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Yep, Miraculix could be right about the CO2 layer. I checked Jolicoeur, Lea and a few other sources. They don't refer to it so I think that the idea may well have stuck in my brain from a post on a forum in the dim, dark, past, about leaving a primary fermenter open but covered to keep any...

I do my primary fermentation (i.e. say 1.050 to 1.030) in an open container for two reasons. Firstly, I can see what is happening without needing to measure SG etc, and know that when the turbulent fermentation settles it is time to rack to a secondary carboy. This turbulent fermentation can...

It may not be relevant, but the flavour part of the juice melts before the water so you can control the resulting SG (and potential ABV) by stopping the thaw when your target SG has been reached. This is useful if the juice SG is lower than you need for the target ABV. It has the effect of...

Welcome to the fun. All of the above is good advice. I suggest that you look at Yooper's post at the top of the forum and also think about spending $50 or so to buy Claude Jolicoeur's Book (The New Cidermaker's Handbook) it will tell you almost everything you need to know... then ask lots of...

Yep, all of the above is correct... Yooper's post above on Cider for Beginners is a good place to start. The simple1-2-3 steps are: 1. Get your juice and add yeast (S04 is a good well-behaved yeast to start with but as Yooper points out it can stop at SG1.004 which leaves a touch of sweetness...

Just finished 1 gallon of the last of Autumn's apples =71

All of the above is good advice so here is some information and rough "rules of thumb" that work for me. You can do your own maths regarding how much cider you are making etc ... Store bought juice is typically low in acid (around 3 or 4 g/L or 0.3% -0.4%), after all, it is meant to be sweet...

Yes, I think there are some issues to overcome, like the yield would be reduced, once the primary fermentation became turbulent there would be foam etc all over the place, and a second pressing/straining would be needed to get a reasonably clean must for secondary fermentation... but the outcome...

This is a little bit off topic but related. I posted some thoughts a few weeks ago about adding pomace to primary fermentation. The idea being that the skins in the pomace would give up tannin. As you point out, there is plenty of wine information on batonage but nothing on cider (which after...

My nearest brewing shop is over two hours drive away (i.e. a half day mission there and back), so for small items like yeast I buy on-line... usually only takes two or three days by mail. In the meanwhile, can you freeze or refrigerate your small batch. Any natural ferments I have tried usually...

I have two relatively young apple trees (Cox's Orange Pippin and Bramley's Seedling) which started to blossom early in Autumn (Fall). They have small fruit forming and it is only a week away from the start of winter. The other trees are behaving normally with any fruit and leaves on them falling...

Is this too left field??? One of my batches last year was mostly Red Delicious, because I had a surplus of them. We had used a lot of the Red Delicious apples for pies, preserving etc, so I fermented on the left-over skins because that is where most of the tannins live. The result was markedly...

Yep, my take on it (which might be completely wrong) is that if the fermenting cider is sealed for the last 5 gravity points or so, you end up with about 2.5 volumes of CO2 which is taken up by the cider because it can't go anywhere else. (SG1.005 = 9g/L sugar x 47% = 4.2g CO2/1.87g/L i.e. the...

Everything is worth a try, after all I am told that ladies have to kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince! We have all tried a few things that didn't work but at least you find out what doesn't work. Guessing what is going on... two weeks fermentation sounds like the SG is getting fairly low, say...

I am not familiar with servomyces yeast as a nutrient. Dr Google suggests that it has lots of valuable trace elements but says nothing about nitrogen (YAN). From your description, my first guess is that the yeasts have simply run out of nitrogen and stalled (it has happened to me when using...

Whoops, forgot to record my "Fuji Sweet Cider" experiments... so 12L, say 3 gallons +51 = 63

Interesting idea! I pasteurise bottles using a method “inspired” by Pappers post. I guess that you could consider a keg a big bottle, so what I have learned from pasteurising bottles could well apply to kegs but on a larger scale. Anyhow following is my take on it. I have also attached a paper...

A bit of an update... The Fuji AJC primed cider was bottled and finally stopped fermenting at 3 bar or 3.75 volumes of CO2. It "tastes like" about SG1.003 or so, even though the hydrometer says 1.000, and is a bit more "fizzy" than my usual ciders, but still quite a good quaffer with a touch of...

ditto what fluketamer said. The lemon (or lime) juice will add some acidity to the usually somewhat bland storebought juice. The black tea will add tannin (dryness). You can use malic acid or tannin powder as alternatives. I suggest you use the search function at the top to search for Graham's...

I make life easy by working on an increase in SG of 2 gravity points due to fermentable sugars (plain sugar, juice, AJC or whatever) results in about 1 volume of C02 when fermented. So, I just add the sugars to increase the SG to match the volumes of C02 that I want. For 5 volumes you need to...