Can someone help me with homebrewing cider?

Question

Want to make a small test batch, i was thinking of using "simply apple" brand juice and champagne yeast. My idea is since it's already pasteurized and sterilized and in a bottle to use a gasket to make the lid airtight, drill a hole that a drilled stopper and airlock can fit into and make this "test batch" right in that bottle. Auto siphon to a second matching sanitized bottle and then bottle from there. Just want to see how this would go before i make a bigger batch. Any home brew masters know if this would work? I kind of want to go to my local home brew store more or less right this minute.

Answer 1

It would work alright for brewing purposes, but it might be kinda hard to filter the sediment when siphoning.

I would ask the staff at the brew store. They are very knowledgeable, and extremely helpful.

Answer 2

If it is pasteurized, there is probably no preservative in it but check the label anyway. You may not have sufficient headspace in the bottle to keep foam out of the airlock; you could get away with a blow-off valve, though. I find that cider, rather than apple juice, gives better results, even if you have to use metabisulfite. You might prefer the juice.

Answer 3

You might need to take some juice off the top,but I see no reason it would not work,

Answer 4

I made "apfelwein" in a very similar manner.   I found that my airlock rubber stopper fit perfectly into the bottle opening.  I didn't rack to secondary, and just had a three week primary.   Because It was being drank still rather than sparkling, I put it into the fridge, so all the yeast would flocculate to the bottom, and carefully poured leaving the sediment on the bottom.   Alright stuff.  Next time I might secondary in a matching bottle, and age it a bit.

Answer 5

Ok let me clear up the difference between cider and juice question first.

What is the difference? None.

As Americans we just have to be different for some reason. What we call Hard Cider, which is fermented apple juice, is called Cider in Europe.

What we call Cider here is Apple Juice in Europe, because that is all it is.

Your plan can work. As long as like others said there are no preservatives added to the juice. But, most commercial apple juice has other sugars added to it and is not pure apple juice as it would be if you bought at a cider mill.

Finding unpasteurized cider I think would be difficult. As far as I know by law the cider mills have to pasteurize or add preservatives to the cider for sale.  Although there is yeast naturally in the cider there are also a lot of other nasties in it and possibly something that could make you sick, like Ecoli.

As for temperature you should keep it somewhere between 65f and 70f.

As for head space that is difficult to tell you how much you will need. During fermentation the cider will foam up and spill out of the container if there isn't enough head space. Make sure that any sort of airlock you put on doesn't get clogged!

Answer 6

Doing this pretty similar myself right now as my "test batch"

bought 2 different non-preserved apple juices  (walmart brand 96 oz bottle, and name-brand 1-gal), and drained off a small amount, drilled holes in the caps, added some tight-fitting tubing, added the yeast, and even made my own airlock.  Its brewing now.  I am planning on using a can of frozen apple concentrate as my sweetener, its what many cider brewers use, and will likely give it a bit more flavor, but other than that, you sound on the same track as me.

mine has been bubbling away for a week now, going steady.  In another week, i will check it, if its slow enough, i might start the 2nd fermentation.

bought a set of funnels at the dollar store, i should be able to wedge a piece of cheese cloth between 2 of them, and syphon through it, filtering it enough for my tastes at least.

Answer 7

Be sure to check the label for preservatives, such as sulfites or benzonates, they will just kill your yeast.  also corn syrup added as a sweetener is just plain nasty when fermented by champagne yeast.  cider season is just about here, if you can wait use unpasteurized cider and let it naturally ferment (cider has yeast in it,) I'm sure you'll be much more satisfied with the result.