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I'm making a cider tomorrow.... and I bought a few apples to throw into the fermenter, just for added apple goodness. I also bought some stockings to put the apples in....i recieved a few wierd looks from the check out guy when buying them.

But do you boil the stocking then put the apples in....and throw the whole thing in the fermenter. Do you need to boil the stockings?

Also....do you leave a bit of the stocking out before you put the lid on so you can take it out before bottling?

If you just threw the stocking in it'd clog the tap wouldnt it?

also....should I just use the yeast they have in the kit.,...it's a blackrock cider.
Or should I buy a better one?

bet you did get a strange look, almost like telling them they are for you

keep it simple and put the apples in the stocking and boil both at the same time. You will find that apples will float but if you want to be safe then yes drape the stocking out over the lid.

The yeast : thats up to you .

The checkout chick said 'nice colour' when I put down the pantyhose, I told her 'helluva job finding a pair with a big enough gussett'

Cheers, Geoff.

I boiled the stocking separately, added the peeled and cored apples and dropped into the carboy. There is no need to drape part of the stocking over the edge of your carboy, the apples will float for the whole fermentation period.

I thought you had to boil the stockings first by themselves to remove the dye.

rwh wrote:I thought you had to boil the stockings first by themselves to remove the dye.

Yep, you thought correctly.

I just made up the cider brew...smelt and looked pretty good. I draped the stocking over the rim and put the lid down over it. Do you think this will make it more susceptible to an infection?

Should I have put the whole stocking in?

Hopefully it wont make much difference.

Yes, I think you should have put the whole stocking in. But I wouldn't change it now, it will probably be ok.

Ok... It wasn't fermenting for about 24 hours....which I thought was odd. I thought maybe the stocking hanging out was causing an air leak... so I opened it back up, cut the stocking and closed the lid again. Now it's fermenting up a storm. Should be good.

I wasn't sure if I should've re-opened the fermenter, but it's pretty safe right? I heard you can pretty much ferment beer without a lid at all because due to the fermenting there's a layer of CO2 on top of the beer which acts as a buffer.

Anyways, I think I've done a lot which will make is susceptible to an infection, but hopefully I'll be right.

will I be right?

doesn't the process of fermentation kill off a lot of nasties anyway?

So long as you didn't put the bit of the stocking that was hanging out of your fermenter into the brew, I reckon you should be just fine. The bit hanging out for 24 hours probably had all sorts of dust settle on it, so I'd regard it with suspicion.

Are you guys boiling the apples too? There's plenty of wild yeast present on the skin (IIRC the Youngs [?] house ale yeast strain was actually cultivated from a strain found on apple skins) I guess it depends on what type of Cider your trying to make.
On a side note I've never really understood the reason behind adding peices of apple to the ferment. I had read (only in forums) that it increases 'crispness' but cant really find any examples of this. From what I've read if your after a crisper taste your best to adjust the acidity of the juice?

I didn't boil my apples....hmmm...although I did peel and core them.

guess I may have a crap brew on my hands.

Just incidently, my cider is frothing up ....like no other brew I've done. Is froth a sign of infection?

thisispants wrote:I didn't boil my apples....hmmm...although I did peel and core them.

guess I may have a crap brew on my hands.

Just incidently, my cider is frothing up ....like no other brew I've done. Is froth a sign of infection?

Don't worry. I never boiled my apples and everything is well.. apples.

So how did it turn out?
P