Cider Update

So remember not too long ago when I mentioned M trying to make hard cider? And remember when I mentioned that it was a "possible failure?" (I was going to be more negative, but M wants this to be an upbeat update)

I did mention it, didn't I? My mind is in a coffee induced haze at the moment.

Well, turns out everything was okie dokie. A pain in the ass, but okie dokie. M managed to change it from a very sour sparkling cider, into a sweet sparkling cider sweet apple wine.

And how did he do it? Let's hear from M himself:

In order to get rid of the "super fizziness," I used a few Campden pellets. This killed off any little microbes that were still active in the cider. I brought 4 cups of water to a boil and added 4 cups of table sugar. Possibly more, I kept adding until it no longer dissolved. I added that to the 5-gallon batch of cider, covered it up, and allowed it to settle for a few days. This resulted in a marked decrease in fizziness, and increased sweetness to the batch. In tasting, I have found that it more similar to apple wine than hard cider. In fact, it's actually pretty strong. It's not very smooth, but you get used to it... after a couple of glasses.

I might be mildly drunk at the moment. But that's good. Burrrrrrp.

 If you have any questions regarding how to make your own cider, or homebrew things in general, feel free to leave a comment and M will get back to you. However, if you actually know what you're doing (like M's sister for instance) you may think he's way off base. It may be out there, but hey... it worked, didn't it?

So there.