Cider…
[Cross posted to

Click for more…
Well, despite my original plans to get the hard cider started today, I actually did it last night. It (and I imagine wine) is surprisingly easy. Much easier than making beer…
So what did I actually do last night? In short, I heated one gallon of cider to 100°F, stirred in a bunch of things (honey, yeast energizer, yeast nutrient, lactose, and maple syrup), dumped that cider in the carboy, added a chemical called potassium metabisulfite (used to sanitize liquids) and left it to sit. Monday after I get home from work I’ll be adding the yeast, and hopefully things will begin fermenting then. Woo!
If anyone is interested in the recipe I put together for this, it can be found here. It’s a bit of a take-off from the recipe I originally got from
Anyway, if you’re interested in seeing more of the pictures from the getting-cider-ready session, just click here (photo gallery retired) or on the photo up above.
you’re on a big Recoil kick lately, huh?
Yeah, I ran through the whole catalog over the past few days.
You made me just bust it out as well.
So is the cider you purchased non-pasturized? You mentioned “fresh”.
It does look easier than beer.
No, it’s pasteurized, but it is also fresh. The place I went to flash pasteurizes it on the way to the bottles. It’s not preserved and will go bad within 5-7 days of bottling, though.
Oh, and what kind of yeast did you use?
Oh, it’ll be WLP775. I’m about to pitch it in a few minutes…