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With what's coming up this month, I may not be able age them for that long. At best they'll be aged for ~2 weeks before being sent with my parents to a holiday "work" party on the 19th, as well as family coming up the day after. So the first couple batches I brew will be drunk young almost in...

I've decided against trying a carbed cider for a first batch, so I'll be pasteurizing no later than an hour after I finish bottling. As for clarity, I dont mind the haze too much as long as it's got a desirable taste due to it being a first batch. For me, the first batch is more akin to a proof...

Alright, so today I was able to check up on the cider. Several things I noticed- first, the cider has not cleared, though a lot of the apple bits that got through my impromptu juicing adventure have settled on the cake, so I'm guessing the haze to it is from that. Second, with absolutely no...

Make sure you have a hydrometer before you go about adding any sugars to your starting juice. Measure your juice for it's SG before any additions. If the SG is 1.065, if the nottingham ferments it to 1.000, that means you get an 8.5% or so ABV. If you want your cider to be sweeter, yet still...

Frozen juice concentrate is a good option, as it's almost always without preservatives. Assuming your carboy is 3 gallons (384 ounces), you'd want 8 cans of the frozen juice. Fully reconstituted according to directions this comes out to exactly 3 gallons of juice. You'd be able to use the last 2...

Gonna add to this post as I've found something interesting after doing some reading of my own. So I believe this would allow for the sale of homebrewed Hard Cider tax-free. Though I'm not sure if pasteurizing the cider would be considered a preservative method. edit: to clarify, this is the...

I'd honestly recommend trying it with just plain sugar to start, without adding any honey into it. Keep in mind you'd need to also figure out what your end ABV target is, and use a yeast capable of reaching that point. Additionally, you can also try stepping the sugar instead of adding it all at...

As for the nutrient, I dont know. Liquid vs dry, I'd venture a guess that it'd be similar differences to baking yeast. Hydrating can be a good idea since you'll be certain it's evenly mixed in the carboy. An additional benefit, and this was how I did it, would be testing the make sure the yeast...

Most of the better, or more well-known, yeasts are sold in packets large enough for a 5 gallon batch if you pitch the entire thing in. Notty's prescribed amount (on the packet) is .5 to 1.0 grams per liter, and if your LHBS sells the same packets mine does, that means you're looking at ~3gal at...

I think the specifics for dealing with headspace are brewer-dependent. Some will add straight tap water while others will add in more apple juice (whether from a bottle, reconstituted out of a can, or the concentrate directly out of the can), and I think some would even add in a neutral-flavor...

I think with nottingham yeast, it depends on what the OG was for your batch. I've been reading that, for some people, it kinda drops off at around 1.005-1.010 when fermenting. My own batch that I did with notty has been fermenting for just under a week (by hours), and the majority of airlock...

Alright, another update and question. First, having been nearly 1 week fermenting, I'll be shoving the cider out into the garage at my parents' house where the cider will be chilling for 1.5-3 days and then bottled this weekend, assuming I can get hold of materials necessary, otherwise it'll...

If the original containers are glass, you might be able to get away with aging in them. If they're plastic, my honest suggestion as a person new to this as well, is to use them as a way to temporarily hold the cider while you clean out the carboy to age it in. Just mind headspace whatever you...

For this, my understanding is that unless it includes BOTH k-sorbate and k-meta, the fermentation will still happen, the yeast just cant replenish itself. Sounds like it might work, but depending on what flavors you wanted to add, like another fruit flavor, frozen juice concentrate (straight...

No hydro presently to take a measurement, though I intend to try and pick one up if they arent an excessively high price (working on a budget), as bottling equipment will take a bit of a priority this month unless I can convince parents to pick some up for christmas this year. That being said...

Alright, just posting a quick update, as of an hour ago, the fermentation is noticeably slower, and I'm guessing that the yeast is nearing the end of the sugars present. I am wondering if this is considered too fast, as at midnight, it'd have only been about 72 hours since the yeast was pitched...

Nottingham is what was used after personal research and recommendation from LHBS. I did use an amount of yeast on the higher side of the scale based on packet directions, so I've considered drawing off a cup or so off the top, storing that in a sanitized mason jar that will be chilled the same...

I've been reading these forums for a while now, and with christmas coming up, I decided that I'd give making hard cider a try. I also realize I should have posted this before I went ahead and started the first batch I've done, so I'll just preface this thread with "It's actively fermenting at...