Hi guys,
I've been lurking around this forum for a small while trying to research my second attempt at making cider.
The first time we did roughly this (it was a long time ago);
juiced many kg's of apples, two different varieties (not sure if we mixed in any sugar)
chucked in a campden tablet at the appropriate stage
used some champagne yeast from brewcraft
let it ferment until there were no bubbles left
bottled it with roughly a teaspoon of sugar in each bottle
after a few weeks bottled it tasted very yeasty and pretty gross
after many months it didnt taste yeasty but wasn't as bubbly and still tasted gross (but less so)
For my second attempt
I'm probably going to use apple juice from aldi/costco/coles
some online store bought s04 yeast
sugar in with the juice while its fermenting
and then just bottle the same way
I got a few questions though -
firstly is reconstituted apple juice ok? costco has some preservative free stuff at $7 for 9L
I'll be getting a hydrometer this time around and bottling it before the bubbles stop as I read somewhere on AHB that letting it run through completely you end up with a very dry cider, which i guess we didnt like.
and what is a good reading i want to be aiming for? is ~1.05ish about right?
and how do i actually take out a sample of the cider to use the hydrometer with?
Thanks for your help in advance to all these nooby questions guys!
I've been lurking around this forum for a small while trying to research my second attempt at making cider.
The first time we did roughly this (it was a long time ago);
juiced many kg's of apples, two different varieties (not sure if we mixed in any sugar)
chucked in a campden tablet at the appropriate stage
used some champagne yeast from brewcraft
let it ferment until there were no bubbles left
bottled it with roughly a teaspoon of sugar in each bottle
after a few weeks bottled it tasted very yeasty and pretty gross
after many months it didnt taste yeasty but wasn't as bubbly and still tasted gross (but less so)
For my second attempt
I'm probably going to use apple juice from aldi/costco/coles
some online store bought s04 yeast
sugar in with the juice while its fermenting
and then just bottle the same way
I got a few questions though -
firstly is reconstituted apple juice ok? costco has some preservative free stuff at $7 for 9L
I'll be getting a hydrometer this time around and bottling it before the bubbles stop as I read somewhere on AHB that letting it run through completely you end up with a very dry cider, which i guess we didnt like.
and what is a good reading i want to be aiming for? is ~1.05ish about right?
and how do i actually take out a sample of the cider to use the hydrometer with?
Thanks for your help in advance to all these nooby questions guys!