Anyone made their own hard apple cider?

[Anonymous No.299440]

About 5 days ago I did almost exactly what is in this pic. Instead I used 3 gallons of actual cider and a half gallon of pure apple juice mixed together, about 9 cups of sugar, and some baking yeast. Now I have read things about not using baking yeast, I don't wanna hear about that. I'm just confused as to what to do now. I've been letting it sit in my garage and there is a boozy (almost like cheap champagne with a very slight sulfuric smell) coming out of the jug. The directions obviously say to let it sit for 2 months, but now I've been doing some research and some let it ferment for only like 5 days. I just want something drinkable and tasty that'll get me drunk for the autumn season.

TLDR: We talk about hard cider and easy ways to make it, solely for getting drunk.

[Anonymous No.299442]

bumping

what I should have really asked is how reliable are the directions I followed, and now that it's all fermenting in my garage should i do anything else and how long should i wait?

[Anonymous No.299449]

You should use an airlock. If you're too cheap, you can use a balloon with a couple of holes poked near the top. Once the balloon deflates or the bubbles stop coming up in the airlock it's done fermenting. Also be sure to sanitize everything.

[Anonymous No.299453]

>>299449
thank you, so how long does that normally take? is the whole 2 months thing way too long? the more i read about it the more it seemed like this image was a troll image to trick me into making something terrible, but the shit is already in the jug in the garage

[Anonymous No.299457]

>>299440
>pic

That's a troll image (11/10). Needs an airlock. Otherwise, enjoy your vinegar.

>>299453
If it is early in the fermentation and it is still fermenting well, get a pin-pricked balloon on it as an air lock. It may save it. 2 months is not too long. Compare it the a googled "hobo wine recipe".

[Anonymous No.299460]

I wouldn't leave it in your garage first off. Most yeast like temps around what we like(70 degrees Fahrenheit),too cold and fermentation slows to a standstill,and too hot and you get all sorts of off flavors and shit you don't want.


Also,what >>299449 said,buy a proper airlock or use a balloon,as napkins let air in.

As for the time,2 months would be a minimum. You'll want to rack(siphon) it off into a clean container with another airlock after 1-2 months,leaving the yeast cake in the old container. Let it sit at room temperature for a while longer to let even more yeast fall out. The longer the better,racking to a clean container every 60 days if there is 1/4" of lees(dead yeast) on the bottom.

The slightly sulfurous smell is probably hydrogen sulfide,which is usually caused by lack of nutrients for the yeast,or a bacterial infection. Pretty much,it will smell like shit if it's just the yeast making the smell. You will be able to tell if it's bacterial(it'll look funky as hell).

And did you check the plastic container? Make sure it is food grade,something like plastic types 1 or 2.

[Anonymous No.299463]

>>299460
it's a 5 gallon water jug that i bought full and dumped out so it should have been clean enough. luckily there is a store nearby where i can buy an airlock so i'll pick one up tomorrow.

[Anonymous No.299464]

>>299440
Save this image and anytime anyone posts that image, post this image in reply to it.

[Anonymous No.299480]

>>299457
>Needs an airlock. Otherwise, enjoy your vinegar

Not if you fill the bottle all the way to the top

[Anonymous No.299503]

>>299480

Are you retarded?

Still need's an airlock...

[Anonymous No.299504]

>>299480
No.
>>299503
This
An Airlock can be made by properly sealing a piece of surgical tubing (Should be washed) and placing the other end into a jar of water close to it.

[Anonymous No.299519]

>>299480
lol wat
if you fill it too the top there's not even space for air pressure to build up over time, shit'll explode in 24 hours

[Anonymous No.299543]

>>299519
Pressure shouldn't be building up. An airlock allows air to flow out of the container while preventing outside air from getting into the container. The napkin in the OP pic will allow air to go both ways.

The only way the container would build up pressure is if you put a lid on it to seal it off completely, which isn't what you do when you make alcohol via fermentation.

[Anonymous No.299559]

>>299480
So wait, if i follow this, will it make cheap vinegar? how strong would the acid concentration be?
For use in natural weed killer

[Anonymous No.299566]

>>299519
You don't seal it, just fill it to the top

>>299503
Watch your language

>>299504
>>299559
Really, try it, I tried with small 2.5dl bottles, filled them all the way to the top, didn't seal at all, I got cider. Not vinegar. I learned it from this site: http://www.howtomakecider.com/ and it works quite well.

If you don't believe me, just try it with a small amount.

[Anonymous No.299569]

>>299559
>how strong would the acid concentration be?

About 14% to 15% if it fully attenuates. However, there's a chance the vinegar can go bad too and you end up with nasty bitter water. Google how to homebrew vinegar and learn how to do it correctly so you actually get vinegar and not a container of bitter disappointment..

>>299566
>read link
>talks about natural air-borne yeast for brewing
>Really, try it,

What you got was "lucky". Nothing more, nothing less. I don't recommend doing that for anyone wanting anything less than a lambic-like cider if they are lucky. The type of wild yeast and bacteria that live in your local area differ from other local areas. What may work in one place and even in one time may never ever work in another place or time.

[Anonymous No.299593]

>>299440
>just want to get drunk
Why don't you just get some cheap-ass store-brand vodka and run it through a Brita filter a few times, then, and add it to some fruit juice? Cheaper, faster, less chance of poisoning yourself.

[Anonymous No.299595]

>>299569
>lucky

You're probably right.
On the other hand, I think I still prefer natural yeasts. It just "feels" right, I'm not trying to make alcohol on an industrial scale, I just want to get natural homemade cider that isn't vinegar. And apparently that method worked for me, and I can tell that my cider containst absolutely nothing but apple juice (and some brown sugar in some of the bottles).

[Anonymous No.299622]

I've never understood these guides. Bread yeast won't get you more than 3-5% ABV, dry wine yeast with an 18% tolerance is around $0.80 a packet. Using a balloon or a hose and jar air lock isn't difficult or expensive (you'll need the hose to siphon anyway), and real airlocks are only $1.25. Even buying apple cider in place of apple juice (and brown sugar if you like it sweet) isn't too much more expensive, and the product you get will be far better.

If you want to do something, do it right. Half-measures lead to waste and disappointment.

There is so much information available on making your own beer/wine/mead/cider for all different levels of experience that newbies have a lot of trouble making heads or tails of it, and these guides with their bad practices probably leave many new brewers with a bad taste in their mouth (both figuratively and literally) that turns them off to brewing all together.

Nerd rage! Rabble rabble rabble!

Picture semi-related, it's what you don't want to see in cider, and what ineffective sterilization and lack of an airlock will get you.

[Anonymous No.299641]

>>299622
>>299440
OP i have same infograph and i am also about to attempt this
from what ive been gathering and what this guys say
its all about air locks
fuck the napkin ballon
air locks..cheap as shit or you can make one

[Anonymous No.299642]

>>299440
THIS

[Anonymous No.299643]

>>299622
>I've never understood these guides. Bread yeast won't get you more than 3-5% ABV

Nope.

You can get up for 19% with both wine and baker's yeasts. I know that from personal experience. The difference between bread yeast and wine yeast is the amount of foam and fruity notes.

Your entire post if rife with ignorance.

[Anonymous No.299647]

>>299643
I presume Wine Yeast will wield more fruity notes compared to Baker's Yeast?

[Anonymous No.299679]

>>299643
I haven't been able to get higher than 14% using Fleischmann's, and the one time I got that high was with a starter and introducing additional nutrient and energizer each time the fermentation slowed over the first month (tip I found on a forum somewhere). Every other time it just crapped out around 5%.

[Tepache !aO5Mv7EC6. No.299698]

>>299679
I regularly attain 14%-15%ABV every time I brew. The highest %ABV was with a kilju and it reached 19%. Second highest has been 17%ABV on a few occasions. Fleischmann's is a great yeast to break a stuck fermentation when all other yeasts fail. I think I made around 200 gallons with it. Now I rarely use it except for older recipes I've developed.

If you are having problems with it then it is more than likely that the recipe is not properly tailored to it.

>>299647
It really depends on the strain of yeast. Fleischmann's bread yeast will give you fruity flavors if you brew it around the 90F-95F range. Around 70F-80F it acts in nearly all respects like Lalvin EC-1118 champagne yeast. You need to use a blow off tube with bread yeasts. Otherwise the excess foam most likely will cause a blow out.

[Anonymous No.299733]

OP here,

So I checked on it today and it smells boozier and more clean than ever, it's bubbling and carbonate slightly still, and theres no mold or gunk or bad crap. The napkin is bulged out slightly and from looking at it it seems like the air is being pushed out from the carbonation with little being left in, as it is continually pushing out. Nevertheless I bought a bag of balloons. Should I pour it out into smaller clean containers so there is no air left at the top and balloon each one? Or do you guys think I should just balloon the big jug and let it fly?

I don't want to discredit what anyone has been saying, and I appreciate it, but smelling all the booze got me to thinking. People have been making booze like this for thousands of years without air locks or balloons. Hell, many times animals like bears accidentally get wasted from eating and drinking rotten fruit from barrels. I'm gonna continue to tend to it but I'm getting the feeling this is much less of an exact science, and more of just letting nature do its thing.

[Tepache !aO5Mv7EC6. No.299738]

>>299733
Don't disturb your brew. Just take the napkin off and slip the pin-pricked balloon onto it.

The problem with infection is after the yeast starts to stop fermenting and goes dormant. That is when the threat of contamination is highest as you rack it out into another container.

When beginning your first few brews, you should do your best to minimize all infections. This way you will not become discouraged from the start if everything fails because you were using lax methods of brewing. Once you get it right the correct way, feel free to experiment in any way you can think of. You can even make brews that are purposely inoculated with wild yeasts and bacterias in a search for new flavors or new disasters.

If you brew starts to smell like vinegar in any way, you should probably make the decision to stabilize it or let it turn to vinegar. If you stop the fermentation at that time and stabilize the brew you'll at least have a lower alcohol brew that only partially tastes of vinegar which can be tolerable.

[Anonymous No.299745]

>>299733
The airlock is dual purpose. keeping it out of open air is enough to prevent most bacterial infections if you sanitized well, but you need an air lock to prevent oxidation. Nothing, and i mean NOTHING will stop it forever, not even glass or stainless steel, but glass and an air lock will help it keep for much much longer than plastic and napkins.

You're right, its far from an exact science, but good practices will help ensure a more consistent and higher quality product with less risk of failure. No one wants to drink "Uncle Grisly's Fermented Fruit Slop" if they can help it.

[Tepache !aO5Mv7EC6. No.299751]

>>299745
You're not actually supposed to stop oxidation. You only need to control it.

Oxidation is what is going on during the aging process. This is why wine using natural corks in their bottles age faster than wines using synthetic corks in their bottles.

If you have a somewhat tannic or "young" bottle wine that you just opened, you can pour part of it into another container, seal both up and try them again a week later. The wine should have oxidized to a certain extent and be much mellower. You can "save" a bottle of wine in this manner. Of course contamination is always a concern.

[Anonymous No.299760]

>>299751
I didn't know that, explains a lot though. I mostly make beer and have been told that oxidation is the devil unless you want a beer that tastes like sour apples.

[Tepache !aO5Mv7EC6. No.299774]

>>299760
The people saying that most likely don't know the causes of the "sour apples" flavor they are referring to.

If your beer is becoming sour it is more than likely because there is an aerobic bacteria infection. Those need oxygen to grow and they sour a beer. This isn't an oxygen problem this is a contamination problem. It you actually get sour tastes from oxidation then you've let your beer age for....too many years. lol

The only real environmental problem that isn't a contamination, that I can currently think of, would be UV radiation. Not all beers have problems with UV (those that don't use hops and are low in sulfur compounds), but most of them do. The UV light causes them to be "skunked". Incandescent light is far easier on beer than the UV from the sun and from fluorescent bulbs.

Wine rarely ever has this problem with light, but you need to keep it in the dark so the color doesn't fade. Some flavor change will occur of course.