First Cider

[hunter006]

Hi all

Right firstly im a newb at this so no trick questions please.
I have read quite a bit on this homebrewing malarkey and thought i would give it a go after coming across this recipe for TC first batch was dead so tossed that down the sink.
FIRST BATCH
2L Apple juice from concemtrate 100%
2 Cups of granulated sugar
1/2 pkt wine yeast
2g baking yeast ( don't ask )
10 days bubbled a bit didnt look too good!!

SECOND BATCH
4L Apple juice from concentrate 100%
200g Brewing sugar
1tsp yeat nutrient ( dissolved in 1/2L water from kettle with sugar )
1pkt wine yeast

All into a demmijohn, shaken, stopper and bubbler. This bubbled at a rate of every 20-30 sec at around 15c so put a brewbelt on to bring up the temp. 24h later had a crust about 1 1/2 inches thick which seemed to be above juice and sediment at the dottom. I gave a slight shakento release the crust which dispersed throughout. About 6 hours later this thing was alive to the point where I had to remove the belt and change the bubbler to a blowoff tube as it blew loads of sediment into the bubbler pushing the top off, bubbling at a rate of once every 1/2 sec. I have bought the temp back to 15c with bubbler back on at a rate of one every 2sec. Cider is cloudy and cant see anything left at the bottom. No crust since the shake but now have a white foam about 1/2 inch thick and not even 48hours yet.
Is this right! Wrong, good or bad..
Smells ok but i have vanilla vodka in the bubbler so would do.
TIA for any answers, point i should take into concideration..

I have got a hydrometre but never took any before

 

[Pickled_Pepper]

I think it all sounds pretty good to me. The foam is a good sign and will go away in a few days. The only thing I would recommend is to get rid of the vanilla vodka. Over the years I have learned a lot about making cider by just smelling the air coming from the airlocks or blowoff tube. With the vanilla smell you probably won't be able to get the full effect. A plain cheap vodka or even sanitizer water is fine. Other than that...looks good.

 

[hunter006]

Things have settled a lot now.. bubbler seems to be slowing to about once every 4-5 secs and the white foam is now slowly dissapearing. Its just around the outside , slightly towards the middle..the whole thing looks cloudy/milky like strong tea!! but guessing this will settle in time..

 

[hunter006]

things have settled a lot now.. Bubbler seems to be slowing to about once every 4-5 secs and the white foam is now slowly dissapearing. Its just around the outside , slightly towards the middle..the whole thing looks cloudy/milky like strong tea!! But guessing this will settle in time..

 

[xjbobbin82]

Looks good man!! I have a gallon of cider going as of tonight. I tried a gallon of grape juice, 1 1/2 cups cane sugar with bread yeast and raisins for nutrient. After 13 days it fermented dry, but smelled and tasted horrible so I dumped it (hadn't planned on drinking it anyway, first attempt at brewing anything). Alcohol content was strong though. Never gonna touch bread yeast again!!

 

[jackfrost]

Looks good man!! I have a gallon of cider going as of tonight. I tried a gallon of grape juice, 1 1/2 cups cane sugar with bread yeast and raisins for nutrient. After 13 days it fermented dry, but smelled and tasted horrible so I dumped it (hadn't planned on drinking it anyway, first attempt at brewing anything). Alcohol content was strong though. Never gonna touch bread yeast again!!

Never dump it bro. Just let it age in carboy 6m to 12m. Bottle and try again alcohol mellows with time

 

[xjbobbin82]

Never dump it bro. Just let it age in carboy 6m to 12m. Bottle and try again alcohol mellows with time

See the problem was, my primary was the plastic bottle that the juice came in, with a rigged up blowoff tube that wasn't sanitized. I made a huge mess trying to siphon into bottles without any proper equipment, got frustrated and chucked it.

I now have a batch of cider in a glass carboy sitting at an FG of .997ish after 5 days, I tasted it when taking the SG sample and man I could drink it as it sits! (must be patient though) Now I'm waiting on more jugs and supplies to arrive so I can start more batches.

I'll never dump a batch again, because I'll never use bread yeast again lol