Newb here, reporting in with a couple questions about cider.
After reading as much as I could about questions regarding cider, I've come to a couple of conclusions. Strongbow is not as widely regarded as I seem to think it is. Cider in general seems to be a little more complicated than beer. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Now, I've made Apfelwein, and I honestly don't care for it. At all. But I do like the idea of using store bought apple juice to make some cider. I know about the preservatives and pasteurization so that's not an issue. And as I understand it, if I increase the OG with sugar, then it REALLY dries out the finished product. So far so good?
So next, as I understand it, Nottingham seems to work pretty good with fermentation, and it can be pretty much stopped by racking it off the "cake". So now, what do I do if I want to make carbonated cider? Aside from kegging, how do I accomplish this?
I was thinking about making a two gallon batch and up the OG with concentrated apple juice to around 1.060 if it needs it. Then split it between still and carbonated if I could so I can see which I might prefer. This is pretty much just for experimental purposes at this point, but I'd like to make sure I'm fully prepared for everything.
After reading as much as I could about questions regarding cider, I've come to a couple of conclusions. Strongbow is not as widely regarded as I seem to think it is. Cider in general seems to be a little more complicated than beer. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Now, I've made Apfelwein, and I honestly don't care for it. At all. But I do like the idea of using store bought apple juice to make some cider. I know about the preservatives and pasteurization so that's not an issue. And as I understand it, if I increase the OG with sugar, then it REALLY dries out the finished product. So far so good?
So next, as I understand it, Nottingham seems to work pretty good with fermentation, and it can be pretty much stopped by racking it off the "cake". So now, what do I do if I want to make carbonated cider? Aside from kegging, how do I accomplish this?
I was thinking about making a two gallon batch and up the OG with concentrated apple juice to around 1.060 if it needs it. Then split it between still and carbonated if I could so I can see which I might prefer. This is pretty much just for experimental purposes at this point, but I'd like to make sure I'm fully prepared for everything.