first cider help please

I want to do an apple cider. I am wondering if I could get someones really easy recipe. I really dont know much about it. I have questions like what type of apple juice works best. I have read about the 1 gal jugs from Costco. do you use the pasturized or non? do you boil or not? do you use a Yeast starter? what kind of yeast? what fermentation temp? how long in primary? do you take hydrometer readings? what should they be??
Thanks for the heads up
JJ

Ok you would think I would know by now to search first then ask questions later well I am kinda backwards after all. anyhow I got most all my ???'s answered except the yeast starter here is what I am going to do
4 gal tree top apple juice
montrachet wine yeast
sanitized carboy
at this point do I need to do a starter for the yeast??
do any of you transfer to a secondary??
is this yeast a dry or liquid??
JJ

For your first two questions:

I generally don't think the cider needs a starter- just make sure it's got air in it (give it a shake before pitching the yeast).

I definitely use secondary when making cider, to give it a chance to clear up a bit.

Montrachet yeast is a Red Star yeast, packaged dry. It's about 79 cents. I use it frequently in wines.

Let me know how your first cider turns out- I'd like to try it.

Lorena

No starter needed. Be prepared for a blowout. Cider tends ferment fast & end up very dry.

david 42 is there anything I can do to keep it a little sweet??
Lorena you bet I will keep you posted when its done I will get your address and send you a bottle -K-
JJ

I just read that I can add some table sugar to keep it a little sweet. Table sugar isen't totally fermentable I would think this might be the trick?
what do you all think??
any suggestions on how much??
JJ

Table sugar isn't completely fermentable? Huh? In my experience it is. I have an incredibly dry cider that I used about 3 lbs of table sugar in for some dumb reason. It was my very first attempt at anything brewing. I used Pasteur Champagne yeast.

You might look up the following Wyeast strains: #3632, 3783, 3728, 3277. A table in Northern Brewer's catalog says that they all leave some percentage of residual sugar.

5 Gallons of Apple Juice and 2 Cups of honey, i just drank 16 ozs of it, it was wonderful,.

muntzster
what do you think about adding the honey to the secondary???
I mean I know it will kick up another fermentation and all but maybe all the fermentables wouldnt ferment. out or maybe force carbonate with honey.. Just a thought
JJ

Use some lactose to sweeten it up. I have found that about 100 grams/5 gallon is very nice to take the edge off.

Yeah, honey will totally ferment out. May give it a different flavor, but not sweeter. Otherwise you can kill the yeast, then sweeten, but lactose may be the easiest. I don't use anything myself because I prefer a cider that is a bit drier. Mine didn't turn out super dry, but definately not sweet and I just used table sugar and brown sugar...carb drops to carbonate.

jaybird said:

muntzster
what do you think about adding the honey to the secondary???
I mean I know it will kick up another fermentation and all but maybe all the fermentables wouldnt ferment. out or maybe force carbonate with honey.. Just a thought
JJ

Click to expand...

What if you boiled it to kill the yeast then added some sugar? drink it flat? idk?

You don't want to boil it to kill the yeast, you'll also kill the flavor and boil out the alcohol too. You can either keep sweetening it with concentrate until the yeast peters out, or use (I think) campden tablets to kill the yeast. A sugar to use to sweeten with besides lactose is Splenda.

I tried adding a slice of apple to the bottles when I bottled and had OK results with it.