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Thank you for the advance bottle conditioning pdf.

I also would recommend trying to get it to a secondary. Plus you want to mix in the sorbate/sulfite/pectin, but not with lees. A lot of people don't find it necessary, but I really think it helps the overall cider.

I recently bought 3 quarts jugs (10 of them) to transfer my whole foods one gallons into. It was expensive, but I see a lot of 1 gallon batches in my future for testing.

Looks good, You get a chance to get a gravity reading on it?

I'm mad because I didn't get them on Sale. They are sometimes $5.99, but when I needed 10 -- they will full price!

I took them via refractometer. I think the real distortion I've found is the liquid isn't even in sugars, but that being said you can get a similar effect with a hydrometer. I agree it's not accurate, but I still believe it's a fair ballpark. Also alcohol is large problem for readings, but the...

Update -- Took Gravity Readings. Batch #2 – 1.04 (2.23% alcohol) Batch #3 – 1.038 (2.49% alcohol) Batch #4 – 1.039 (2.36% alcohol) Batch #5 – 1.029 (2.36% alcohol) Batch #6 – 1.033 (1.84% alcohol) Did not stir the carboys. Temp is lower (61-65 F in room). Even...

Invest in some cleaning products, don't want to waste your time over $5 of cleaner. Local home-brew shops or midwestsupplies is the place to get it.

Have you considered a blow-off, since it's so aggressive? Maybe too little too late advice.

Looks good, About to pitch a white labs cider yeast myself.

You could consider champagne bottles, corks, and cages -- That's my plan long-term, to age for years.

It sounds like your seal might be bad, but it also sounds like you are checking it a lot. Regardless you should have some activity if you seal it back up (relatively fast). Keep it up though.

I think washing yeast is great idea, but I wouldn't take the strain more than 2-3 batches because of mutation. A lot of the yeast I previously used were so cheap, this wasn't worth the time. However, recently some of my yeasts have been pretty expensive.

This is why I prefer carbonating via keg so much more. Pasteurize it and be safe while handling the bottles. If you think it's at a dangerous carbonation level, I'm not sure I would risk it. Maybe via dishwasher (for shield).

I would suggest a fruit press and grinder (often made of a garbage disposal) for any large quantity of fruit. It would be an all day project via kitchen juicer for 5 gallons, and it might not be good for the juicer.

I've looked into filtering cider because I want to store it long-term, but I've heard a lot of speculation about filtering really hurts the overall balance and taste. This is something I plan on testing in the near future (this year).

That also ran through my mind initially. I had some very sweet unfiltered cider recently and it ran 1.055. I could see a good year getting into 1.06, but that's virtually as sweet as it comes. Have to trust the OP as for OG.

It will age in the bottle just fine. You might have a decent amount of sediments in the bottles, all things considered, but it will age in there fine. I personally want to age my ciders long term (5+years) and that's when things get a bit trickery about leaving sediments/yeast/sugars in the...

I'm a big advocate for aging the cider. This cider isn't even 2 weeks old, it should get better with age. I'm glad to hear you didn't add sugar to raise OG. I've personally never worked with xylitol, so I can't comment. As for the temperature, as long as it isn't reaching extreme temperatures...

I think you might be right, but I want to experiment by adding oak essence (oak chips in alcohol, eye dropper in) and aging the cider. I think it sounds like a cool idea, but in practice will be questionable.