Hello. I'm new to home brewing, working on my first batches of cider. I've taken a bit of an experimental approach to find what I like. We did two pressings of cider- one on 11/17 mostly from apples from my own tree, another on 11/23 with a mix of apples from a local orchard. First pressing made 1 5 gallon fermentation bucket and 3 3 gallon carboys, next pressing made 2 3-gallon carboys. Based on Ben Watson's "Cider Hard and Sweet" I pitched all but one carboy with lager yeasts to ferment in my 50-55 degree basement. (one carboy is upstairs with Champagne yeast at 65 degrees). Added sugar to two to bring up the ABV. Got a good vigorous primary ferment with everybody. Moved everything into secondary in 3 gallon carboys on 12/21- everything tasted pretty good. Checked and noted S.G. on everything before going into the fermentation. Checked the bucket S.G. on 12/3, was around 1.008 (from 1.050). Checked it again when moving into secondary, forgot to write it down, but think was around 1.004
So, I think I'm getting ready to try to bottle. Going to start with this first batch that had its primary in the bucket. It has cleared nicely. Again, want to try different things to see what I like. So, plan to put some straight into bottles for a still cider. But I would like to try to make some lightly carbonated, both dry and semi-sweet. I do have the table to calculate how much sugar to add for desired carbonation. But do I need to add more yeast? And what type? I've read both to use the same, or use a champagne yeast. Although it seems like lots of folks don't add any at all.
As another question, I have access to a refractometer at work. Can I use this to get the S.G? Some things I have read seem to say no. But it uses so much less sample than the hydrometer I have here...
So, I think I'm getting ready to try to bottle. Going to start with this first batch that had its primary in the bucket. It has cleared nicely. Again, want to try different things to see what I like. So, plan to put some straight into bottles for a still cider. But I would like to try to make some lightly carbonated, both dry and semi-sweet. I do have the table to calculate how much sugar to add for desired carbonation. But do I need to add more yeast? And what type? I've read both to use the same, or use a champagne yeast. Although it seems like lots of folks don't add any at all.
As another question, I have access to a refractometer at work. Can I use this to get the S.G? Some things I have read seem to say no. But it uses so much less sample than the hydrometer I have here...
