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I have used those vacuum-pump wine-bottle sealers for years (they also work on Crabbies, which I often drink half of at a time and want to preserve to the second night). There's one in my kitchen drawer right now. I've literally made a bottle of red last a week. They are amazing. It has crossed...

Okay, I guess I'll load up the jugs (do you call them carboys when you're referring to the 1-gallon versions?) and let the campden finish off through the airlocks. At some point here I need to add the pectic enzyme, I guess about 12h after campden and 12h before yeast. I suppose it doesn't...

Hmmm, my preferment isn't even in jugs/carboys yet. I can't airlock it, as it's just in a bucket. I guess I can poor it into jugs to finish off the campden tablet period and airlock them.

This must be an incredibly straightforward question, but it seems problematic to leave campden-treated cider, either pre-primary-ferment, or racked-to-secondary, sitting open-topped for 24 hours to degas the sulfur dioxide. First, there is the concern that you are exposing everything to air...

You say you let it sit for a few weeks. Do you mean in the primary on the full lees, or did you rack it early and sulfury, and let it sit in secondary for a long time to clear the sulfur? I'm confused as to how sulfur outgases after fermentation is complete. Be it in primary or secondary, once...

I have a batch in primary that fermented very fast, bottoming out in the .99s (three jugs .995-.997) in a few days. It's very sulfury and I think I'll just let it age for a long time. I think I should rack it now even though it's quite young since fermentation isn't doing anything at this point...

Yeah, that was my first batch. I was clueless. I often sweeten the freshly pasteurized juice a lot so that if drunk unhardened (say for kids) it'll actually taste good. Truth be told, juice in any form really does have a lot of sugar in it and I find that if I don't put quite a lot in, the...

I haven't racked anything at all yet, none of my batches. My first batch, starting from a high OG but fermenting slowly, is now 30 days in, still on primary, with a linear projection to hit 1.0 at 10 weeks! I'm worried the lees will harm the batch before it ferments properly. My second batch...

One question I had was how to age this sulfurous batch that has completed fermentation. Should I leave it in the primary, on the lees, for a while and only rack it after some more time has passed, or should I rack it immediately? Thanks.

I added nutrient to the third batch, the only one that went sulfurous. But I'll be sure to add it every time from now one (or at least to high OG ciders). I shake the jugs very vigorously immediately after pitching the yeast. I mean, I don't do it before pitching the yeast. Do you think that's...

As I admitted, I add sugar, so it isn't reflective of the initial pressed juice. I don't mind if it is conceptually closer to wine than cider. Adding sugar doesn't bother me, but perhaps I need to do it more carefully. I heat to 160-185 for ten minutes, although once it reaches that temp in...

This fall is my first season making cider -- and my first season making any kind of alcohol. I've never brewed of fermented or distilled anything before. My main motivation is that I have a large apple tree that I can't keep up with via baking and or freezing to bake over the year. So I tried...