My best friend (more like a brother) would like to learn how to make hard cider. He doesn't like beer, but is always a good sport to try my home brews. Since I have been brewing beers for a little over a year, he has asked me to help him out since he doesn't have any equipment or knowledge, but would like to learn and eventually by the equipment. With that being said here come my questions.
Can I simply buy good quality apple cider and make a small 2-2.5 gallon batch in my mr. beer fermenter (used for experiments and trail runs) as my first attempt at making cider? If so, is it as simple as placing the apple cider in the fermenter and pitching the yeast? Or do I need to simmer or boil the juice for a period of time and add anything to it? After a few weeks (3-4), I could simply bottle it right? Without a secondary I understand it may be cloudy. Or does cider need to ferment for a longer period of time? I know a hydrometer reading will tell me when it's done, but I'm just curious to know roughly how long it takes to ferment. When I go to bottle it, would I use a sugar drops/carbonation tablets like I would when bottling home brew? Or is there another method or ingredient to bottling hard cider?
Once I have at least one or two batches done using my mr. beer fermenter and want to move into making a 5 gallon batch, is it ok to ferment it in my bucket (6.5 gallons)? I believe have read that Yooper has fermented beer, cider and wine in plastic buckets without flavors mixing into each other. If I should designate a bucket for just cider I will, but figured I would ask. Is there a really good reason to have to use a secondary, or is it just for clarity? Or could I possibly move it to the bottling bucket as the secondary until it's ready to be bottled?
Thank you all in advance! CHEERS!
Can I simply buy good quality apple cider and make a small 2-2.5 gallon batch in my mr. beer fermenter (used for experiments and trail runs) as my first attempt at making cider? If so, is it as simple as placing the apple cider in the fermenter and pitching the yeast? Or do I need to simmer or boil the juice for a period of time and add anything to it? After a few weeks (3-4), I could simply bottle it right? Without a secondary I understand it may be cloudy. Or does cider need to ferment for a longer period of time? I know a hydrometer reading will tell me when it's done, but I'm just curious to know roughly how long it takes to ferment. When I go to bottle it, would I use a sugar drops/carbonation tablets like I would when bottling home brew? Or is there another method or ingredient to bottling hard cider?
Once I have at least one or two batches done using my mr. beer fermenter and want to move into making a 5 gallon batch, is it ok to ferment it in my bucket (6.5 gallons)? I believe have read that Yooper has fermented beer, cider and wine in plastic buckets without flavors mixing into each other. If I should designate a bucket for just cider I will, but figured I would ask. Is there a really good reason to have to use a secondary, or is it just for clarity? Or could I possibly move it to the bottling bucket as the secondary until it's ready to be bottled?
Thank you all in advance! CHEERS!