Hard ciders mysterious demise

http://mason.gmu.edu/~drwillia/cider.html ^

[wafflehouse]

Have you (or anyone else on this ping list) posted links to good recipes or recipes of your own for making hard cider at home?

i like my cider a bit stronger, up to around 10% or so.

overview: take one gallon of good cider, add sugar to bring the specific gravity (measured with one of these) up just shy of 1.08, add yeast and let sit (depending on temperature--my house is 76 degrees) for about a week.

details:
you will need;

-one gallon glass jug
-one gallon of cider
(you can get 'tree of life' apple juice in a glass gallon jug at nature's pantry for $10 or so. depending on season, etc there may be cheaper options)

-a rubber plug with a hole (Link)
-bubbler/airlock
-sugar - a couple cups worth, give or take. i dissolve in equal amount of water and boil for a few minutes. white sugar works just fine for primary fermenting.

-yeast (i use dry wine or champagne yeast)
-i use a little DAP also
-Sanitizer (5 star Star San is very convenient to use, but there are other options out there)

NOTE: sanitizing is the most important factor in making booze. if you dont do this right, you wont get good booze. contamination by other yeasts/bacterias/molds is no good. anything that touches or might touch your booze should be sanitized. this is also why i boil the sugar before it goes in.

glass gallon jugs vary in the size of their opening, so you may need to take the jug to your local homebrew place to fit a plug, or get a few different size plugs. they are cheap. take a little of the juice out of the jug, add your (cooled) dissolved sugar and yeast, plug it and put your airlock in it. the airlock should have either vodka or Star San and water. wait a week or so, or until it almost stops bubbling. taste, check specific gravity (to determine if its done and to calculate alcohol content), and back sweeten with some sugar if desired.
you can experiment with different sweeteners to back-sweeten, such as brown sugar, moleasses, other fruit juice, etc.

i siphon my finished cider into two liter bottles with about 3/4 cup of sugar to sweeten a little and let it sit out for a few days until the bottle gets hard to carbonate. then put in the fridge.

[wafflehouse]

one other thing i forgot to mention, is make sure whatever cider/juice you use has no preservatives other than vitamin c/ascorbic acid

[wafflehouse]

right on. sounds like you have a system that works :-)

[chargers fan]

make your own cider

That does sound like fun. Are there websites that have good/easy steps for first timers. I know Mr. Beer has a cider kit.

[djf]

The market’s goal is to get the highest distribution, minimize costs, and thus maximize profits.

It can be (and often is) computed using a mathematical models called linear algebra.

“Excellence” may enter the equation, but mostly as a factor that if you make something that’s junk, nobody will buy it, if you boost the quality a bit, you’ll sell a bazillion units.

It could literally be said that free market theory only begrudgingly tolerates excellence, and if they could totally ignore excellence/quality and still make a profit, they would happily do so!

[djf]

Thanks for the tips! I’m gonna have to give the pectic enzyme thingy a try, I like it lightly carbonated, crystal clear, and dry as a bone!

[SampleMan]

The market’s goal is to get the highest distribution, minimize costs, and thus maximize profits.

I respectfully disagree. Maximizing return is the key, and that takes many different forms.

Not every market is a mass market. In fact, most businesses aim at a niche market. They are thus limited in size by that niche; however, that does not effect return on investment. It only caps total profit, which is not an issue for most small business that prefer to self-limit scale to begin with.

There is no shortage of excellent products. You must simply pay the going price for them. Since most people prefer good at good price over excellent at high price, the cost of excellent remains at a premium as there is rarely any economy of scale.

If there is no demand for excellent, is it really that excellent? Certainly its not what the customer is after. Case in point, machining an ax head from a solid block of high grade steel to within 1/10,000" of specifications would no doubt be "excellent", but if it performs roughly the same as a hammer forged head, who would pay a premium for it? Certainly not me.

That said, if you badly desired such an ax, the free market would provide. Which excellent product do you believe the free market is incapable of providing?

[wafflehouse]

Are there websites that have good/easy steps for first timers

See my post #101 and post 102

talk to the guy in your local homebrew store, or drop me a line if you need more info

[djf]

I suppose my cynicism is showing.

But it is interesting to think about.

[knews_hound]

In that case, you are going to love this stuff.

Patience is the key !

Cheers,

knewshound

[where's_the_Outrage?]

Not sure if you make it to LA, but Naja’s at the pier in Redondo Beach had it on tap last year.

http://www.najasplace.com/Najas_Beta/Home.html

[where's_the_Outrage?]

Not sure if you make it to LA, but Naja’s at the pier in Redondo Beach had it on tap last year.

http://www.najasplace.com/Najas_Beta/Home.html

[SamAdams76]

It’s changed now. Lots of ciders out there.