So I started this cider about a month ago, basic recipe:
Martinellis Apple Cider
EC1118
Yeast nutrient
Pectic Enzyme too late (3 days into fermentation)
After pitching for secondary, I added some cloves and cinnamon sticks.

It cleared up some, but not that much. I read that gelatin may help, so I heated up some water with some Knox Gelatin powder and mixed it in, then put the cider in my extra fridge the next day to also try cold crashing.

It’s been 4 days and instead of clearing, it’s gotten much hazier. Any ideas?

Is there anything that happens bad if when I rack I add juice to top it off and it goes into a second, third fermentation?
I racked a bit early and topped off my juice. The fermentation got active again and I’m gonna go for a third rack once it clears up and top off the juice again. (First top off was a increase of 15% juice, third should be much less closer to 5% juice increase)

HI! I have a been given a big bag of cooking apples, just wondering if there is a way to turn these into cider, not particularly keen on buying a load of normal apples so is there a way to do it with only cooking apples? perhaps by adding a bit of sugar? let me know if anyone has a good 'from scratch' recipe!

I’d like some nice sweet cider. I made some last year, this year I have added 3G of chopped liquorice root to a 1 gallon demijohn to see if this sweetens it up a bit. Last years batch I back sweetened and it was ok and carbonated but still a little sharp. I was also thinking of adding monk fruit. What do other people do to get a natural tasting sweetness?

I think ive been hit with mold.

2 difference ciders here. Both pretty simple 1 gallon apple juice 1 tsp yeast nutrient and half a pack of 71B yeast.

We started these yesterday around 3pm. They were slow to start but the airlocks have been under pressure this entire time. Everything was sanitized with a starsan solution. Just havent had one of these pop off with mold so fast.

I pitched an ale yeast 32 days ago, it's been this way for 3 weeks and no activity for about a week. Google says it's normal. Can I bottle this or should I wait?

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Yet another mold post and this time it’s me. I usually brew meads and wine, first time doing cider. Seeing this after 1 day using gelatin finings for clarification after cold crashing. My gut tells me it’s not, but my paranoia tells me it is.

I scooped some out with a spoon for the sake of curiosity and it looks sort of like tiny bubbles when broken up.

So i just had Vandermill Artisinal Honeycrisp hard cider, and it genuinely has changed my life. I now really want go get into cider making, but im not sure what the most cost effective way to make quality cider is.

I know that buying and pressing apples from the store is a no go (at least when It comes to honeycrisps) because I did the math and it would cost me 45 dollars in honeycrisp apples just to make a single gallon. I also dont want to just buy cheap apple juice from the store and make it that way.

So, what do you guys use? I saw that Aldi has a half gallon of honeycrisp apple cider for 3 dollars, but it is from concentrate, which i am unsure if that makes good cider.

So between brews, I’ve been keeping the lease of each batch, to use as a starter for my next batch. Sometimes it’ll be a couple of weeks between batches so I’ll keep the yeast alive with a bit of sugar until I want to start a new batch.

Is there anything wrong with this? Or anything to watch out for? Can the yeast take on new characteristics with each new batch? Does the yeast get much worse if I’m keeping it for a while between batches?

What does this remind you of? The taste is familiar, but I cannot pinpoint it.

This is one of my cryo-concentrated musts for this year’s ice cider. It is interesting to see just how viscous it becomes at SG 1.122. Frozen must has been thawing at -3C for about two weeks. Decanting it now because I need the freezer for other projects.

They have been fermenting for 8 weeks, unsure how to read the hydrometer properly, just checking it’s safe to bottle with carbonation drops? I have swing top brew bottles

Post ferment, pressed crabapples and some culinary apples. The film doesnt sink into the cider after a light agitation.

I'm trying to ferment my first batch of cider and I'm a little bit worried I've got something wrong.

I had my apple juice in the fridge for about 24 hours, filled my demijohn and then instantly put in my yeast without warning the apple juice to room temperature.

Pics attached of how it currently looks after 24 hours. It doesn't seem to be foaming/bubbling much but is this normal? I'm trying to sit the demijohn in a slightly warmer part of the house to kickstart the fermentation.

Thanks in advance

And look at that clarity! Im so happy, it turned out way better than expected! It smells very clearly of the apples i made it from and has a low carbonation, around 6.6% ABV. Next stop is bottling this weekend and priming to get it carbonated. I've also included a picture from three weeks ago from the brew day to show the initial color.

AI tools and Canva templates work for wine labels, but I could not find a tool made specifically for this, with clean, traditional layouts ready to customize. So I built one.

I’ve been using just local sweet apple cider as my base, but as the season goes on, it’ll be harder for me to source.

How different are the end results when using bottled juice, like say a “Mott’s” or FAJC? Does it lose flavor without the apple solids in sweet cider?

And will it just be clear on its own without pectic enzyme?

When I bottled my cider, it had really nice foam building after a week (so much that I regularly monitored it for issues). I put it in the fridge and that all went down. This is after maybe three weeks in the fridge. I’m not super bummed because it’s tasty but will time or taking it out of the fridge do anything? I used a small amount of priming sugar (regular sugar) prior to bottling.

My other batch took a month to stop fermenting. I bottled and alas- even with priming sugar, no bubbles or foam. It’s just living in a box in my laundry room.

I’m looking to buy an electric scratter and would like more info from anyone who has used these or has any input. I’m not doing giant volumes, ~500lbs currently. I’d like something that is fast and efficient though. I don’t mind spending a bit more for higher yield and time savings. I’ve used a Multimax before and appreciated the speed and grind consistency but at almost $2K it’s not a realistic option. Any input very much appreciated, thanks in advance.

Right now looking at:
• Oesco 6” HDPE (used), 1/2 hp, HDPE drum grinder w/ carbide teeth
• Kegland 2hp
• Vevor 1100W

Edit: if anyone has input on the toothed grinding drum of the Oesco versus the chopping blades of the Kegland I’d love to know. Thanks, all.

When Crispin bought up Fox Barrel their Apricot Pear unfortunately went along with the rest of the company.

Any recommendations on something like their Apricot Pear Cider?

I'm absolutely Donald Ducked after chopping, scratting, and pressing for 6 hours yesterday and a couple today.

I now have around 75L of the good stuff in various vessels.

The variety is Dabinett, which I have subsequently realised is a pretty high pH - I measure 4.4pH, so I plan to add Malic acid to to a sample I have and extrapolate up from there. I would roll the dice but honestly it was tough work.

Fingers crossed!