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Hi all, So I just got my score sheets back from a TON of ciders I entered at GLINTCAP this spring--I did really well overall, but there were a few common flaws. 1. First, "V/A" or " Volatile" or "solventy" --I read that this can be caused from too warm of a fermentation or from insufficient...

Great! Thanks everyone, I bought a two outlet thermostat control that I plan to plug into an AC unit and a heater, and make my "office" stay at a temp of 64-65 degrees at all times. I will have to suffer with the cold, but alas, great tasting cider clearly takes precedent over minuscule physical...

It's a bit varied-- for the most part my two cider sources are freshly pressed apples --cortland, mac, mutsu, crab, gala, other wild tannic varieties; and fresh cider from local mills. The yeast also varies, I'm doing lots of experiments, much of it is WYEAST cider yeast, White labs english...

Thanks everyone! Also, I got a 10$ disposable can of argon gas made for preserving opened wine bottles from amazon. Is that useful or useless in this? Should I fill the head-space with argon (I've read that it can be dangerous if breathed in--is that serious?). And also how much head-space would...

Hi everyone, Thanks for all your help so far with my cider adventure! I have many batches at various stages of primary fermentation right now--right around 68 degrees--I know that a bit cooler may be even better but hopefully this will be okay. My question is, I now have the ability to age the...

Hi everyone, I have a large number of cider batches that are all getting near the end of primary fermentation and ready to be racked into glass carboys for secondary fermentation... Some of these may have up to a gallon of head-space and was going over potential fixes/ways to top up but I...

UPDATE! We have FERMENTATION! :) Thanks everyone for your help. What ended up working was using the sulphite calculator posted above (thanks RPH Guy) , to figure out how far I might need to dilute and then trying that dilution on a small one gallon sample. Once I got the gallon going I used it...

So, I took my 4 gallon batches end aerated them by slowly poring them down the side of a wine bucket, then I stirred with a brew spoon vigorously for at least 15 minutes. I then mixed those 3.5 gallons with about 2.5 gallons of non-sulphited must, let stand for about 12 hours, aerated again...

Thanks you two! Hmm..decisions decisions, I guess that's what makes this thing fun! So I have 4 jars with this issue, I'm a bit tempted to try to take one and mix it 50-50 with non sulphite must, and aerate the other three with cheese cloth on top. I may siphon one into a wide mouthed jar so...

Okay, thanks everyone! The imperial gallon to US gallon definitely threw me--that certainly accounts for a bit of the difference (but of course not 3:1 ). Anyhow, I really appreciate everyone's help, reading this and what I've read a few other places it seems I need to aerate by siphoning into a...

Also , sorry, to clarify "keep it cold," my "cider room" is at 67-68 degrees, is that good while I wait for campden to clear, or should it be more like 40 degrees for a week in my refrigerator? And is there a way to make it clear quicker i.e. through aeration? I'm confused about the science here...

Thanks guys. So what do you all think via the 3 tabs per gallon recommendation from the site I posted? How do we rectify this recommendation with the fact that this guy is a master cider maker? To test Ph I was using wine making strips in the 2.8-4.6 range or something like that--they are...

Also, I just took a SG reading and it is 1.050 , the same as 2 and a half days ago at the fermentation start. Should I wait another few days, or aerate, use a yeast nutrient, and repitch with something? Thanks!

Hi everyone, long time lurker first time poster here. I pressed about four gallons of cider and prepared it following http://www.cider.org.uk/frameset.htm which I read about on here. Per their instructions I used 3 campden tabs (150 ppm) per gallon--which translated into 2.5 tabs as I am using...