Some questions on making cider?!
Some questions on making cider?
i have bought the following kit:
beer pressure barrel
cider yeast
siphon tube
i was planning to fill the barrel with most of the apple juice, then boil up the last bit of juice with caster sugar, then add it warm to the barrel with the yeast.
i was then going to leave it for a few months then bottle it.
hmm any surgestions?
any at all
Answers: You're almost there.
Be sure that your barrel is completely and thoroughly sanitized to eliminate the possibility of getting a bacterial infection. If you're boiling up any sugar, be sure it's added to the rest of your apple juice before pitching your yeast.
Also, you don't want to add much more than 1/2 pound of sugar per gallon of apple juice.
Don't add your yeast unless the juice is around room temperature. Slightly warm won't hurt much as long as it's not sustained, and too hot will kill the yeast. For the long haul, try to keep it below 70F for the best fermentation, but below 80 will work if it's unavoidable. Too much colder than 65 and the fermentation can stall.
Give it two weeks and then siphon your cider into another (sanitized) container so you leave the sludge on the bottom behind. Give it another 2-4 weeks before bottling.