Wonderjojo
Member
I'm a day into my first attempt at cider and I am VERY excited and can't stop looking at the 5 gallons of juice sitting quietly in the corner!
I do have some questions though and I was wondering if anyone could help me. I've read a lot in the last couple of days about the best ways to carbonate and backsweeten your cider, which is what I want to do. I have 32oz back ez-cap bottles that i wanted to use and I was hoping for a sweetish fizzy cider.
The recipe I chucked in was:
4 gallons organic apple juice
1 gallon organic pear/mango - was a bit unsure of the mango-anyone done this?
3 cups brown sugar dissolved into juice
Cider Activator Wyeast ACT4766- 4.25 oz (which I just read isn't that great - good start)
Its sitting in the dark in a corner and I'm in the caribbean so it will be at about 74-75 degrees hopefully.
It hasn't changed yet. I'm just waiting....
Questions:
Do I HAVE to rack to a secondary? Can this be my 5 gallon bucket with airlock?
Racking - leaving behind the lees? Just getting the juice?
If I wanted to make carbonated cider in the bottles can i use priming sugar - most people seem to say to add it to the bottles before bottling? How much? A teaspoon?
As you can see I'm still trying to get my head round it and I'm slightly afraid of blowing up cider bottles in my house. What do ya think?
I forgot to add that I live in a country where you can't go out and buy home brewing equipment. We had one place selling beer kits and then they went under and sold off their old stock from the backroom of a lingerie shop.
THANKS! Jo
I do have some questions though and I was wondering if anyone could help me. I've read a lot in the last couple of days about the best ways to carbonate and backsweeten your cider, which is what I want to do. I have 32oz back ez-cap bottles that i wanted to use and I was hoping for a sweetish fizzy cider.
The recipe I chucked in was:
4 gallons organic apple juice
1 gallon organic pear/mango - was a bit unsure of the mango-anyone done this?
3 cups brown sugar dissolved into juice
Cider Activator Wyeast ACT4766- 4.25 oz (which I just read isn't that great - good start)
Its sitting in the dark in a corner and I'm in the caribbean so it will be at about 74-75 degrees hopefully.
It hasn't changed yet. I'm just waiting....
Questions:
Do I HAVE to rack to a secondary? Can this be my 5 gallon bucket with airlock?
Racking - leaving behind the lees? Just getting the juice?
If I wanted to make carbonated cider in the bottles can i use priming sugar - most people seem to say to add it to the bottles before bottling? How much? A teaspoon?
As you can see I'm still trying to get my head round it and I'm slightly afraid of blowing up cider bottles in my house. What do ya think?
I forgot to add that I live in a country where you can't go out and buy home brewing equipment. We had one place selling beer kits and then they went under and sold off their old stock from the backroom of a lingerie shop.
THANKS! Jo