Beer Forum

So my wife wants a couple gal of hard cider for the fall time. I usually use non pasturized and preservative free cider. For some reason this year i cant find any peservative free cider, will cider with preservatives still ferment? I thought it wouldnt but i wanna double check. Thanks!

Sulfites will kill the yeast. Just get some generic 100% apple juice and throw the sweet mead yeast in it. Thats all I did and it is tasting pretty darn good, if I dont say so myself!

true but i was looking to go with a dark cider. Has the spicer feel. I'm gonna try a few farmers markets or see if there is an orchard near by. thanx snow!

Different varieties of apples will give different character to your cider. Big differences in sweetness and acidity. For this reason I also often go with the cheap store brand apple juice (without preservatives). These are blends of a wide variety of apples, generally relegated to juice for cosmetic reasons. These blends tend to balance out all those differences and produce a nice cider. I often add some spices by gently heating a little of the juice with some cinnamon sticks, whole cloves and fresh ground nutmeg. A sweet mead yeast makes the best cider as it leaves much of the apple flavor and aroma in the finished cider.

Wayne

I use juice too. Did my first batch with fruit puree added (raspberry), tasted good in samples, need to bottle it soon.

The one I made a while ago is now kegged. I added some spices to it after I did to my pumpkin ale.
Tastes great, and it will only get better.

I read somewhere you can add a small amount of hydrogen peroxide to get rid of sulfites in wine for making vinegar. I found the link. http://waterhouse.ucdavis.edu/winecomp/so2.htm

I would think you could do the same thing with apple juice.

i think i just stick to making my own cider outta juice. dont really want any peroxide in my cider! Thanks though