Few questions about my first cider.

[thrall]

Well I went ahead and started a few fermentations to start me out. This is the first time I have ever attempted to make any sort of home brew.

I currently have:

5 litre demijohn - 4.5 litres of apple juice, cider yeast
2 litre demijohn - 1 litres of apple juice, 1 litre of white grape juice, cider yeast
2 litre demijohn - 2 litres of white grape juice, yeast nutrient, wine yeast
2 litre demijohn - my attempt at mead.

It has been 24 hours since starting this little experiment, all 4 of my demijohns are bubbling like crazy. the three 2 litre demijohns have home made airlocks made from balloons. The 5 litre one has a proper one but I have yet to see it bubble once . The liquid itself is going crazy, it looks like really fizzy pop freshly poured. Is this normal?

Once my cider has finished fermenting should I transfer it into another 5litre demijohn and sweeten it there or should it be put straight into smaller bottles?

Also what is the easiest way to sweeten + fizz the cider. The fizz isn't of great concern to me as I like still cider but wouldn't mind trying to get a bit of fizz as a learning experience.

 

[PintOfBitter]

Sounds like your 5 liter demijohn has a leak around the bung. When there's big activity like that, there should be a lot of gas production.

Carbonation is produced by a re-fermentation in the bottle. you normally accomplish this by adding sugar prior to bottling. If you also want to sweeten, you will need to add some unfermentable sweetener as well. If you want sweetened still cider, you can add sugar and a chemical stabilizer to the fermented cider.

 

[CvilleKevin]

Check out the sticky on bottle pasteurization if you want a sweet bottle carbonated cider, using the natural apple sugar.

 

[thrall]

Sounds like your 5 liter demijohn has a leak around the bung. When there's big activity like that, there should be a lot of gas production.

I tightened it a bit more and you were right, loads of bubbling now, about 1 every 2 seconds