Day 10/Day 7

Significant changes today. The first batch had bubbles before but they were slow. Now they are numerous and fast. There is a constant stream of tiny bubbles rising throughout. This seems to have caused it to become cloudy again. The second batch still is cloudy and does not appear to be doing anything. Still it's just a week in so it may be another week before I see anything with it.

Day 9/Day 6

The first batch continued to work. The bubbles made a bit of froth at the neck of the jug. The bottle remained clear. The second batch remains unresponsive.

Day 8/Day 5

It has been a great day! The first batch has started to bubble. The bubbles strong enough to lift the apple peels off the bottom and riase them to the top of the container. There is enough gas coming off it to have filled out the balloon causing it to stand straight up. The second batch is still cloudy and shows no sign of anything.

Day 7/Day 4

The first batch if anything is even clearer today. The second batch I'm expecting to clear up in another day or two. Beyond that there isn't anything to day about them.

Day 6/Day 3

Finally some changes are happening. The first batch in just a matter of hours clarified. Where before both batches had been brown and murky the first batch is now clear. The apple peels can be seen at the bottom of the bottle with a fine layer of sediment about half an inch thick. The second batch still shows nothing but that is to be expected. The fact that it cleared so suddenly was rather surprising to me. I expected it to clear but not so fast.

Day 5 Day 2

Color remains consistant through both batches. No bubbles or really any change at all. I hate playing this waiting game. Today I don't want to have patience I want there to be a sign. But I know there won't be and there won't be tomorrow. Still I will keep an eye on them both.

Day 4/Day 1

Both batches are still looking the same. This was expected but I am still impatient. I want to know it's working.

Day 3

Alright so I got a bit carried away. The first batch is still waiting. Nothing much going on with it. Yes that's right the first batch. I was at the organic food market tonight and found some natural unpasturized apple juice. It was already in a glass gallon jug. . . so really how could I resist? So now I have a second batch that's working too. I'll keep you posted. I used different apple peels in this one. I used an organic red delicious and a braeburn.

Day 2

No change yet but then I am not expecting any change for over a week. The people at work today mostly looked at me like I was from another land when I tried to tell them what I was doing. That's alright though they look at me that way other times too. If this works there are so many things I want to try. We could be at this awhile.

Day 1

I used two half gallons of Motts 100% pure apple juice. It's pasturized but if you buy your juice at a store it has to be I think. I'm having trouble remembering where I put my fermentation lock so until I find it I'm going to use a ballon with a pin hole in it. I used the peels from an organic Granny Smith and Fuji apples. Apples are supposed to have a natural yeast so we'll see how that goes. The recipe I'm using comes from this blog. . . . http://www.eattheweeds.com/www.EatTheWeeds.Com/EatTheWeeds.com/Entries/2010/10/22_CIDER,_HARD,_BUT_QUICK_AND_EASY.html

And so it begins

For many years I've wanted to find a good hard cider but everything I find here in the states is more like beer than anything else. Frankly I have yet to find a beer I could really call friend. So I finally decided to learn how to make hard cider. I'm starting with a one gallon glass cider jug which was given to me by a wonderful family from the Apple Hill area of California near Placerville. They could no longer use the glass jugs for their cider and had plenty so when I asked about it they gave me four of them. Originally I was going to use them to make mead but that never quite happened. I'll be posting pictures of each step as I take it. Stay tuned this promises to be fun!