I've decided to not let all the excess apples we have go to waste....can anybody point me in the right direction for materials on cider making for dummies?.....we are interested in both "regular" & "hard" varieties.
Hard Cider:
5-gal fresh cider
1-lb dark brown sugar
1-lb light brown sugar
2-lb jar honey
Champagne/sparkling wine yeast
Heat 1/2-gal fresh cider till almost boiling. Add sugars and honey. Stir to dissolve. Cool in water or ice bath. In a 6.5-gal carboy(assuming you have some brewing equipment), add cider/sugar/honey mixture. Pitch yeast. Add additional cider till you have 5 gallons(you'll have about 1/2 gallon left over). Put airlock on carboy(I prefer a blow-off hose into a water bucket, with lightly bleached water).
Let ferment. Bottle. I like to bottle with about 1/4-cup corn sugar; it gives the cider a tiny bit of carbonation.
Note: I have used attenuative, and less attenuative yeast. The attenuative yeast eats all the sugars, making a slightly higher alcohol content, but a dry finish. The less attenuative yeasts will be sweeter.
Can't find my brew record for this. It calculated to lik 12-14% alchohol.
Soft Cider:
Place gallon jug of fresh juice on counter. Loosen lid. Apples have los of wild yeasts. It will ferment out in a couple of days, giving you a 2-5% soft cider.
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