Recent content by Melon

Safale S-04 is a great yeast for newbie brewers. In my experience it carbonates in the bottle fairly quickly and for your first couple of brews you just want to drink it as soon as possible. However I'd also recommend the Lavlin EC-1118. It takes a bit longer in the bottle to carbonate, but...

As mentioned in the Wiki Its my understanding that the Coopers style PET bottles have an extra plastic lining to help prevent oxidisation. Are they CM2 PET? Personally I prefer to brew and bottle in glass, but to each their own... :lol:

I wouldn't use PET for cider, PET bottles are more suitable for Beer and things drunk quickly. If you're going to brew cider you'll need to age it for a few weeks, and for that glass is the best bet. I can't recommend the 5L brews enough - it's a much more manageable size to do 6 champagne...

If you do drink the ciders too early, just top up the glass with apple juice and it becomes a bit more drinkable. ;) Everyone is keen to drink their spoils as soon as possible. :D I've you're just looking for another fermenter, check out Bunnings. Head for the camping section and you'll find...

In my experience Ciders take at _least_ 8-12 weeks to start tasting drinkable. Its a hard thing when you're just getting started and want immediate results, but all I can suggest is document your process so that when it does come time for tasting, you remember the details.

Add 16 Litres to your totals.

I've had good success with Coles Apple Juice and S-04. I did a side by side brew test in 5L glass jugs, same juice in both but one with S-04 the other with Champagne yeast. I found the Champagne yeast left more apple flavours in the mix.

My first 4 brews used the Black Rock Cider cans and it works fine if you add extra flavour in the form of more apple juice, otherwise its a bit watery. So if you've already bought it, don't throw it away just add it to the next brew. Now I start a brew with 8 x 2L Coles apple juice bottles. I...

Thats fair enough, 8-12 weeks is the minimum in my opinion. I guess for me the limiting factor has been the supply of champagne bottles. You've got to develop a relationship with your local function centre to get empties from wedding receptions etc. New Years, Mothers Day, Melbourne Cup are...

We do actually have cider apples in Australia, the CSIRO did a study of French and English cider apples which they found some of which are already growing here. As I understand they're mostly in Tasmania and South Australia. Personally I don't find any of the overseas recipes for Cider any use...

Depends on what temp it was at and how much sugar was in there to start with...