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Most of what you asked has been answered above. however here is a different take on your questions 3 and 4 (i.e. this is the way I do it). Swing tops are O.K. for dry carbonated cider but not for heat pasteurised sweet carbonated cider. The swing-top seals can leak above 70-80psi which is a...

One of the more useful things that I use is an acid titration kit to measure the acid level in juice/cider. Although they are usually calibrated for wine (Tartaric Acid), the kits are also relatively easy to use for cider (Malic Acid). Both Jolicoeur (in his book) and Lea (on his website) have...

Hmm... interesting comment about alcohol inhibiting yeast, which I hadn't considered. I guess we are drifting off topic a bit and starting to get into rarified atmosphere but probably it still has relevance to the problem. Some points to throw into the search for a solution are... There isn't...

I recently had a similar problem. Have a look at my post of 7 September "An update on Failed Carbonation. Why is it so?", just down the page a bit. You don’t mention what yeast you are using or what the bottling SG is, but basically a high nutrient demand yeast (such as ale yeasts) combined...

Whoops... If I read your numbers correctly (ditto my maths), a tsp of potassium metabisulphite per gallon is roughly 1/4 tsp per litre, say 1 gram per litre. This is 1000 ppm! I understand that potassium metabisulphite is around 60% S02, so you have dosed your juice with about 600ppm of...

Yep, that pretty much follows my experience of a few years ago with a comparison of S04, AS2, and Cote des Blancs. After two days S04 was going well, AS2 had slight signs of bubbles and CdB had started but was slow. After 5 days the roles had changed, and they changed again as time went on. S04...

Hi Jnesselrode Re your query about safe time for standard beer bottles. The short answer is "very short" if you are just trying to kill the yeast. However, a side effect of pasteurising is that it also gets rid of undesirable pathogens which could spoil the cider. Bottles exposed to 65C for...

See my reply to Mikeymike 929 via SnyderCider earlier today. I often use S04 which can stop above 1.000 if the must is low in YAN (yeast nutrient), but in many cases especially if you have added something to the apple juice there will be enough YAN for the S04 to go all the way. If this...

Hi MikeyMike 929, welcome to the fun! I have the same philosophical view re making stuff at home. That is why I go down the path of hot waterbath pasteurising for sweet carbonated cider. Have a look at my post of 19 July 2022 above and my reply to Frankiemuniz on 13 July 2022 which has an...

My approach would be to spread the risk by having three x 5 litre batches each with minimum head space to reduce the post primary exposure to O2 and sitting at 10-15C under airlocks. I would make sure that two are properly filled and top the third up with cooled boiled water perhaps with a bit...

I guess you have to weigh up the issues and decide what might work for you. To help (or to confuse), these are the things I would think about... Start off with everything cleaned and sanitised to minimise the chance of spoilage. The 10-15C temperature is good for a reasonably slow...

Your choice... There seems to be two schools of thought. Some say to remove a sample to measure then discard it to avoid any contamination (this is probably O.K. if you have lots of cider and can afford to waste 100ml or so every time you measure the SG). Others (including me) sanitise the...

I am sure you will get lots of replies. Wondering what to do with a bumper crop was how I started, so welcome to the "addiction" of making cider. My first batch was horrible so don't be too bothered if yours isn't what you expect. I have had "natural" fermentations take quite a while, but the...

Oh good... a chance to rave on a bit. Your post has "let slip the dogs of war", or at least opened a can of worms! Sadly, it seems to be the same everywhere as apple orchards are replaced by more commercially viable crops. It is a tough commercial world out there. Here in Oz, the "Apple Isle"...

I would endorse Rish's comment. Last year when we were a bit short of apples I did a couple of gallons with store-bought juice (well, really orchard bought juice from Bellvue Orchards who supply single variety juices). I blended 50% Pink Lady, 33% Golden Delicious and 17% Granny Smith and ended...

One tsp of nutrient per gallon (probably about 200ppm of YAN) should be more than enough to ensure complete fermentation, especially with EC1118. What is the SG of the stopped cider? If you aren't able to measure it, "taste" should give you a rough idea. With EC1118 and nutrient, a fully...

The first question others will ask is "have you measured the gravity?" EC1118 (I assume that is what you have used) will ferment quite robustly so 10 days from something like SG 1.050 to SG 1.000 or below wouldn't be unusual. As there will still be lots of yeast, adding the extra juice (sugar)...

Re the Grolsch bottles. I don't use them for sweet-carbonated cider (i.e. hot water bath pateurised) because they do leak at around 70psi and peak pressure can exceed this (and the actual Grolsch bottles are hard to put labels on), but I do use other plain ones with similar seals for fully...

This is a bit of a P.S. to the previous post. If you use PET bottles with depressed bottoms they may "blow out" under pressure (i.e. become round at the bottom) causing the bottles to fall over and become difficult to retrieve without cooking your fingers... Don't ask how I know!!!!

I use salvaged crown seal bottles, but in the past have used salvaged twist tops without any issues. However, I understand that twist tops can be weaker than regular crown seal bottles. I also understand that PET bottles can suffer from gas transfer issues and so are not recommended for long...