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In New England and perhaps other regions you made what is known as boiled cider. It is made by boiling or evaporating the water off fresh apple juice. You can measure the SG with a hydrometer meant for candy making. I have made boiled cider several times and have purchased it as well. Boiling...

I tried this bottle conditioning with a different yeast two years ago and proved to myself that it can really change the flavor of the finished cider. This year I had 12 cases which had been fermented from the same blend of apples so when it came time to bottle, all were going to taste the...

I used WLP616 to bottle condition 5 gal of wild fermented cider this year. The cider fermented over last winter, starting at 1.065 (great sugar year due to drought conditions) and finishing at 1.004 in July. I bottle conditioned it by adding 616, and 150 grams of dextrose then filled two cases...

The dose recommended for an intentional spontaneous fermentation is 25 ppm, about half the dose you would use before pitching a commercial yeast. In any case, thanks for running your accidental experiment and showing us the pictures that prove even at high doses, sulfite does not kill wild...

Before you do anything else, get a specific gravity reading with your hydrometer then top up that carboy to within 1" of the top. The hydrometer reading will tell you how close you are to a complete fermentation and the reduction in headspace might save you from producing 5 gallons of apple...

tennesseean_87 makes a good point. I would amplify that a bit by saying that beer and ale yeasts are developed to deal with complex sugars while wine and cider yeasts are developed to metabolize simple sugars. Using beer and ale yeast to make cider is like using vice grips instead of the right...

Still lots of fear and loathing out there about spontaneous fermentation. Embrace the wild then ferment slow and cold. Yes there is yeast in the air but all apples contain apiculate yeast which is the first wild bug to chow down on all that sugar. These wee beasties lock in a full bodied...

What is the outside temp at night where you live? You could put your cider outside at night then put it in an insulated place during the day. I wouldn't dream of trying to make cider at temperatures approaching 70 deg without expecting all sorts of problems. Those three jugs could fit in the...

Toward the end of the turbulent phase of yeast growth, the yeast population is high and has likely consumed most of the nutrients available in the must. All of the above suggestions will help or even fix the problem. I take the same path as Maylar which is to slow the yeast growth down by...

Good to hear that failure to follow instructions is not the problem. On this forum, you can never be sure since there are so many newcomers to the craft. When I have a delayed start, my first instinct is to increase the temperature (put the bucket next to my furnace) and agitate with a paint...

You can substantially reduce the tannin content by adding gelatin with a kieselsol chaser. Be sure not to use something like Knox's. Buy your gelatin from a wine supply store. This is common practice in white wine production. Potassium carbonate or bicarbonate can only be used in modest...

643 + 65 = 708 gallons bottled in 2017. The 2016 crop was stunted due to drought conditions but the OG was around an amazing 1.065 for most of it. Most of this cider is from neighborhood mongrel apples plus some seedling apples. Five gallons were pure Baldwin juice from one of my trees...

Marbles work but you will be surprised how much a gallon of marbles cost. Glass pellets used to fill flower vases are a little cheaper. Be sure to wash them well. They come from China so the lead content might be a problem though cider drinkers are already a little crazy and you might not be...

Don't blend the juice from these apples into your main batch of cider until you have fermented them. Then try various blending proportions until you arrive at something that you like. Tannins can overwhelm your cider. Moreover, these are very likely highly acidic. Typically, crab apples and...

I generally agree with Yooper that the terminology is unclear and it may not serve a larger purpose to get in a discussion about it but since so many have jumped in, I will raise by a nickle. Many cider makers started by brewing beer and have carried over the terminology which is sometimes...

Could be that those strands of bubbles are forming along fine scratches in the glass or some residue that was left behind by a bottle brush. Bubbles in your carboy will nucleate on edges, pits, or other small particles. You can demonstrate this phenomenon by pouring a carbonated beverage...

Hi acetylcholine, You said that you pitched dehydrated yeast. Do you mean you literally stirred it into your juice? If so, get another packet, read the instructions on how to properly hydrate it before pitching it. If you yeast was hydrated as specified on the package, you may have added...

If you really are at 1.010, its going to go to dryness. No stopping it now. Commercial yeast is brutal. It gives you little time to do the subtle tweaks that can avoid burning through all the sugar. On the bright side, let it finish, get a final SG and plot your next move. If the acid is...

Don't freak out about a mild sulfur aroma at midpoint in your fermentation. It could be your yeast is stressed or you added too much sulfite to the original juice. Not much you can do for the latter but the best thing to do for the former is to lower the temp a little more to slow things down...

Maylar is right, FSU is a measure of the speed of fermentation. You can see on my graph that it varies dramatically at first which is due to things like racking which I do every 10 point drop and temperature which is controlled by how cold it is at night and how much I leave my garage doors...