Hard Cider in Fido Jars?

I've made sauerkraut in Fido jars with great success, so I have quite a few of them. I'm going to have access to a lot of apple cider soon and wanted to try and make hard apple cider with what I already have. Anyone try to make hard cider with Fido jars? I'm a little scared they'll explode.

I don't know, but I'm looking forward to someone's answer.
John S
PDX OR

It looks like the airlocks for those jars are about the same size as the ones used for five gallon fermentors.

John W, Those are "pickl-it" jars. They have the air locks already installed in the fido jars. http://www.pickl-it.com/

I'm wondering if you need the air lock at all? I'd rather not buy a pickl-it jar (though if I had some they would clearly work).

oooo where can I get those air locks , I have the jars already . Anyone know what they are called . Can you buy them seperate ?

David

David, I'm not sure you can just drill a hole into glass Fido jars. I'm not sure what is available in France, but air locks are a common item sold in American home brewing stores.

Air lock no problem Airlock to fit on top of the 5 litre jars I have already is the issue

In fermentation, about half the weight of the sugar in solution gets turned into ethanol while the other half gets turned into carbon dioxide. If you were to start out with a liter cider that was 12% sugar you would end up with a 6% ethanol cider. From that liter of unfermented juice, roughly 30 liters (60 grams) of carbon dioxide would be produced, so you'll need some way for the gas to escape.

David Livingston wrote:oooo where can I get those air locks , I have the jars already . Anyone know what they are called . Can you buy them seperate ?
David

Those are three piece airlocks. It looks like they are going for $2 at my local home brewing store these days.
http://shop.greatfermentations.com/product/econo-3-piece-airlock/brewing-supplies

There is also the double bubble airlock for the same price.
http://shop.greatfermentations.com/product/double-bubble-airlock/brewing-supplies

If you are buying in bulk, you can probably get a much better deal buying them online.

i m sure they might explode. Some people regularly open these jars to let the pressure off, close them, then shake them (to cover the top air space with the liquid to wash over bacteria from air or mold-spores) and close the jars again.

my brother once had an explosion. He tried to make fruit wine (different kinds slushed and mixed into pulp). He use a wide (belly-round) bottle with a self made airlock-seal (it looked like the ones above). As far as i remember, the airlock worked, you could see little bubbles in the water of it.

but theeeeeen .... when he tried to open the cork, it exploded into an geysir which hit the room-ceiling... nice, yucky, sticky, smelly

i am thinking about making airlocks: just drill a hole into cork or bottle-cap. put a lenght of plastic tube into it. seal the tube to the cork/cap. put the tube into a bucket or bottle with water. Would that work?


blesses
tobias

i am thinking about making airlocks: just drill a hole into cork or bottle-cap. put a lenght of plastic tube into it. seal the tube to the cork/cap. put the tube into a bucket or bottle with water. Would that work?


blesses
tobias
Yes, in wine making that is called a blow off tube. Like this one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYNbJlxnWiA
You can buy the bungs with predrilled holes very cheaply and they come in a variety of sizes.

I just learned I live 11 minutes away from this huge brewing supply place, so I don't really have an excuse not to buy a small gallon jug and an airlock. So I'll probably do that rather than explode Fido jars in my house. It's called northernbrewer.com. They have some how-to videos on cider making here: http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/cider-mead-sake/cider-making

Air locks are good for preventing secondary fermentation through contamination by acetobacter which turns wine into vinegar. They are also good for general sanitation to prevent off flavors.

If you buy 1 gallon organic juice in glass jugs from the big box organic store WF, you can use the same cork and airlock as for a 1 gallon jug from the home-brew store. Just don't try to ferment all 1 gallon of juice in a 1 gallon jug, you need head room for the yeast to foam.

thank you ... how would you do the cidre?

just wash apples and blend them and put them in the jars? Or make juice and put in jars?

Would you add stuff (like yeast)?


we have plenty of roadside apples here, i d like to at least try it.

I don't think the water-locks are needed. The gasket in a Fido jar acts as an airlock by deflecting when the pressure in the jar get high enough and letting CO2 escape.

But with this caveat: I have some that are just over a decade old and the gasket isn't as pliable as they were when new. So you might need to replace them to be perfectly safe as they age.

Dennis Lanigan wrote:I've made sauerkraut in Fido jars with great success, so I have quite a few of them. I'm going to have access to a lot of apple cider soon and wanted to try and make hard apple cider with what I already have. Anyone try to make hard cider with Fido jars? I'm a little scared they'll explode.

I've made "apple core cider" in Fido jars without fermenting airlocks - it needs to be 'burped' everyday (or maybe twice or more) during the extra bubbly time, and if it's not burped on time it can fizz up a lot, but so far it has been fine under the pressure. If I were making it in larger amounts from juiced apples I'd probably use a glass carboy/demijohn with airlock - these are not very expensive, and the drinks I make in them probably last longer than the apple core cider because they aren't getting exposed to oxygen all the time like a burped fido jar is.