1st Timer, Please Help

Hi all,

I am excited to try my hand at making some hard cider but this will be my first time brewing anything, so I want to make sure I can get as much help as I can with the process and what stuff I need to buy.

So far I think I will be following the process for a 1 gallon batch laid out on http://makinghardcider.com/ for a sweet carbonated hard cider using uv pasteurized orchard cider (back sweetening with xylo sweet / splenda, and carbonating with dextrose or something like Cooper's Carb Drops).

I am totally new to this so I will have to buy everything, here's my list please tell me if I need anything else or if I can do without something!

One Step cleaner
Star San
2x 1 gal Carboys
Size 6 Drilled Rubber Stopper
Airlock S-Bubble Type
Pectic Enzyme
Nottingham Ale Yeast
Siphon Tubing
Hydrometer
Beer Bottles
Bottle Caps
Capper
Bottle Brush
Dextrose or Coopers Carb Drops

Thank you!

Strykervc

Yeast nutrients might be a good idea. It's cheap.

Would you recommend a starter with the nutrients or just pitch it all into the batch at once?

+ 1 on the yeast nutrient. If you're going to be buying bottles anyway, do yourself a favour & buy swingtops.
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/case-of-12-16-oz-ez-cap-beer-bottles-amber.html
They will make bottling so much easier & they don't require crown caps or a capper.
I use 1L swingtops almost exclusively for beer/cider/graff, they cut my bottling time by about 75%. Regards, GF.

This week has been crazy (midterms week), so I’m planning on starting my first batch this weekend. I’ll be keeping it simple with fresh cider, Nottingham Ale Yeast, pectic enzyme, and then priming, bottling and pasteurizing following Pappers instructions for a sparkling sweet cider.

Since this seems to be fairly straightforward I think I might try to make a still cider with some other flavor added into the mix, most likely cinnamon and oak chips. My main question is when do I add the cinnamon and oak? Include them in the primary or rack onto them in the secondary?

I think you need to add those in the secondary.

Bring the carboy you plan to use to your local homebrew store and play around with the stoppers. My “carboys” were the glass jugs that my cider came in (Whole Foods store brand cider), and I think that the number 6 stoppers are just a little big for those particular jugs- at least, I have a hard time getting them to stick in the bottle, they mostly sit on top. (That was apparently enough to keep the nasties out, though. I took a final hydrometer sample last night after five weeks, and the cider doesn’t have any hint of off flavor. Carbonating and bottling this weekend!)