Test batch of cider

I'm running a test batch of cider. Wanted to give it a try without spending any money. I grabbed a small bottle of Juicy Juice apple juice I had sitting around the house, added a 1/4cup of sugar and a tsp of champaigne yeast I had laying around (I use it for carbing soda).

Drilled a hole in the cap and stuck a piece of ice maker tubing I had laying around left over from installing a water line to my fridge, and put it in a sour cream plastic dish full of sanitizer water. Sealed the tube into the hole with a little clear silicone. One free micro fermenter!

I figure when it's done fermenting, I can add some more sugar to it, put a solid cap on it, and let it carb. Sounded like a good idea at the time. It's currently sitting on my dresser bubbling away.

Took off pretty quick, pitched about six hours ago. I don't expect a terribly active fermentation using champaigne yeast. This is my first attempt at cider, so hopefully it goes well!





If I brew a batch of cider in my plastic fermenter, is it going to cause any residual off flavors when I brew a batch of beer in it? I only have one fermentation bucket, and a five gallon carboy for a secondary, so I'm limited on equipment.

Man...I tried this exact same thing when I was about....10? maybe 12.
Yes it will work...No it won't be very good.
As long as your plastic goes....If it's #1 or #2 HDPET, you will be fine. Search equipment threads about plastic.
As far as champaign yeast goes....you haven't used this much have you?

Your setup isn't ideal, your theory is great. Check out the Apfelwein threads. You don't have to spend a lot of money...but you will.

***Edit***
Just saw that you have a 5 gallon Carboy.
Abandon secondary fermentation of your beer and dedicate your glass to Apfelwein. I just picked up ingredients for a 5 gallon batch for under $20.00

Well, this was intended more as a taste test, I've never had hard cider. I'm out of work at the moment, and I really can't afford the $20 for the juice.

I figured, what the hell, I had the stuff laying around, might as well give it a shot. Something to pass the time between checking the job boards and looking at the classifieds.

I haven't used champaigne yeast for anything except carbing soda, but it was that or bread yeast.

I was bored...

The batch of Coopers real ale I have in secondary at the moment I've had the stuff around for since before I lost my job.



Anyone in Northern Indiana looking for a Network Tech??

Actually bread yeast works quite well in ciders.

You might want to look for 1 gal. jugs of apple juice and put your waterlock on one of those. Add some champagne yeast of bread yeast and just leave it alone for a week or two and then bottle and prime it.

Tastes great from the fridge.

Bummer about the job man. I am sorry to hear about that.

I have a suggestion. This is the same theory from what my family did "Back in the Day" when they couldn't afford to farm.

Find two of your best drinking buddies, have each of them foot the bill for ingredients...you do the work, and each of you keeps a third of the batch. This way you are still brewing...you get good stuff...and you don't spend any money. Also, you are not selling your brew, so it's legal.

Good luck in your hunt.

Yeah, that would work if any of my friends that aren't in the same boat as me drank beer... Most of my friends aren't big on beer. It's nice in that I get to drink most of what I brew, but it sucks cause I don't really have anyone to share it with.



I really don't want to, but I'm gonna make some calls tomorrow and pick up a regional driving position with one of the smaller trucking firms around here. I have a class A CDL, but I really don't like being away from home overnight. There's nobody hiring for local drivers that pays decent though. Bad thing is, I'm CCNA certified, but the tech market is so crappy around here I can't find a job in my field. Ohh well, gotta pay the bills somehow. Wife is NOT going to like it though. At least I'm one of the lucky ones that has a stable backup. Trucking is about the only recession proof industry right now. The job may suck, but it's better than nothing...