Recent content by yeastpoopshardcider

A little bit of background: About 4 years ago, I got a couple gallons of UV light treated cider from a local apple orchard. I brought it home and tried to go the natural yeast route. I added 5 lbs of sugar and hoped the yeast would do its thing. When moving the cider from the carboy to the...

So, it sounds as though my yeast was killed off by the camden tablets, and the general consensus is that it does not taste good enough yet. So ... I have to do something. a) I have about 2 cups of cider that never came in contact with the camden tablets, it is reading 1.04 (down from the...

What is the effect of sorbate?

I didn't take OG ... just a mid-process gravity ... but I would say that sounds right. It is still sweet.

I did not calibrate it myself, I bought it used at my local shop. It is just an older model. I don't particularly want to add yeast because I don't know which ones would be least likely to affect the cider. I wanted to do this as naturally as possible. It tastes great already, what stops me...

I waited a month after putting in camden tablets and racking and now the hydrometer is reading closer to 50 or 1.05 (down from about 1.06). It tastes great, but I have a feeling the sugar is still uneaten by the yeast. I have no problem drinking it like this, but would I have a problem if I...

What is the best way to take samples out for readings without contaminating the cider?

Okay, it is now 23 days later and the activity has gone almost to zero ... Does that mean the camden did kill my wild yeast? Do I have to add artificial yeast or do I have other options? I really don't want to pasteurize the cider and I don't want to fundamentally change the way my cider would...

I put 5 gallons of unpasteurized local cider into primary fermentation on or around March 5th. I decided to allow the natural yeast to run wild so I did not add any yeast to the cider, but I did add 5 lbs of sugar (sugar slowly heated with 1 gallon of the cider and then returned to the pail)...