advice for a first timer

[dplovin]

just joined the forum today would like to say hello to all

as title says this is my very first attempt and would welcome any advice please. the equipment ive bought already as follows. cider press, 25L fermenting bucket with bubble lock, pulper, hydrometer, campden tablets, plastic buckets.

first time always fancied a try im after a sweet tasting cider nothing to powerful ha, any tips or advice

thanks darren

 

[Pickled_Pepper]

Welcome Darren! You'll find a wealth of knowledge on here. It sounds like you are good to go with equipment...now it's time to buy some apples! Depending on where you are in the world they might be out of season. You can always find plenty at the super market but you'll probably end up paying a little more that way.

Most apples will put you in the neighborhood of 1.040-1.050 for a starting gravity and if you ferment dry you'll be looking at around 6-7% ABV. As for ending with a sweet cider...thats pretty easy if you don't mind a "still" cider. If you are looking to carbonate, then you might need to look into the "Stovetop Pasteurization" Thread and the top of the cider forum.

Good luck and again, welcome to HBT!

 

[dplovin]

great stuff thanks for the reply....

fingers crossed it goins ok

 

[LandoAllen]

My advice is to read, read, and then read some more. There is lots of knowledge on this forum but you just have to read to find it. There are lots of great recipes and techniques that will take your cider from being something ok to something fantastic. Make sure you read up on what type of yeast to use. This is quite possibly one of the biggest factors in how your cider will taste. Many on this forum, myself included, suggest using ale yeasts such as US-05, Nottingham, or S04. But others like using champagne yeasts. Trial and error is really the biggest thing in finding what you like.

This forum also has a great function of allowing you to search for things so you can see if a question you have has already been asked by someone else (it probably has).