SafCider works consistently well for me.

Do you ever use yeast nutrient on your ciders or does it not really need it for apple cider?  

Reading some other places that the nutrient is really more for some of the higher ABV brews to ensure the yeast doesn't run out of nutrients before eating all the sugar it could otherwise have eaten.

For ciders, no, I don't bother with yeast nutrients.  

For mead, definately yes.

Bottled cider batch 3.  About 2 weeks from pitching yeast to bottle.  

FG was 1.002 from original of 1.048.   I guess the difference on FG was different yeast?  I did like how the cote des blanc packed together really well.

Bottled and primed with 29 g sugar, 40 g of xylitol

I tried degassing a bit with my racking cane in the wide mouth jar while I was waiting for the priming sugar solution to cool down.   Dunno if that will make any difference in flavor or not.

Considerably cheaper than the local grocery store.   Might try this for next cider.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00G4EG1E0?tag=arfcom00-20

Its been about 2 months in primary on the mead.  I put it on the kitchen counter last week so I could let it sit in place awhile after moving it.   Its looking really clear.   Going to move it over to a secondary container and if it still looks clear just go ahead and bottle it.

A couple things you could do to improve your mead:

Age for 1-3 months on toasted oak cubes (American or French)
Stabilize and backsweeten.

I'll taste it and backsweeten if it needs it.  

Thanks, I will definitely try the oak cubes next batch.

How do you stabilize your mead?   Just pasteurize with heat?

Whoo, yeah, the mead FG was 1.002 (from a starting gravity of 1.122) and tasted quite dry.  I backsweetend with about 45 grams of xylitol.

Pretty clear, too.  It clouded up a hair from transferring it to the big mouth container and adding sweetener to it but not much.  I probably could have gotten it crystal clear letting it sit in that container for a week or two before bottling.

Didn't really need to degas, either.  I think it self-degassed from sitting in the primary container for 2 months.   Didn't fizz at all like my ciders have done when I transferred them.

ABV should be right around 16% I think.   Going to let this mead age in the bottle for a couple of months.


Started Cherry Cider.   SG of 1.048 with a mixture of HEB Apple Juice and Cherry juice.   5 qts Apple, 3 qts Cherry.  Packet of Safcider AB-1.   Trying out a cheap Walmart 2 gallon drink dispenser as a fermenter.

Walmart 2 gallon drink dispenser.

Not much airlock activity but tons of bubbles from the yeast.   Lid probably isn't terribly air-tight.

Attached File

Just tasted this one and... its OK.

I don't know, it had carbonation, it's slightly sweet.  Just kinda tasted like fermented apple juice rather than CIDER.  You know?  Didn't have much "bite."  Not sure what I'm doing wrong.   It was perfectly drinkable but didn't really have any tartness.

Got a bag of malic acid.  I think on this cherry cider, I'm going to taste it when I check the gravity and if its not quite tart enough, stir in some malic acid when I transfer it over to secondary/clarifying.   Don't really know what I'm doing but I definitely want to avoid making another "Bland" cider.

See my reply to your other thread.
No xylitol

Put cherry cider in secondary, gravity 1.002 (done and dry).  Tasted it... and it kinda tastes like yeasty/bready cranberry juice.

Not going to add any acid (I think the cherry juice gave it plenty of tart).   Will add some sweetener just before I prime and bottle.  Not really fermenting any more, just want to let it settle out some more for a day or two before I bottle.

Will start cherry mead tonight.

Have some visiting family this week.  Broken open a couple bottles of that first basic mead... actually turned out really good.   I'm kind of surprised.   Its really not bad at all.   It has a bit of an ethanol smell and flavor to it.  But otherwise pretty good.