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Correct, but boiling will cause maillard reactions which essentially combine sugars with nitrogen in the juice to form more complex sugars that will not be fermented out. While this has no effect on the original gravity, it will cause a higher finishing gravity with some residual sugars. I would...

Exactly! And a cider that is too cold for a yeast fermentation is unlikely to become infected by bacteria. I've had ciders take up to a week to start fermenting in 5-7 gal carboys at temperatures around 45 F. Slow fermentation reduces loss of aromatics and also reduces the chances of sulfide...

Flex your algebra muscles and you can calculate it from the information I posted :p ....... or just read below ;) 1.140 for 3 gallons after adding 3 lbs sugar (35 ppg) means 1.140-0.035=1.105 OG before sugar. A volume reduction of 7/3 would mean an original gravity of 1.105/2.333 = 1.047 OG...

About 7 gallons of rather bland juice I pressed boiled down to 3 gallons in around 4 hours, then 3 lbs of brown sugar added to hit 1.140. I hope it will finish around 1.035-1.040 so that it can be consumed like a sweet dessert wine. I did add 4g of Fermaid-O to help prevent the yeast from...

I have a cider going right now that I boiled to 1.140 and pitched QA23 yeast into. Smells like apple toffee with some nice fruity notes as it ferments away. Yeast choice should be determined by your intended finished flavor profile. Something like QA23 or R4600 will make some nice fruity esters...

5 lbs honey would also take up approximately 0.7 gallons of volume, so that needs to be factored into the gravity math. Seems like this should be a 1.7 gal batch based on the OP’s description. 5 lbs honey = 35 points per pound per gallon*5= 175 points 1 gal juice = 50 gravity points (estimated...

Because coring more than about 10 lbs of apples is a chore and as others have mentioned, the seeds and cores are filtered out anyways. I press about 400 lbs of apples a year so I'd never finish if I cored them, especially the crabapples! Seeds are only bitter if you break them open and they...

^This. Is your juice from fresh-pressed apples? If so, I think you're seeing natural keeving which is separation of pectins and fruit pulp from the juice. Some of it floats due to slight fermentation activity and some sinks. Take a look at http://cidersupply.com/Page%20-%20Good-Bad-Ugly.html...

No, your LHBS fellow is incorrect. At best, freezing at standard household deep freezer temperatures (e.g., -20F) will kill a only small portion of the wild yeast and bacteria. The juice will begin to ferment naturally when it thaws. This is no different than pulling a frozen steak out of the...

Yep, I've used them for up to about 3.5 volumes of CO2 with no issues. The glass seems a little thin for any carbonation above that.

I have very tannic and generally acidic apples, so I've found that lower attenuation results in a more drinkable cider. I pitch about 1 packet of dry wine yeast (5g) for 5-6 gallons of standard gravity cider. That generally results in a slow, controlled fermentation that dominates over wild...

That's a good idea, essentially making a starter for your cider, but beware of overpitching which might lead to too rapid of a fermentation. A very fast fermentation may lose apple flavors and attenuate to a higher degree than desired.

You misunderstood what I wrote; it is not arrogant to point out the well-documented fact that wine yeast does not make a "poor wine" of a cider. My comment was far from an attempt to stifle the "craft" of cider. Take another read of what I wrote and lets move on. Back on topic, the best way to...

Not crushing will reduce juice yield, but may produce a clearer juice. Your choice. I understand the relationship between pH and free SO2, but I will argue that low pH (i.e., <4.0 pH units) on its own does provide protection from mold and undesirable bacteria such as Enterobacter. A cider at...

I've had bad luck hopping very dry ciders (FG <1.002) with high acid as the hop flavor is just too intense and there's little sweetness to balance it out. I think I learned that the drier the cider, the less hops should be used. For example, I used 1 oz citra in 3 gallons and it was pretty...

More stable indeed! Adding sugar to fortify the ABV is called "chaptalization" and is a common practice in France for ciders that will end up with a ABV below ~4.5%, which are more susceptible to infection. I commonly add 1-2 lbs of sugar to my 5-gal fermenters to bump the abv to above 5% when...

Pectin won't change, but your apples will be softer and may be slightly slower to press because there will be more "mush" in your pomace, rather than a nice granular matrix of crushed apples. Probably not a big deal. You can grind the apples when they are mostly thawed and store in 5-gal...

Agreed, and lets not spread nonsensical information about wine yeasts for cider. Wine yeasts can produce great ciders and are less likely to generate sulfur (aka rhino fart) aromas due to their lower nutrient requirements than ale yeasts. Additionally, certain wine yeasts produce very pleasant...

Keep in mind that TOSNA nutrient protocol will result in your cider fermenting out the maximum extent, i.e., an extremely dry cider, unless you halt the fermentation. I rarely add nutrients and usually end up around 1.000 for most of my ciders using wine yeasts.

That or freeze-concentrating the juice prior to fermentation. I have added sugars to cider to reach gravities around 1.110 as an experiment and the result was super dry and not particularly flavorful using D47 or 71B (I can't remember which).