5 Day cider? No way...

[drakeskakes]

So I'm still very new to brewing. I've done a fair amount of all grain batches with my friend, but I'm starting to work my way to flying solo.

I decided to try some ciders. Before investing in 5 gallons of any one recipe I decided to do 5x 1gallon batches all with different brands of cider, some with some added honey, different yeasts ect.

I ended up buying 1 gallon of fresh pressed cider directly from the ranch Smit Orchards at $15/g. I poured about 1 cup in a glass and tossed the yeast in, gave it a good stir and set it aside for about 12 hours. Then, pitched the activated yeast after a standard sanitizing protocol and waited. When I woke up the next morning, the air lock was going bazzerk. 30-40 burps per minute. This pace continued from Tuesday morning to Friday night. Saturday morning, I woke up and the air lock was stalled out. I was a little nervous but let it sit. 12 hours later, same thing. No burps and no more bubbles from the bottom. I took the risk and tested the FG and I was surprised when it read 1.000. The OG was 1.070.

Still skeptical, I rapid chilled, kegged and drank. It gave me a buzz and tasted great.

So as far as my knowledge of drinking goes.

Does is taste good? "Yes"
Did it get you drunk? "Yes"
"Congrats, You made booze"

So, Cider in 5 days? What happened?

 

[FatsSchindee]

I have 3 one gallon batches going right now, too, and one of them did the same thing. It was the one I added brown sugar to (only 1/4 cup); used Nottingham yeast. I pitched all three at the same time, then left on a four day trip the next day. When I returned, two of the three were bubbling right along, but this one wasn't... I assumed it was a slow starter, and would pick up eventually. Never did, but after two weeks I check gravitates and it was at 1.000. So I guess it did its work in the first four days! I'm still going to let it sit for another two weeks to clear, then bottle after that...