Although fall is two thirds of the way over, the temperatures are starting to dip into freezing at night, and the pick-your-own apple orchards season is wrapped up, it's still not too late to grab a few gallons of cider and brew one of the easiest drinks you'll ever make.
A few hundred years ago, cider was considered the drink of choice--in fact, apples were thought to have few uses beyond supplying raw sugars for alcohol making. I had my friend Dan pick up 5 gallons of fresh cider from Linvilla. At about $5 a gallon, it's not the cheapest stuff you could use, but I like using unpasteurized cider--make the yeast work harder to overcome those wild creatures.
I was going to use one of those little packets of champagne yeast like I did last year, but Nancy at Home Sweet Homebrew suggested using yeast specifically bred for cider. After my great experience using liquid yeast for our last batch (Fear Beer), I quickly agreed to give the cider yeast a shot.
I had to scrub out the carboy and get it sterilized. A word to the wise--clean out your equipment right after using it and not a month later when you need it again. A lot of bleach went into getting that thing squeaky clean, and after a good rinse with the sodium metabisulfate, it was as good as new. In went the cider, followed by the yeast, and the waiting began. Since the cider came straight out of the fridge, it took a good three hours for the whole batch to warm up enough for the yeast to start kicking out CO2.
Since yeast work faster with a little heat, I decided to kick it up a few more degrees. I put a space heater on low right in front of it, working the bottle up to roughly 80 F. The difference in CO2 production was night and day! Summer, defender of the cider, seems to really enjoy the warmth as well. I'm hoping to run the yeast right out of food in a week so I can get this bottled up next weekend. It's Tuesday now, and the airlock is still bubbling vigorously. If anybody wants to help bottle this Sunday, help is always appreciated (and repaid in beer).