First Time Hard Cider Questions

[Alabama Brewer]

Hi ALL,
Having never brewed hard cider before, Back during Thanksgiving of 2007 I got a recipe from some folks that brew their own. It was really quite simple but I have questions;

5 gallons of store bought unfiltered apple cider
5 lbs of sugar

Was told to use unpastuerized apple cider. Could not find it anywhere. This unfiltered apple cider was pastuerized but had no additives or preservatives.

After nothing happened for a week, we added a yeast obtained from a local winery that was helpful. Fermenting for over 2 months now.

What happens next? Do we just bottle it? Is it supposed to be bottle conditioned for carbonation or is it ready to drink after bottled?

(We have (5) 1 gallon glass jugs to bottle with)

Obviously we entered this project not knowing anything about what we were doing. Please offer comments, suggestions. Thanks!!

 

[jmulligan]

If you want carbonated cider, I don't recommend bottling your cider in 1 gallon glass jugs. You could probably bottle in those jugs if you added camden tablets and potassium sorbate to make the cider still, although I don't know how airtight glass jugs are with reused caps.

I would recommend that you bottle and prime in the same way you would for beer. Make sure your F.G. is close to 1.000 or lower so you don't wind up with bottle bombs.

Good luck!

 

[sirsloop]

Next time I would use less sugar. You're gonna end up with what some people call "Rocket Fuel". If that stuff ferments out it'll be roughly 13% ABV!!!! My suggestion for next time is to use around 1-2lbs sugar, 5-6 gallons of pasteurized store bought apple juice, and add Montrachet or Lalvin D47 yeast immediately.

 

[Alabama Brewer]

Thanks for the input. Quite frankly I never did plan to carbonate the cider but then I saw input on this forum about carbonating cider. My assumption was that it is not a carbonated beverage.

As for the 1 gallon jugs, these were bought new at Austin Homebrew Supply and they have new caps with what looks like some kind of a diaphram or seal in them.

My Dad is actually brewing this cider 700 miles away from me so just trying to help him see it through.

Based on my previous input regarding ingredients, should he anticipate sweet taste or dry?

Thanks again for any input. We went into this cider brewing with no research at all.

 

[Yooper]

It should ferment dry.