Quick Cider

The other night while The Wife was out and about I was lazing around watching  youtube videos of brewing. I came across one in particular video where a guy fermented some apple juice to make a kind of hard cider.

I was instantly intrigued. I had The Wife bring home a bottle of apple juice, though because I wasn't clear enough she brought home a small bottle. I wanted enough for a gallon so I had to wait till the next day.

The following day I pick up a big bottle and a 2lb bag of brown sugar.


When I got home I got right to prepping. First rule of brewing, always sanitize everything. After I washed my items I let them sit in bleach water. A lot of brewers use starsan since it is no rinse, but I just used bleach. Bleach is considerably cheaper since a tablespoon per sink is all you need, plus rinsing is not that big of a deal.

I heated up the apple juice to an almost boil then dissolved most of the 2lb bag in, not sure how much. Like an idiot I didn't measure anything.

While that was simmering I rehydrated the yeast by warming up some water putting some sugar in then letting the yeast sit in it. After the sugar was all dissolved I dumped it into the carboy along with the yeast nutrient and tried to shake it, forgetting it JUST came off the stove. Notice how melted that ice is? That is after 2 mins. I put the carboy in an icebath for about 15 mins. I would alternate between the water and shaking it till I felt it was cool enough to pitch the yeast in.

After I got it shaken up nice and good I added the yeast in which by this point had formed a cloud looking shape in the dish. Means it was nice and healthy. I pitched it and put it into the carboy. Slapped the airlock on with a 80/20 vodka to water mix. It started bubbling very quickly.

As of this morning it was fermenting quite vigorously. It was burping about 1.5 bubbles per second. I plan to let it sit for a week, sample, see how it is.

Now keep in mind I know this is sloppily thrown together however that was the point. I just wanted to see how this turns out. Now if it comes out decent like this imagine how it will be if I put some thought into it by measuring, taking a gravity reading, using spices in it etc. I'll let yall know how it turns out.