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I made some really good wild yeast fermented cider this year. I didn't rely on the yeast on the skins though--just about anything can end up on an apple skin. The yeast you want are inside core of the apple. I cleaned my whole apples in a mild sulfite wash (about a tsp in 6 gallon of wash...

It won't hurt to have a secondary temp of 50 F. The only thing to keep in mind is that it will slow down your wine's aging. If a recipe calls for 6 months aging at 60 F, yours might take 9 months to get the same results.

Try aerating with a mixer and adding some DAP if you haven't yet.

OK, so here's a final update. I think I've got this thing licked, because I now have several batches coming out of primary without any problems. I don't know how useful this will be for others, but here are a few things that I think are letting my cider primary fermentation go much better: 1...

You do NOT want to bottle at 1.030 if there's a chance of refermentation. I would pitch another starter. OR you could add your own sodium benzoate/potassium sorbate and bottle it sweet OR bottle it in 2-liter plastic bottles so no one gets maimed.

Sour, harsh & alcoholic sounds like a good young dry cider. The fizzing could just be a reaction with the apple's malic acid. The vinegar part makes it questionable. It might have been a good idea to rack it with a quarter-teaspoon of sulfite before bottling.

First, I'd like to thank everyone that offered help here. I've tried a few of the suggestions offered here, but wasn't sure how much detail I could offer considering I've documented this thing to death in my own notebook! I am familiar with Andrew Lea's site, and it's a terrific resource. That...

I've been making hard cider for 3 years now, and I have an intermittent problem with truly awful cider coming out of my primary. I grow, grind and press my own apples-primarily dessert and baking apples (you work with what ya got). I generally add sulfite and wait 24-36 hours, and pitch...

I had my Dad send me some scion wood last winter. He was worried that they might not survive the trip. They all took except for a few that came from a very old tree. It's great to think that pieces of the farm I grew up on is here with me 2000 miles away. Unfortunately, I don't have any cider...

How about one of the old sun-tea jars? They are usually made of glass, have a plastic spigot and a large screw on top. I see a lot of them at the local second-hand stores like Salvation Army, etc.

Sometimes fruit trees exhaust themselves and tend toward biennial cropping. Try thinning the fruit each spring. You'll still get a good crop, but it will even out every year. Thinning also helps prevent broken branches.

Just to be safe, get a sulfur dioxide testing kit from a LHBS or wine shop and test it once it's done fermenting. SO2 can be dangerous in high amounts, but it may very well dissipate as Yooper says.

I'm working on extract batch number 8, and they've all gone well so far. I'm having a much better time with beer than I did with cider--I think I had to pour about half of that out . . .

Takes about 45 minutes for my stovetop to bring 3.5 gallons to a full boil. The pot is a canning pot, and a single burner can't keep up a rolling boil, so it does a little better if I let it straddle two burners.

Well, it has been pasteurized, so it has no yeast to do the work. You will need to do the following: 1. Find some suitable wine yeast. Cote de Blanc or Pasteur Champagne works well. Try to avoid using bread yeast. 2. Take the lid off and replace it with a balloon. Put a pin-hole in the...

My trees didn't put out many apples this year, but I think I learned quite a bit from my mistakes last year cider making. First, cider-making is much more like wine making than beer making. Bringing your cider up to 190 may make it cloudy. It shouldn't hurt anything, but the haze will be...

I'm two-year SL-UT resident. Sometimes living here is like moving to the moon. Just to give you a heads up if you haven't found out yet. The Nut is a decent LHBS, but can be a little pricey sometimes. Art's is slightly cheaper, and certainly doesn't mind giving out copious amounts of advice...