Friday brewings

It's finally friday and it is supposed to be rainy so we are probably just going to chill inside and veg. I have been wanting to make a new batch of beer but Mandy is talking about making a mead. We'll probably do the mead in the test reactor (a 4L amber) cuz 5 gallons of mead is too much. I have also been wanting to try my hand at hard cider so mayber I will persuade mandy to go that route.

I am thinking the best way to do hard cider is to use high grade apple cider and ferment with red star or some other champagne yeast to completion and then add 5% more volume at bottling to start the yeast back up for carbonation. This is just a guess so input from others out there is welcome. I am unsure if apple juice is high enough in fermentable sugars to limit fermentation at the yeast alcohol threshold. I suspect not, but adding volume will start the yeast back regardless by addition of sugar and by dilution of alcohol.