Learning with Cider

This is a rather brief post as Ciders apparently don't have much to them.  Kristi spoke to some of the guys at the homebrewing store and they informed her that for a cider you really only need to get Frozen concentrate apple juice as it won't make a difference.  She got 6 containers and put it into the pot, and we put the normal amount of water in.  As a note, we usually put in 6 gallons to account for evaporation, but with ciders you aren't quite boiling so we ended up with too much cider at the end but we're making due.  We heated the cider to 185 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes.  Once we were done we cooled it down and put it into the fermentor with the yeast.

That's it, that's all there is to a cider.  The major part is that it takes FOREVER to ferment.  So much so that Kristi and I were getting worried it wasn't quite working as we didn't see much activity.  I stopped by the homebrewing shop and they said it's a slow fermentation and gave me some nutrients to use to help the yeast feed more as they don't get much out of a cider apparently.  It should take a few months of fermenting and then bottling and fermenting that in the bottle for a few months more.  I'm still trying to get a straight answer about how long it takes as Kristi was told quick fermentation in the fermentor and months in the bottles, and someone else told me months in the fermentor and months more in the bottle.  So we'll see, but it probably won't be as good as we were hoping for since we were having this confusion.  Still, those that enjoy ciders will likely still enjoy them, but I'm going to keep some to the side to ferment longer as I really prefer a dry cider.