Cider

It's gonna be drinkable and maybe even good. Worst case it will have a sulfur taste because cider sometimes goes that way.

False. You can whack unpasteurized cider with campden tablets and they will not effect the yeast. In fact, that's how you control what yeast does its business, i.e. yours, and not the wild yeasts in the air and on the apples (though some cider makers prefer wild yeast production). Leaving the bucket, carboy loosely covered with a towel or cheesecloth (carboy) allows the sulphur vapors to escape
When there's no activity in the airlock, rack it and put it in a cool dark place and leave it alone. You'll probably experience a day of two of activity in the airlock after you rack due to agitating it. Keep your airlock topped up with vodka. Provided you properly sanitized everything and maintained proper sanitation procedures you'll be fine. My last batch sat in the secondary a good 3 months before it cleared up enough for bottling (pectin can speed this up, not as great results IMHO). If you used champagne yeast, it will come off tasting like kerosene (very aggressive yeast), but after ~6 mo.s + of bottle aging it will become fantastic. If you want it bubbly, put corn sugar in your bottling bucket, not the bottles, this will avoid bottle bombs as it ages, e.g. you put too much sugar in a bottle or batch of bottles. Or you can just drink it when the activity in the airlock ceases, you won't have as much alcohol, but it'll taste great. It won't last long however, so get some friends. Just be mindful that fermentation is still occurring even if you're not bubbling, if you put it in a jug and cork it and throw it in the fridge, it may blow up on you. Finally, there are loads of cider making forums out there with folks that are eager to help out. Lurk and ask questions.

And what is that black stuff in your carboy? Distortion from the pic, or a growth? If it's the latter you may be sunk.

Cloves. This was right after I put the yeast in, I'll post a current pic when I get home.

Why in the ever living fuck would you ferment cider?

What is the difference between racking and bottling?

Rack means transfer to a secondary fermenter, to get it off the accumulated layer of dead yeast and particles at the bottom of the container where you began fermenting, so it can clear for several weeks prior to bottling. Sometimes, with wine or mead, you might rack a few times.

Bottling means transferring it to bottles for a serving quantity finished product.

I neglected some mead for a long time. I'm talking months. Kept it in a cool part of my garage that stays 50F all winter. That was the dryest, booziest mead I've ever had. Tested it at 16% alcohol. I don't know how the yeast survived to do that. After clearing it out with several filterings and no sign of growth it turned out great, if incredibly dry. Pure buckwheat honey.

If I pour it into the bottle through a fine strainer, can I neglect racking?

Are you a child? Do you not know about hard cider?

Hell, fucking Britain exclusively uses the term "cider" to refer to alcoholic cider.

It's not recommended if you want a clear finished product. You'll have to run it through the strainer every time you rack it and unless you do it a couple of times you're still going to have a big layer of lees.

It seems like that would be adequate, and up to a point it is. The problem is, you're adding oxygen (notice the splashing and bubbles as it goes into the container) and that is undesirable in terms of flavor once the yeast has begun working.

Hoses and equipment to siphon are cheap enough, there's no reason not to use them.

Some yeasts can get into the 20s with proper nutrients, temp, timing, etc.

Do you guys want to make booze or do you want to make sugar water?

Buy a specific gravity hygrometer and pitch your vat at 1.084 to 1.089 and use bakers yeast. Your end result will be .0990 sg that's around 13%. Distill that in a stripping run at 65% down to 40% for the entire vat, then place a columnating still in the process. Fractionating is created by stabilizing the column.

Thats way too much headspace

Do you want it to have a high alcohol content? If so, distill and don't blow yourself up. If you're not a white trash piece of shit, then filter and store.

>bakers yeast
Veeky Forums crystals
Making proper cider is a PIA, and requires patience and vigilance

that's jenkem bruh

I think I would know if I put raw sewage in there, buckaroony.

Are you a retard or just an Ameritwat? The arrogance of you fuckers is astounding.

I think I'll just bottle it tonight, and try adding a bit of sugar to half of the bottles to get a bit more fizz.

I think next I'll try to make chai mead, and get another jug, siphon, and specific gravity measure. That way I can make it a little clearer and more by the book.

There's a 2 stage clarifier I use for meads that they sell that I'm sure would work with cider as well. You add it in 2 stages when fermentation is complete.

Good idea on getting siphons and hydrometer. The hydrometer lets you know where you're at with your sugar level and the difference between starting and ending gives you the % alcohol.

you can maybe let wild yeast work its magic but when making beverages (or even food in general) you want to have some control over the result, so yes, adding yeast is better.
our ancestors did make cider using wild yeast and there are some small breweries that still do it.

So the clarifier grabs floating dead yeast and settles at the bottom?

Bloop bloop

Here's mine, with gas filled raisins. I calculated that at its peak gas production it was producing over a cup of CO2 a minute.

Hope yours and mine turns out ok! My first time making it and it seems to be doin ok

>floating yeast

That, and other particles. When I use it with my straight mead and melomels, it comes out crystal clear. If I don't, even after 3 months in various secondaries, it's still cloudy.

Don't sweat it. It'll be good. To quote Papazian, "Have a homebrew."

ITT

So is that just a cosmetic thing? I personally like unfiltered beer.

Actually, our ancestors lined up all the women in the village, found the one with the worst smelling snatch, gave it a good wipe, and threw it in the cask. Today's yeast cultures descend from these very same strains...

>Actually, our ancestors lined up all the women in the village, found the one with the worst smelling snatch, gave it a good wipe, and threw it in the cask. Today's yeast cultures descend from these very same strains...
s-sauce?

I don't know why Ned just droned on with himself here. He could have easily just said if it's alcoholic it is cider, if not then it is apple juice.

I suppose the droning is supposed to be the joke.

It's not filtering. It's adding 2 solutions that are derived from natural substances.

I only do it with mead, not beer. Beer clears without an issue if I add Irish Moss at the last 15 minutes of the boil. Unless I'm making a Belgian Wit which is supposed to be cloudy.

I know it's psychosomatic, but I feel a crystal clear mead and cider taste better.

Okay, so it's not critical for health or anything?

This is op's batch, about to fill the bottles. I'll add a pinch of sugar to half the bottles. How long should I leave it capped before the fridge to have a good amount of fizz? I have those latch type caps, by the way.

More like this, Tango Bravo Hotel Foxtrot Alpha Mike.

>poison yourself

No. There aren't any human pathogens that can survive in a mead, wine, cider or beer environment. It won't happen.

Distilling, you can poison yourself. Don't approach that casually.