MBuckBrewer
New Member
Hello from Toledo, Ohio where the apples from my tree are reaching the end of their peak.
I have picked them all and stored them in my fridge and been working to make batches each weekend.
My tree is not sprayed and has a worm in each apple. I have to quarter and core each one before processing through my juicer.
Everybody's posts seem way more advanced than me.
I am still concerned about contamination. I bought this powder Easy clean stuff to dip my equipment in for sanitizing (which I prepared correct and the 1 gallon demijohns did not dry out on the inside!
The outside of the demijohn had actual white residue from the sanitizing!! I ended up buying distilled water to rinse all the equipment and hose. Such a pain!
If that sanitizer can cause blindness, what would it do if small trace mixed with the cider?!
Do I have to wait for all equipment to dry after sanitizing in order to use it?
Anyway, my tree is grafted with a few varieties. For my first go I separated all of them and made a red batch and a yellow batch. I washed them all first, of course.
I have to wash them all with a special rag from Norwex due to the mold spots all over the outsides that wipe off.
I had access to a Red Star wine making yeast, so that is what I used.
I did not add anything else, as I wanted to see how the most basic recipe tasted and turn out.
For two weeks, I fermented in the 1 gallon glass demijohn with a gas release thing on the top with Jameson's inside. lol
My siphon must be broken because the little black plastic part that should stay on fell off into the demijohn as I was attempting to siphon the fermented cider into a pot.
I was nervous about what I had read online (before discovering this great website) about how long the cider will last.
So, I slowly heated it to 165 degrees while stirring. I added about 2 tablespoons of raw honey during this slow heating also because the taste was kind of sour.
I am super concerned that the cider seems watery and sour and think that all that suspended material (mine is not clear to see through) is yeast poop or dead bodies of yeast mixed with apple debris that was unavoidable, as I filtered it the best I could before putting into the demijohn.
After that cooled a bit, still warm, I bottled it into 16 oz dark brown beer bottles with the flip top and then I through them into the fridge.
You all have me worried about a bottle bomb! I hope my glass fridge shelves do not get broken!
I hope that the heating pasteurized it enough to make it last a few weeks! The stirring removed the carbonation of this batch, which I am fine with.
My yellow apple batch I bottled straight from the demijohn, after fermenting for two weeks. No heating. No stirring, so it is crisp with carbonation. It tastes watery and sour and it is cloudy.
I had read on other sites not to use pasteurized sweet juice or cider - that is would not ferment, but here on this website it sounds like everybody is using pasteurized juice prior to fermenting.
I am so confused about that.. Should I be pasteurizing before and after fermenting? This was supposed to be simple!
I am only doing this because I can't bare to throw away my janky apples!
Note, the smell is good. Nice apply sweet smell.
I did a third batch last weekend and after reading some of your posts, I want to understand this racking and secondary business..
I used SafCider AB-1 for this batch.
I want to try to add things like maple syrup, honey, brown sugar, molasses, dry star of anise, cinnamon sticks..
I would prefer a quick and easy process to make a tasty sweet cider that is clear and no janky sour debris.
So, let the experimenting begin! It sounds like I can leave this to ferment longer than 2 weeks? Although then comes in the posts about nutrients and fermentation complete time differing with different yeasts. Yikes!
Maybe I should move it out to another clean demijohn this weekend and add some sweet/spice and continue to ferment? Maybe add the raisin trick for nutrient.
I will be juicing more this weekend and hopefully get the last 4 huge bowls of apples out of my fridge!
My concern is if it is safe to drink.
I bought the OG glass thing, but could not read it. There are more than one scale on it and I don't understand which one to look at and it is so hard to read anyway.
Any fellow Toledo cider makers want to come try my cider?
Any advice would be very welcome especially addressing my concerns above.
Thank you for your time to read my post and for info you share on your posts.
I'm so glad there is increased interest in this. It is fun and exciting and so much tastier than beer! LOL!
I have picked them all and stored them in my fridge and been working to make batches each weekend.
My tree is not sprayed and has a worm in each apple. I have to quarter and core each one before processing through my juicer.
Everybody's posts seem way more advanced than me.
I am still concerned about contamination. I bought this powder Easy clean stuff to dip my equipment in for sanitizing (which I prepared correct and the 1 gallon demijohns did not dry out on the inside!
The outside of the demijohn had actual white residue from the sanitizing!! I ended up buying distilled water to rinse all the equipment and hose. Such a pain!
If that sanitizer can cause blindness, what would it do if small trace mixed with the cider?!
Do I have to wait for all equipment to dry after sanitizing in order to use it?
Anyway, my tree is grafted with a few varieties. For my first go I separated all of them and made a red batch and a yellow batch. I washed them all first, of course.
I have to wash them all with a special rag from Norwex due to the mold spots all over the outsides that wipe off.
I had access to a Red Star wine making yeast, so that is what I used.
I did not add anything else, as I wanted to see how the most basic recipe tasted and turn out.
For two weeks, I fermented in the 1 gallon glass demijohn with a gas release thing on the top with Jameson's inside. lol
My siphon must be broken because the little black plastic part that should stay on fell off into the demijohn as I was attempting to siphon the fermented cider into a pot.
I was nervous about what I had read online (before discovering this great website) about how long the cider will last.
So, I slowly heated it to 165 degrees while stirring. I added about 2 tablespoons of raw honey during this slow heating also because the taste was kind of sour.
I am super concerned that the cider seems watery and sour and think that all that suspended material (mine is not clear to see through) is yeast poop or dead bodies of yeast mixed with apple debris that was unavoidable, as I filtered it the best I could before putting into the demijohn.
After that cooled a bit, still warm, I bottled it into 16 oz dark brown beer bottles with the flip top and then I through them into the fridge.
You all have me worried about a bottle bomb! I hope my glass fridge shelves do not get broken!
I hope that the heating pasteurized it enough to make it last a few weeks! The stirring removed the carbonation of this batch, which I am fine with.
My yellow apple batch I bottled straight from the demijohn, after fermenting for two weeks. No heating. No stirring, so it is crisp with carbonation. It tastes watery and sour and it is cloudy.
I had read on other sites not to use pasteurized sweet juice or cider - that is would not ferment, but here on this website it sounds like everybody is using pasteurized juice prior to fermenting.
I am so confused about that.. Should I be pasteurizing before and after fermenting? This was supposed to be simple!
I am only doing this because I can't bare to throw away my janky apples!
Note, the smell is good. Nice apply sweet smell.
I did a third batch last weekend and after reading some of your posts, I want to understand this racking and secondary business..
I used SafCider AB-1 for this batch.
I want to try to add things like maple syrup, honey, brown sugar, molasses, dry star of anise, cinnamon sticks..
I would prefer a quick and easy process to make a tasty sweet cider that is clear and no janky sour debris.
So, let the experimenting begin! It sounds like I can leave this to ferment longer than 2 weeks? Although then comes in the posts about nutrients and fermentation complete time differing with different yeasts. Yikes!
Maybe I should move it out to another clean demijohn this weekend and add some sweet/spice and continue to ferment? Maybe add the raisin trick for nutrient.
I will be juicing more this weekend and hopefully get the last 4 huge bowls of apples out of my fridge!
My concern is if it is safe to drink.
I bought the OG glass thing, but could not read it. There are more than one scale on it and I don't understand which one to look at and it is so hard to read anyway.
Any fellow Toledo cider makers want to come try my cider?
Any advice would be very welcome especially addressing my concerns above.
Thank you for your time to read my post and for info you share on your posts.
I'm so glad there is increased interest in this. It is fun and exciting and so much tastier than beer! LOL!
