I'm interested in in some help for a newbie in Hard Cider making. My father in law was a very good wine maker. I never got the chance to get involved with his wine / brewing to gain experience before he passed away a few years back.
My mother in law recently asked me if I wanted his equipment and the 200 bottles of wine he had of all variates. I decided to take the equipment and wine and try making cider as my first adventure because he said it was a good place to start to learn brewing and wine making. Not that cider is simple as there are many different ways to go but this should be easier for me and being fall, the best choice in NY.
Several years back we talked about doing this together, however we never got around to it and I decided to keep up the tradition and move into brewing and wine making.
Today in his memory I started my first batch of cider. I purchased 5 gallons of pressed cider that was cold pasteurized with UV light and no preservatives. I found a recipe on the internet a week or 2 back that was very basic and started with that. I wish I had found this forum prior to starting. Anyway this is what I started with.
5 Gallons of cider
1 1/4 teaspoons yeast booster
2 lbs brown sugar
4 lbs regular sugar
I threw in about 10 oz of honey which i had
2 packets of Champagne yeast.
I washed all of the equipment and carboy with soap and water and then rinsed several times then with water. I then used water with bleach and rinsed again several times again.
I next put the room temperature cider into the carboy, reserving 1 gallon of cider which I heated to about 100 degrees or so and added the sugars and the yeast booster.
I then added this mixture to the cider in the carboy. I had previously added the champagne yeast to a half cup of water with a bit of sugar to proof. Once it was bubbling, i added this to the carboy as well. I shook the heck out of it to mix.
I took a specific gravity reading, and if I read it correctly, the SG was 1.12. This number seemed high from what I had been reading on the internet. Unfortunately, I didn't find this forum till after the fact.
With this high of a SG, it would appear that potential alcohol content might be in the range of 19%.
Will this end up ok, or will I have to run this stuff in my car
Thanks in advance for any insight.
My mother in law recently asked me if I wanted his equipment and the 200 bottles of wine he had of all variates. I decided to take the equipment and wine and try making cider as my first adventure because he said it was a good place to start to learn brewing and wine making. Not that cider is simple as there are many different ways to go but this should be easier for me and being fall, the best choice in NY.
Several years back we talked about doing this together, however we never got around to it and I decided to keep up the tradition and move into brewing and wine making.
Today in his memory I started my first batch of cider. I purchased 5 gallons of pressed cider that was cold pasteurized with UV light and no preservatives. I found a recipe on the internet a week or 2 back that was very basic and started with that. I wish I had found this forum prior to starting. Anyway this is what I started with.
5 Gallons of cider
1 1/4 teaspoons yeast booster
2 lbs brown sugar
4 lbs regular sugar
I threw in about 10 oz of honey which i had
2 packets of Champagne yeast.
I washed all of the equipment and carboy with soap and water and then rinsed several times then with water. I then used water with bleach and rinsed again several times again.
I next put the room temperature cider into the carboy, reserving 1 gallon of cider which I heated to about 100 degrees or so and added the sugars and the yeast booster.
I then added this mixture to the cider in the carboy. I had previously added the champagne yeast to a half cup of water with a bit of sugar to proof. Once it was bubbling, i added this to the carboy as well. I shook the heck out of it to mix.
I took a specific gravity reading, and if I read it correctly, the SG was 1.12. This number seemed high from what I had been reading on the internet. Unfortunately, I didn't find this forum till after the fact.
With this high of a SG, it would appear that potential alcohol content might be in the range of 19%.
Will this end up ok, or will I have to run this stuff in my car
Thanks in advance for any insight.