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Your carboy isn't an aquarium. The standard triple scale brewer's hydrometer typically covers from 0.990 to 1.160. It's not uncommon for wine/cider/mead to finish below 1.000, and a 14% ABV mead would start at about 1.106. And when you get to the point of wanting to accurately sweeten a batch...

DIY: Cider Pressure Gage

Degassing has fallen out of favor because the risk of mixing in air outweighs any stirring benefits. Especially with a clear finished wine.

Because alcohol is thinner than water.

What exactly is apple juice concentrate? As @madscientist451 mentioned, if it contains preservatives like potassium sorbate or sodium benzoate it will not ferment.

Condensation isn't a big deal. But I don't use plastic carboy buckets for aging because of the large area for exposure to oxygen. Sulfite will help as an antioxidant but I feel it's still tempting fate for long term aging. My process involves racking to sealed glass carboys with minimal neck...

35°C is much too warm. Cool it to below 20° and try again. Also, do you have a hydrometer? Can you measure specific gravity?

Thar' she blows!

Umm... that's about 11.8%.

I did the same for my first JAOM. Started July 4th weekend, bottled after 90 days in September. Cracked the first bottle at Thanksgiving. The clove and orange were dominant but it was drinkable (and 15%!). Better at Christmas. They continue to improve for about 8 months.

Perry should be treated exactly like cider. The fruit needs to be ripe, ground to a pulp with an apple scratter, and pressed into juice. No boiling or simple crushing. You want Pear juice. It's not easy to do.

I bought 2 gallons of orchard cider once and put them in my 38° fridge. After 2 weeks I came down to the basement and discovered that they had started fermenting with wild yeast. Made a hell of a mess. I transferred them to carboys and let it continue at basement temp (maybe 65°). Don't remember...

Single varietal ciders depend very much on where you are. I would love to try some Dabinett, which were bred for that purpose. UK cider makers also lean heavily on the Kingston Black crop (bitter sharps). Here in the US, Winesap and Fuji work well. Might need some tannin or acid adjustment...

Bump. Registration is open. I hope some of our members can enter. My current meads aren't ready yet. :(

Just give the hydrometer a spin with your fingers to break the bubbles away before taking a reading. It'll be close enough.

Yes, and as you said definitions vary. In the US and UK cider is made from apples and any other fermented fruit is wine. In Italy, wine is made from grapes and any other fermented fruit is cider. We had an Italian lady here a couple years ago asking about strawberry cider. Google was failing...

I use a 1.6 gallon mini keg for my ciders, inside a small fridge with the tank external. I have a gas line (not visible here) with a liquid line connector on it. At kegging time I start with about 25 psi to the liquid tap at room temp, and shake the keg until the gas is absorbed (you can hear...

The OP doesn't say where he/she is from. In some parts of the world wine is from grapes and any other fermented fruit is cider. Blackberry wine in the US is blackberry cider in Italy.

A swamp cooler is definitely better than nothing. How you proceed will depend on your commitment to the hobby. In my early days I limited mead and ciders to winter months, where Connecticut weather was a big help. Eventually I acquired a basic temp control system and I will say that it was the...

Fermentation temp. One of the reasons why I do my meads in the winter months.