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I've got a small orchard I've had for over 20 years. It is all antique apples. I have developed a really good set of recipes for cider made from what juice I can find. But now I want to take this to the next level and plant a new "cider orchard" I will probably plant about half an acre...

I have several recipes for cider that have been working well. I was requested by a family member to try some fall spice flavors. I visited my local spice merchant who mixes and grinds custom spices. I got some put together I like, put them in a sterilized muslin bag and put them in as I...

Gotta share this one. I have been making cider for about a year now. I traveled around to various cideries and have tasted over 70 kinds of cider from lots of craftsmen. I now have a recipe that is "to die for" and might begin making it commercially. But here's one little trick. I have...

I'm on my third batch of 14 day cider. Got a great recipe which I will gladly share after I work out this one last thing. Once I have fermented from 1.060 to 1.004 I then back sweeten with concentrate (no preservatives only ascorbic acid) and immediately bottle. I let them go about a week and...

Look, when I tell you that I've tried most ciders, I can count at least 70 different ones I've tried. I've now made a lot of it myself. I'm convinced that I need a better yeast. I've tried about every variant I can come up with. I just can't seem to get the flavor I'm looking for. Tried...

I've subscribed to so many threads with so much info and so many opinions I'm burned out. I say we need a single place for collective wisdom. We need to answer these questions for people in one place. Here are the questions: "Once my cider is fully fermented out, and I rack into a clean...

I've posted a number of things about the various ciders I've started. I did one in about 30 days that was a BIG hit on Thanksgiving, though it was a miserable failure in my book. So tonight I started a gallon. Here's what I did: 1 gallon of Kroger apple juice (pasteurized vitamin c no...

I've previously listed all the batches of cider I have going. How long do I wait before drinking it? What I've tasted so far is putrid. No fizz, no apple flavor, no dryness, just nasty.

I have four ciders going. The latest was an experiment. I took a gallon of fresh juice from a local orchard, did all the usual things, suphite, pectic enzyme, champagne yeast etc. I even added a bunch of brown sugar to drive up the octane. I started with 1.062 SG and today racked off of the...

I currently have three carboys of cider in various stages of fermentation. Tonight I'd like to start a one gallon batch with a completely different recipe. Here's what I need to know. I plan to add a simple syrup made with brown sugar to increase the SG. I will be using fresh pressed...

I have a 5 gallon carboy serving as my secondary and have a water air lock on top. The cider is bubbling like crazy (temperatures jumped this week) but there is no burping in the airlock. I check the seal and the bung and the lock are tight. Any idea where the gas is going and why it...

I've tried the commercial ciders. I've tried the "craft ciders". My favorite is JK Scrupmy. In fact, I am writing a few articles about them as a member of the American Press Association. They will be finished soon. I have three batches of my own going. All of them are from fresh pressed...

Today I racked 6 gallons of fresh, raw juice which I pressed from my orchard. It has been in the primary since 9-16-12. It started at 1.052 SG and today was 1.002. According to this site (Daves Dreaded Actual Specific Gravity) my alcohol content should be around 6.55% I had about 3/4...

Opened up my 6 gallons of fresh pressed juice to which I added nothing. It took a while but it cooked pretty hard after a few days, then virtually quit. I started with a 1.060 SG and just tested it. It is 1.004 now. But it really stinks. Any ideas?

My first time trying cider. I have three batches going. The first one is 4 gallons of fresh pressed raw juice, sulphited at the beginning with pectic enzyme added and pitched with Nottingham yeast. It has been in the primary since 9/13 and is burping about every 1 minute. The second one is...

Have 6 gallons of raw juice, no chems at all, and it is a constant boil in my air lock. Must smell good. Air lock is attracting dozens of fruit flies. Is this good?

I currently have 6 gallons of juice pressed from our own orchard and no added yeast or other chemicals in the bucket and it is burping every 8 seconds. LOVE IT! I have another 4 gallons with added sulphite to kill wild yeast, pectin enzyme to help clear it and Nottingham. Bubble, bubble...

I found an online alcohol by volume calculator. I had to work it a little backwards because I plan to stop my fermentation with sorbate when I reach the right ABV if it doesn't do it on its own. Here's the link: Dave's Dreaded Actual Specific Gravity Calculator Here is my plan. I...

I started my cider last night with 6 gallons of fresh squeezed apple juice. I added no sulphites, no yeast and plan to use no chemicals. Will it do alright? Do you see any problems? The SG was 1.060, the temp was 72 and the pH was 3.2. I have it in a sanitized plastic brewers bucket...

CIDER #1: I purchased two bushels of apples from a neighboring orchard. One bushel was Grimes Golden (if you are not familiar with this, Google it. GREAT apple flavor). The second bushel was 1/2 Ida Red and 1/2 Cameo. Not real happy with the output. Only got 4 gallons of juice through my...