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And you can't fit 55 gallons of cider in a drum PLUS 20 lbs of sugar. Dissolved, the sugar will take up about 1/3 of it's dry volume if I remember correctly from my tests.

I don't quite follow your OG/SG original numbers, are you missing some decimals? Sugar adds "35 points" per pound per gallon, so for each gallon add one pound to bring the gravity up by .035 gravity points. I use specific gravity for brewing and ciders to be consistent, so I don't have to worry...

I've yet to find a wine yeast that won't ferment cider at temperatures around 42 F as long as the yeast gets a start a little warmer. Granted, the fermentation may take months at that temperature. My "lightly" heated garage ranges from 55 F in the fall to about 40 F in January, 50's in May, and...

This is not a "cap" that you would push down, that would be more applicable when fruits or fruit skins are present. This is possibly a combination of fruit pectins and yeasts. Akin to a "chapeau brun" which happens on apple juice, but in this case perhaps a different color due to the pears. If...

Agreed, I don't add nutrients and ferment cool to keep yeast activity slow, which seems to reduce yeast stress and produces cider without sulfide odors. I've had success with D47, 71B, QA23, R4600, and Cotes des Blancs yeasts.

Wine research suggests that adding oxygen can create disulfide compounds which are more persistent, so I'd avoid adding oxygen if at all possible. Swirling to degass would help release CO2 and carry away some of the hydrogen sulfide (H2S) from solution which is quite volatile. Also you only...

The name, "sweet mead yeast" is deceiving, as this yeast can ferment up to around 12% alcohol or maybe a little higher. This yeast will ferment cider dry and not leave any residual sugars, unless your juice is very nutrient depleted. This yeast may produce a sweet mead if your starting gravity...

I've had luck removing sulfide flavors and odor by dropping a boiled, 2-3" long piece of copper pipe into the cider for a 24-28 hrs, then racking off to a new vessel using CO2. The sulfides bind to the copper and the CO2 helps blow off some of the sulfur aromas. Just don't leave the copper in...

Never water! Marbles have worked well for me in conjunction with racking to a slightly smaller carboy as Maylar said above Purging headspace works for only so long. There is eventually gas transfer through the airlock material over long periods of time and this is why minimizing the surface...

Good to hear, I have some M02 cider yeast to try this year and compare to my current favorites, wine yeasts R4600 and QA23.

Bringing this topic back up as I have been experimenting with maceration of my apple pomace this year. I grind, add pectinase and 25-50ppm SO2 (from campden), and let the pomace sit in closed buckets for 24-48 hrs. No ill effects like souring or mold, but I'm not yet certain that I've seen a...

I used 2016 crop Pekko hops in a cider and there were wonderful apricot notes. Nobody guessed that hops were added and not apricots! I did not like Citra in my relatively acidic and tannic cider.

I'd say differing free amino nitrogen, given that pH was the same. Apple juice brix is not high enough to affect fermentation start. Dry yeast is super hardy, even when the packets are exposed to room temp.

Agreed don't rush it, this isn't a beer fermentation. I've had champagne yeast take 3+ months to ferment cider dry (~1.060 OG to 0.995 fg) without the addition of nutrients. Slow fermentation is a good thing for cider as it helps preserve aromas and results in a more complex finished product...

You can bump the body back up with some malto-dextrin without affecting the flavor.

EC1118 or Lalemand CBC-1 are good candidates for low-pH bottle conditioning.

Good idea, they sure are plentiful at my local recycling center and the labels come off pretty easily. I have used Martinellis for up to 3.5-4 volumes of CO2. They are not heavy enough to go to 7 volumes or so like thick, deeply-punted european champagne bottles.

If I had a million dollars, I'd buy the tabletop version! Till then, I'll use my bench capper to "mushroom" my corks after inserting them with a champagne corker and before putting the cages on.

I did a similar process, minus re-yeasting after a month and my brew stalled at 1.018. Tastes great but is a little sweet because of the high FG and under-carbonated because the yeast crapped out during bottle conditioning. Next time I will definitely shoot for 1.008-ish by adding more active...

Awesome! Put QA23 on your list as well, it also ferments cold and clean and the ester profile is sublimely fruity.