Scablands Scavenger's video: Easy hard cider recipe

A quick video showing how I make my favorite quick hard cider recipe. No special equipment or process needed. If you ever wanted to try out home brewing this is one of the easiest ways to get started. This method will lead right into making mead or even beer. A Few channels where I picked up some good info on brewing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=La38oQjdyPw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2ueyNQfnfE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD3ZN4_Uyhc Brewing my own beer is something I rank right up there with being able to fix my own truck or make a fire or butcher a deer or grow a garden... its just something I always wanted to have in my personal skill set, self reliance and all that. Now that I have a grasping knowledge of it I thought I would try To pass it along to those that might be interested ! Ingredients needed: One gallon apple cider or juice, NO PRESERVATIVES One package Cider yeast or ale yeast ( bread yeast in a pinch) One to two cups sugar vary depending on taste more is sweeter You will need a one gallon fermentation vessel One airlock, balloon, or you can try loose cap method in a pinch large pot with lid large bowl stir spoon scissors funnel sanitizer (store bought or homemade) thermometer Sanitize everything. After everything is sanitized shake up your cider or mix up your juice ( if using frozen juice/cider). Place your pot on the stove top, add in most of the cider keeping about two cups in reserve. Warm up cider to about 100-110 just enough to help dissolve the sugar. When up to temp turn off burner and add in sugar slowly stirring with spoon. When sugar has dissolved place lid on pot and cool down your cider. I like to place pot in sink and ice bath until around 65f or whatever your yeast says is best pitching temp. Now take your cider and pour into your fermentation vessel using the funnel. Add your yeast, place cap on and shake vigorously for a few minutes to aerate. Be sure to leave a good amount of space for the yeast to ferment and foam or it will overflow your vessel, 4-6 inches is good. Remove the cap and place your airlock on filled with sanitizer. Now you wait. You should see activity in a few hours especially if you used the whole packet of yeast but dont be surprised if it takes 12-24 hours for things to kick off. If it takes longer than that you may have issues.... You want to keep your fermentation vessel at a consistent temperature and out of direct sunlight. A basement or closet works well, you may want to place your brew in a Tupperware tub though if it is to be left on carpet in case it burps or blows the airlock off. Now for the big question, how long till its drinkable ? well that depends on a lot of variables like temperature, sugar content, what yeast was used health of yeast etc etc. Normally mine are done with the heavy fermenting in just a few days 3-5 but some have gone for 7-9. It is drinkable after that but not very tasty to me. It should be ok by the two week mark ( after fermentation stops) but it might not be very tasty still. Trying it is the only way to tell, again some finish nice early and some take a little more time. This is where it turns into a hobby, keeping notes and researching to make consistently good batches time after time. Now you have a choice to make, either pour off your jug every time you want a glass or bottle. If you pour off of your jug you will disturb your trub on the bottom of the jug every time you pour keeping your mix cloudy, if you bottle you will have to get set up for siphoning and get some bottles. Not a big deal as most things needed can be researched online and can be ordered online as well. I think for simple cider bottling a gallon at a time a person could get by using a 3-4 foot length of hose ( food grade) and a 12 pack of plastic re-usable bottles for 20 bucks that will do 3 gallons so you could have 2-3 batches aging at a time. Or even cheaper yet you can just buy Grolsch beer and keep the bottles like alot of start up brewers do : )