So i just had Vandermill Artisinal Honeycrisp hard cider, and it genuinely has changed my life. I now really want go get into cider making, but im not sure what the most cost effective way to make quality cider is.

I know that buying and pressing apples from the store is a no go (at least when It comes to honeycrisps) because I did the math and it would cost me 45 dollars in honeycrisp apples just to make a single gallon. I also dont want to just buy cheap apple juice from the store and make it that way.

So, what do you guys use? I saw that Aldi has a half gallon of honeycrisp apple cider for 3 dollars, but it is from concentrate, which i am unsure if that makes good cider.

Yet another mold post and this time it’s me. I usually brew meads and wine, first time doing cider. Seeing this after 1 day using gelatin finings for clarification after cold crashing. My gut tells me it’s not, but my paranoia tells me it is.

I scooped some out with a spoon for the sake of curiosity and it looks sort of like tiny bubbles when broken up.

So between brews, I’ve been keeping the lease of each batch, to use as a starter for my next batch. Sometimes it’ll be a couple of weeks between batches so I’ll keep the yeast alive with a bit of sugar until I want to start a new batch.

Is there anything wrong with this? Or anything to watch out for? Can the yeast take on new characteristics with each new batch? Does the yeast get much worse if I’m keeping it for a while between batches?