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Whole Foods is exactly what I've been using. Get a glass jug out of the deal. Not the most ideal blend for cider, but it works.

I have yet to make my first mead - I was waiting until after the holidays to go pick up a free carboy from some distant relative before I started. I've been kind of hanging around here trying to figure things out before I do. I'm experienced with cider and wine. Beer is my husband's thing. So...

It is a powder, not a liquid. Also, you may not have very good luck adding it this late in the game. It is one of those things that you add 12 hours before the yeast. I wrote a blog about it here: http://bycandlelightwinery.blogspot.com/2009/12/adding-pectic-enzyme.html

A newbie here... why do you need to degas? I've only bottled one batch, and didn't degas. Didn't know it was even a process. I've got a strawberry wine though that will probably need to be bottled early next week.

I make all my wines in one gallon batches. All you really need is 3 lbs worth of fruit (could be frozen), 2 lbs of sugar, a gallon of water, and all the goodies like tannin, enzyme, acid blend, etc. Good to go!

Nobody seems to talk about the FG being less than 1 with a starting SG that would produce 11% alcohol. In my mind, that wouldn't taste very good, either, as it would be very dry and strong. So, in addition to aging, could it also be a personal taste thing?

I brew with pasteurized juice all the time, and it clears as long as I remember to put in pectic enzyme. The one time I forgot, there was no clearing it.

What is the acceptable pH? I've been trying to figure that out before I start my first batch. And what does RDWHAHB mean?

Actually, the more I think about it, the more I have to say let it age longer. You are adding "sugar" in the form of malt. I'm not sure it would be done fermenting after just three weeks to make it safe enough to bottle, so watch the airlock and check with your hydrometer.

I think that is the upper level of what is acceptable for cider (1.015). It would be a sweet cider. You could probably bottle it, but chemical it to make sure it doesn't restart.

Admittedly, I don't know much about beer or grafs, but I do know cider, and two things jump out at me. Adding the apple juice when boiling could change the flavor and give it a cooked flavor (then again, adding malt will change the flavor, also, so what do I know?). Secondly, and probably more...

I just bottled a batch doing pretty much what you are planning on doing, except I didn't add any more sugar. I'm a tad nervous about it. Read by blog for details about what I did exactly: http://bycandlelightwinery.blogspot.com/2009/12/cinnamon-cranberry-apple-cider.html. There is one follow up...

I asked the Cider Workshop, and they finally gave me this answer: One is the risk of infection from non-yeast organisms, bacteria etc, which may have multiplied with the yeast and carried over. In breweries, where re-use is common, yeast is often acid-washed to mitigate this. Two is that in...

Actually, I think broken glass in the dishwasher ruined my folk's motor, so yeah, dishwasher probably isn't a good method. Growing up, my mother used to can fruit all the time. She also had some jar tongs that gripped the jar just under the lid. Check around the canning aisle of your grocery...

I realized he didn't talk about pasteurizing on that link. His book says that you need a water bath of some sort. A false bottom to prevent bumping such as a rack to pull the bottles out is recommended. The bottles need to be uncapped and heated to 66 degrees C (not the water, but the cider)...

This Englishman wrote a book on making cider, so I often point people at his website when it comes to this topic: http://www.cider.org.uk/part4.htm

It takes chemicals to stop a cider fermentation, not cold. A freight train is a good description. If you want it sweet, it is easier to go dry, chemical it, and then back sweeten.

Okay, I have a slightly better response this time, and I'm quoting a Flemish cider maker, hence the spellings. "Don't. This is not clean yeast. It should be sieved and washed in a mild disinfectant. And it is not fresh. Autolysis will have set in,can give off- flavours."

Yes, it would start again, but I wouldn't do it. I'm on an email group where most of the cider makers are British. Saving the lees came up once, and one member said, "If I understand you well you want to use a yeast culture from an ended fermentation to start up a new one. Don't. Use a new...

I'm used to brewing cider, which is pH sensitive. Wine can be to a certain degree depending on all the types of acids, and I know beer can be since they sell beer pH strips. I've been having a hard finding out about mead. The two books I've been reading is Wild Wines and Meads and The Complete...