not understanding somethings, or am I just lucky?

okay, I never use a hydrometer. I use fresh pressed, sometimes Mussleman's, sometimes concentrate.

I use champagne yeast.

I ferment until the action stops, then I always back sweeten with concentrate (4 cans per 5 gallons), plus splenda.

I rack to carboy after action stops, then let it sit for 10 days in carboy.

I rack from carboy to pail with spout for bottling.

I bottle carb until a Coke bottle feels as firm as a Coke, then bottle pasterize at 170 degrees until the water hits 140, or 20 mins have passed.

I have never gotten bottle bombs (well, I got exactly 1), my cider always taste like sweet apples, and even with my very high tolerance, 1 or 2 always make my head swim.

100% of my advice I got from you guys here, never from any other forum.

Am I just lucky, or is it dumb luck?

well, throwing 4 cans of concentrate into a batch then allowing to ferment further isn't really backsweetening, since the sweetener you want is being fermented out. you are spot on with your carbing method, an easier way to do it is 5 ounces of corn sugar per 5 gallons.
Pasturizing is something I have never done but that sounds like something I have read on here before.

out of curiosity, where did you get the quidelines you follow?

various treads here. nothing in just one. People post good results, so I just took what they did. It has seemed to work crazy good, with no failures.

After reading more here, it seems my cider should be a lot less sweet, but it is always very sweet.

I add the 4 cans to sweeten, flavor and prime for carbing. It works very very good for me. The 4 cans plus the splenda is very sweet at first, but after it is carbed, its just right.

With ale yeast, it takes a little longer to carb, but the EC 1118 seems to carb fast, o matter how long it has been since the fermentation has stopped.

selfdestructed said:

Am I just lucky, or is it dumb luck?

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i am just a noob, so i might get flamed for saying this...but cider isn't really that hard to brew. you aren't lucky...you are just brewing a solid drink. there are alot of people that simplify things and many that complicate it. if you like your drink, and you reproduce it readily...enjoy and don't worry about what everyone else is doing unless you see a suggestion that you think will improve your drink

-k

selfdestructed said:

ale yeast, it takes a little longer to carb, but the EC 1118 seems to carb fast, o matter how long it has been since the fermentation has stopped.

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I just bottled a batch and primed with 1 oz sugar per gallon. I also used EC 1118. Question is how long does it usually take your bottles to carb? It's been about 3 days and nothing so far....trying to be patient!

Also, I bottled some of the batch in two 16 oz grolsch style bottles to make it easier to check the carbonation. If I open those bottles to check for carbonation can I just close it back up or is that bottle going to start from scratch to recarb?