If you had told me yesterday that it would take me 4 hours to get my cider making kit all set up I would not have believed you. And I probably won’t have tried. 🙂

But it did and blame it on the metabisulfite I found in my shed. I was going to make a single demi-John of cider earlier this month but I could not find the sterilzing crystals. When I checked on Amazon, the choices were few and very overpriced. I guess that’s to be expected mid Pandemic of anything that will clean or sterilize stuff.

Once I found that I dragged the big keg that Juliet scored off a community facebook page. She got two of them in fact, and while they were used and grimy from the last brew made in them, I thought I could use them for cider making just fine. Not to mention they are very expensive at retail prices so getting some for free are worth the time to clean them up.
They are big round containers made of tough plastic with a metal lid and are marked ‘King Keg’ on the outside. I believe this model is a ‘pressure barrel.’ They were missing some key parts and a good hour of that time was my trying to fabricate a replacement part from some hydroponic hoses and a bit of plastic tubing. I’ll show off that homemade part once I am sure it is working . 🙂

I’m going to start cleaning the second one now, while I start the fermentation in a 2.5 litre container and cross my fingers. It is very heavy to lift once it’s full of liquid so I need to position it safely before I put in the final location. Also it’s going to be too cold for the yeast overnight but the forecast ahead is suitable for the next month. Fingers crossed!