That'll allow me to decide which I prefer!

Thanks for the help on everything!

93gtosu said:

Hello all,
I'm starting out my first fermenting experiment ever and I'm trying to follow Edworts thread.

Here's what I have: 5gal Better bottle, 1 pack Montrachect yeast, Juice, 2lb dextrose, airlock, stopper, and hydrometer.

The thread is pretty complete, but I've tried searching for the answers to these questions but have had little luck:

1. I understand how to get everything started. How do I test with the hydrometer? Just pull the stopper and take a reading?

2. After at least 4 weeks how can I get everything into smaller bottles? This is the most confusing part i've come across i think. I think I can carbonate or leave it as is. Ideally I'd like to use the plethora of left over Newcastle bottles my buddies have.

Do I just siphon off the top of my carboy into the bottles and cap for a still? Or siphon into a bucket with sugar, THEN into bottles for carbonated?

thanks in advance, and i'm sorry if these questions get asked alot. I know that happens on alot of web forums.

Click to expand...

I think you might find this useful: How To Use A Hydrometer - grapestompers
It has the hydrometer usage info you were wanting, plus a few other things that are quite useful, their wine calc rocks. Regards, GF.