Notes and such...

To Do:

buy a hose about 7 feet long with .5 inch inner diameter for racking
buy more Campden tablets (SO2)

Randome Stuff:

The sweetness (residual sugar, or RS) of a cider or perry may vary from absolutely dry (no RS) to as much as a sweet dessert wine (10% or more RS). In sweeter ciders, other components of taste particularly acidity must balance the sweetness. The level of sweetness must be specified in order to arrange flights of tastings and entries within flights. Tasting always proceeds from drier to sweeter. There are three categories of sweetness:

Dry: below 0.9% residual sugar. This corresponds to a final specific gravity of under 1.002.
Medium: in the range between dry and sweet (0.9% to 4% residual sugar, final gravity 1.002 to 1.012). Sometimes characterized as either 'off-dry' or 'semi-sweet.'
Sweet: above 4% residual sugar, corresponding roughly to a final gravity of over 1.012.

Bottling Equipment:

Pre-bottling Prep:

Pot to boil lids (5 minutes at boil, leave cover on to cool)
Pot to boil sugar syrup (2 cup water to 1/2 cup sugar for 5 gallons). Leave lid on while cooling. Soak in cool water in the sink to hurry things up.

Sanitize this stuff:
Switched to iodine sanitizer at the recommendation of the dude at West Boylston homebrew. It's much faster and doesn't smell of bleach, obviously. We'll see if it makes a difference in the end product.

Bucket w/ spigot. Clean the cover.
Hose to rack off carboy
Hose for bottling stick
Bottling stick
Rubber band for cheesecloth
Measuring cup for simple syrup
Something to stir in simple syrup

Don't bleach this stuff:

Cheesecloth
Scissors
Grease pencil to mark half-way mark on bucket.
Sharpee
Capper
Sturdy folding table
Milk crates may be handy
Bar mops

General Notes:

You really want to check your water locks more frequently. Maybe top off with fresh vodka every month. Set a calendar item.
Much easier bottling with three.
Boil the sugar syrup and bottle caps at the same time as you start bleaching the equipment. Don't forget to bleach something to measure the syrup and something to stir the syrup in.

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