First let me preface this with telling you I have never ever brewed a thing in my life. I like cider and love beer so I wanted to try brewing something simple before spending alot of coin on a brew equipment kit.

My question is after the cider ferments and I rack it, is it ok to leave on the counter (room temp) after bottling? Our fridge is always packed (4 kids) to the gillz with stuff!

What if I pasteurize the bottles after I load them with the cider? I'm just worried that the cider will go bad if I don't kill off the yeast. Is this a valid concern?

How long should the cider last regardless if it was in the fridge and out of the fridge? Thanks for helping a newbie out.

Thanks a ton for responding to my questions, much appreciated!!

So if I read correctly, you say if I back sweeten after fermentation then I will be ok without refrigeration. Right? I know I add sugar before fermentation, so will doing it on the back side lessen the ABV? I know I will find a way to f*ck this up somehow.

I think where I went wrong is by looking at all these brewing forums. Some say it's good for 2 weeks without a refer and some say it will be fine for years.

I bought the cider today, got my thief in the mail and just waiting on the airlocks and rubber stops. Next stop... A brew kit! Boy will I have questions then!!

Ok, that totally makes more sense to me now. Thanks a ton! I will be hitting up our local brew store on Saturday if I can slip away from the family for a bit.

I'll keep this post updated with my cherry popping progress. Thanks again!!

This is the one I plan on using. However, if you have a better tasting or easier one please feel free to advise me.

I'll try this one

This is the cider I bought as well. I bought both the juice and the cider. The first two listed on the link.
What I bought

You should really buy some Star-San from the homebrew store. Got it on my list for Saturday.The guy you linked sounds like a damn hippie (organic this, all-natural that, who cares) I said the same thing!. Mix up a few gallons of sanitizer. Put some in a spray bottle and some in a bucket. Sanitize everything that will touch your cider. Put some in whatever you're going to ferment in and shake it up. It will foam, this is a good thing. Don't fear the foam (i.e. don't worry about trying to get it all out). The residual foam is friendly to the yeast. Sanitize your hands and let your airlock, etc. soak in the Star-San. You can also use Star-San to fill the airlock (it's safe enough that you can drink it). This is my procedure, and I've never had an infection (knock on wood). Spray the hell out of everything with the spray bottle.

I would also recommend getting a hydrometer because they're cheap, and it'll allow you to measure the starting and finishing gravity of your cider (so you can figure out how much alcohol is in it, and know for sure that it's done fermenting –– also necessary for beer brewing). I got my hydrometer in the mail yesterday.

The rest of the directions are pretty solid. It's actually similar to EdWort's Apfelwein, which I've made about a half dozen times. I would check out that thread. I've never used champagne yeast, mostly because I've heard bad things. I use beer or wine yeast. I bought some Nottingham ale yeast to try in the first batch.

Try to ferment relatively cool if you can (64-68F). The warmer you ferment, and the more sugar you boost your juice with, the longer it will take for your cider to age. I've made cider from straight juice that was delicious in two weeks, and I've also made cider with sugar that took six months to become drinkable. Don't get in a hurry. Patience you say huh? I'm 40 and still want to peek at Xmas gifts. ;)

Are you going to bottle and carbonate? If so, I highly suggest weighing your sugar and using a priming sugar calculator. Personally I carbonate cider to 3.75 volumes, which is pretty damn bubbly. I plan on serving out of the original cider bottle @ first and then try the grolsch style bottles on the next batch.

From what I have read, now you can tell me if it was correct or not. Is to let the airlock tell you when the yeast has eaten up enough of the sugar (done with bubbling). After that, I plan on racking it 1-2 times into another clean glass carboy and then leaving it in the original juice bottle when the racking is complete.

Hopefully I can make enough room in the fridge to put it in after it's done. I just wanted to ask all the right questions just incase it does need to sit at room temp for a few weeks.

Ok... I think you have taught me well Sensei.

I shall report back, hopefully with pics on my progress.

A huge thanks for your time.
Mike

Ha! Now that's the kinda drink I like. ;)

I will be doing the cider in a few minutes along with some mead tomorrow. I'll post up some pics later.