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. 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? 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
Pictures by bonoboman - Photobucket