Newbie to brewing from the Catskills NY

[HippeeSandee]

New to brewing... Bought some apple cider (unpasturized) yesterday and decided maybe would be nice to make some hard cider... Chopped up an apple for the natural yeast and bought some brown sugar and made a hose with a tight fit to let carbonation escape and see what happens... I like to jump into things with both feet and sort it out later... Still haven't figured out what a carboy is yet... But Hey I am started....

Now I need to find a place that has brewing supplies so I can see what I am buying. This is going to be an exciting journey for me

HippeeSandee

 

[disaffected]

Welcome to the board, HippeeSandee.

A carboy is a glass or plastic bottle that is generally in the three to seven gallon range.

Many beer and wine starter kits include them. Here's some kits that include carboys from Northern Brewer.

It's nice if you can find a LHBS (Local home brew store) so you can see what you're buying, but these web sites are also a great resource:

Try some of these:

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/
http://morebeer.com/index.html
http://www.northernbrewer.com/
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/

The first two have nearly free or free shipping for some stuff.

 

[HippeeSandee]

Cool
Looks like I should find some yeast and budget in the rest... I jumped the gun and bought a gallon of cider, added a chopped-up apple, added 2 cups of brown sugar, sounds like I goofed.... As long as I have used the ingredients, what do you think I should expect, oh well a good experiment something may come of it... In the meantime I'll go on the browl and get ideas for yeast etc....

 

[disaffected]

So I take it you were going the wild yeast route? Sounds like an interesting experiment.

I don't believe I've ever had hard cider before. Guess I should try some to see what it's like. Same for mead. Never had any.

 

[TheJadedDog]

Cider is much easier to make than beer, the wild yeast method being perfectly acceptable, I wouldn't worry about it. If you are going to make beer on the other hand, wild yeast is to be avoided at all cost unless you're in a Belgian brewery and that's a whole other story.