Hey all,
I've been itching to give homebrewing a try for a couple years now, and the other day I figured "What the heck, now is as good as any time."
I figured I'd start out with cider instead of beer because I figured I could get by with buying equipment as I go, specifically I didn't want to lay down $50 for a decent quality stainless pot for boiling wort along with a primary bucket and misc supplies.
My recipe, kludged from several I found online is as follows:
3 gallons of different brands of "apple cider" purchased at the local mega-mart, checked specifically to not have anything other than "apple juice from concentrate" or "apple juice" so I'm pretty sure I have no preservatives.
1.5 tsp pectic enzyme
3/4 tsp grape tannin
3/4 tsp yeast nutrient
~2 lbs table sugar
1 packet "Red Star Pasteur champagne yeast"
Soaked all components in NaOCl bleach for 1 hr.
I seem to have misplaced my kitchen thermometer so I was hesitant to activate my yeast in water with a temp I didn't know so I just pitched it into the room temp cider mix before lidding. 18 hrs later I see no signs of fermentation.
My question is: without activating my yeast what kind of time period am I looking at before I see signs of life (ie CO2 production)? (Using a opaque plastic bucket.) Should I just chill and wait or be concerned about my decision to not activate the yeast?
I've been itching to give homebrewing a try for a couple years now, and the other day I figured "What the heck, now is as good as any time."
I figured I'd start out with cider instead of beer because I figured I could get by with buying equipment as I go, specifically I didn't want to lay down $50 for a decent quality stainless pot for boiling wort along with a primary bucket and misc supplies.
My recipe, kludged from several I found online is as follows:
3 gallons of different brands of "apple cider" purchased at the local mega-mart, checked specifically to not have anything other than "apple juice from concentrate" or "apple juice" so I'm pretty sure I have no preservatives.
1.5 tsp pectic enzyme
3/4 tsp grape tannin
3/4 tsp yeast nutrient
~2 lbs table sugar
1 packet "Red Star Pasteur champagne yeast"
Soaked all components in NaOCl bleach for 1 hr.
I seem to have misplaced my kitchen thermometer so I was hesitant to activate my yeast in water with a temp I didn't know so I just pitched it into the room temp cider mix before lidding. 18 hrs later I see no signs of fermentation.
My question is: without activating my yeast what kind of time period am I looking at before I see signs of life (ie CO2 production)? (Using a opaque plastic bucket.) Should I just chill and wait or be concerned about my decision to not activate the yeast?