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If you are carbing with priming sugar, then just two points is dangerous. As NCBrewer mentioned (in his corrected post), just two points is how much 4 ounces of corn sugar per 5 gallons carbonates. So, if you carbonate it that much and it further ferments another two points, then you are...

I've only added sugar to one batch of cider I made, but what I did was dissolve 2 pounds of brown sugar into between half a gallon and a whole gallon of cider that I had heated up to around 150 or 160. I also added the yeast nutrient and a few other additions to this small portion. Then I put...

Although there are some champagne yeasts that can ferment at 56 degrees, 59 degrees is generally the lowest temperature for most that I've seen (that said, going below that doesn't necessarily mean the yeast will stop fermenting, but I've never heard of someone recommending a fermentation range...

100% agreed on all points. In particular, yeast nutrient is important because fruit juice does not naturally contain the abundance of yeast nutrients that malted grains contain, so they will ferment very very slowly if you don't add enough yeast nutrient. My last cider started fermenting about...

Yes, 1.050 is higher than 1.000. But higher in SUGAR, not alcohol. 1.000 is the "gravity" of water. Sugar is heavier than water, so the more sugar in the liquid, the higher the gravity. Yeast converts sugar into alcohol, so the higher the number, the higher POTENTIAL for alcohol (the more food...

Orange juice and orange concentrate are not good ideas. Zest could work out well. But basically most citrus fruits, especially oranges, get a really stale and unpleasant taste when fermented (hence why "orange wine" doesn't exist). Orange zest, on the other hand, can give a very fresh and...

The first time, I used cherry puree. The second time, I used cherry syrup. The cherry syrup didn't leave as much of a cherry flavor as the puree did, but I suppose I probably should've used a lot more cherry syrup. Next time I think I'll use cherry juice, which just makes more sense with apple...

Super Kleer KC Finings is awesome. I highly recommend it.

Actually, if you don't add any sugar to apple juice, you should get between 6% and 7% alcohol. Depending on how much sugar you add, your potential sugar could increase from 7% all the way up to 14 or 15%. If you're using apple juice with preservatives, then it's not going to ferment. I mean...

I actually really enjoy low-alcohol ciders. In France, 2-4% cider is one of the common traditional styles, but they don't add anything. They just stop the fermentation when it's about half-done (and either bottle in with light carbonation or still). I forgot the French name for it, but it's...

I've found that my ciders always taste better with age, but just how much better they taste with age depends on the specific cider. I had a 8.5% ABV cider that was fermented with brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg, and that one was decent young but tasted a lot better after about 6-8 months of...

I used Martinelli's on my most recent cider too. It's very good stuff. As others have said, you add the pectic enzyme before you pitch the yeast and there is no need to add campden tablets to commercial apple juice since it has already had all the naturally occurring yeasts (bacterias, and other...

That actually wouldn't have prevented my last glass carboy that broke. It was fermenting for about 4 weeks in a soft cool brewing fermentation bag on soft carpet. I picked it up around the neck to pick it up and the bottom just snapped right off in the air (clean, as if it'd been sliced by some...

Agreed. I just started a cider about 2 weeks ago. I only used apple juice/soft cider for it and it came out to 1.052 as well. That's pretty much what you would expect for apple juice. The cider I did before that I added some brown sugar and it came out to around 1.061, I believe. 1.100 could...

Yeah... The shortest I've ever done a secondary was 3 weeks. I don't really think there's a point in doing a secondary if it's only going to be 12 hours. That just adds the risk of oxidation with no actual benefit. That said, I also don't really see the benefit in doing a 6 or 9 month secondary...

Oh, I definitely agree with you there, which is why I keep my cider out of sunlight both during fermentation, aging, and while bottled (in dark brown bottles). I also use either glass or HDPE for fermentation to avoid oxidation. I'm just saying that I've personally never experienced any...

I hardly think 3-4 weeks is "long term," though. And I've never heard of beer or cider picking up off flavors from just a few weeks (or even 1-3 months) on the lees. I know that some people leave cider in the fermenter for months, sometimes even up to a year, but I personally don't get the...

Hi guys, So far, all of the ciders I've made I've done both a primary and a secondary, but the current cider I'm fermenting has the lowest OG of any cider I've ever made (around 1.051, I believe. I noted it down somewhere, but that's what I remember) and this is also the first cider I'm using...

4.5 gallons of cider with some tart cherries added fermented with US-05 ale yeast: 71 + 4.5 = 75.5

As many others have said, you can have a good cider in a short period of time... but "short" is also relative. You cannot have a good cider at just 10 days. The last cider I made I didn't drink until about the 2 month point. Technically I did take a taste at the final gravity sample (which was...