Best winemaking ingredients according to redditors

You raise some good points, but your attitude sucks. Anyway, here are the answers you are looking for:

• Champagne and wine yeasts are often bought my amateur brewers by the packet, similar to baker's yeast. "1 package" is the measurement, it's usually equal to 5 grams, which is a bit less convenient to measure because you need a very sensitive scale and it doesn't fill measuring spoons roundly.
  
  
• During fermentation, the yeast will turn the sugar into ethanol and carbon dioxide (that's why beer and champagne are fizzy, yeast at work). If the carbon dioxide builds up too much, the bottle it is fermenting in would pop its cork or explode. In order to prevent this, the CO2 needs to escape. Because we can't simply leave the bottle uncapped (bugs love to lay eggs in sweet ferments, and oxygen is detrimental to successful fermentation) we need a way to let the CO2 out without letting anything else get in. That is why you use a fermentation trap, also called a fermentation lock or airlock. It lets CO2 out, and keeps anything else from getting in by way of a water barrier. You can pick them up at brewer supply stores for around $1 each. The one pictured is a 3-piece type, though I prefer the S-types because they allow you to keep track of the fermentation rate by noting how quickly bubbles are escaping more effectively.
  
• Dandelion wine is a country wine, and like most country wine, it's going to have some spices or flavors in it besides the main ingredient. Dandelion wine is traditionally made with citrus to compliment the flavor. Folk-culture food is just like that, you'll have a hard time finding unflavored picked egg recipes for the same reason.
  
  
• Also, I'd like to emphasize that only the petals of dandelions are used. If you go find a dandelion and stare it down for a bit, you'll realize they have very few petals, and they are very light and airy. You need a lot of dandelions to do this, even if you only collect half a gallon of petals, it's a full afternoon activity in a dandelion field with your friends just to collect them.
  
  
  The comic is definitely vague; it ends with "let age", but knowing how to rack and age wine is an art all in itself!
  
  TL;DR: If you know nothing about dandelion wine then this comic is a nice primer to which is actually a fairly simple process. It leaves out some details but you probably shouldn't be making wine from a comic's instructions to begin with.
  
  Source: I make dandelion wine, so I guess you were right.

For wine you'd want to use wine yeast (not bread yeast)! The process of making wine is very similar to making fermented hot sauce but there are some additional steps. See this guide and /r/winemaking.

---

The difference between the yogurt (lactobacillus) and yeast is that lacto ferments sugar into lactic acid and carbon dioxide. Yeast ferments sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide.

I'd look into something like this with this with this. So that's $11.50 plus shipping, which at worst would be a total of $20 for 640 ounces of hooch.

If you always keep your hooch at room temperature, you should be able to pour out about 60 oz into another bottle, drink that, then pour new juice on top of the four ounces of remaining old hooch, and the whole process should start over again. Keep on top of it, and you can perpetuate the whole fucking thing.

I had no idea how many to use. I googled around but couldn’t find anything. So I just filled my mason jar with as many as I could fit after the peppers. Ended up being 1/3 of this package—


North Mountain Supply French Oak Cubes (Medium Toast, 4 Ounce) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PL2MLTG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_G2x1Db2JC6N9M

You should juice all the apricots, then bring the liquid to 89 degrees celcious, maintain this heat for 45 minutes.

Cool it down, and transfer it to a sterile food grade bucket. Purchase this, and put it into your apricot juice. (dissolve it in some water first).

Leave it for 2 weeks. You have apricot wine. lol

Open cover? Don't you lose carbonation? And when you mean packet, do you mean the whole one of these?

I've been trying to make hard booch for awhile without great success.

It's easy. EASY. It's not like the sweet hornsby's stuff. IT's drier and closer to beer.

If you wanted to experiment I'd buy a gallon or two of apple juice, like tree top. You don't want anything other than ascorbic acid as a preservative, a packet of chapagne yeast. Like this (http://www.amazon.com/Champagne-Yeast-10-Packs-Dried/dp/B00434CB74) You only need one and they're usually about .55 a shot.

Get an air lock like this: http://www.amazon.com/Piece-Plastic-Airlock-Sold-sets/dp/B000E60G2W/ref=pd_bxgy_gro_img_z.

Take your juice and pour yourself a small glass to give it a little airspace.

Take the lid and a drill bit and drill a hole in the juice cap sized right for the air lock to fit into the lid tightly. The plastic is soft so you can force it to get a tight seal. I used a pocket knife. If you want to save the headache, you can spend $2 on a rubber bung to fit the container lid.

Put a couple table spoons of sugar and dissolve it into some warm water. Add, I don't know, maybe a quarter of the packet of yeast. THat little packet is usually for five gallons. Eyeball it.

Let it set and get a little bubbly then add the measuring cup of liquid to your juice jug. Recap it with the air lock and enjoy. YOu can put distilled water or booze into the airlock. It doesn't matter which.

Then you wait.

After a week taste it. If you like it, drink it. If it doesn't taste hard enough wait a few more days. AFter you do the first one, you'll want to do two gallons then five. A gallon goes pretty fast. When it gets to where you like the hardness and sweetness of it, put it in the fridge with the airlock on it. IF you cap it while it's still actively fermenting you could get too much co2 built up in the bottle and have a problem.

Seriously talking about $15 at the MOST to start up and after that, it's the cost of yeast and apple juice.

PM me if you have any questions. I'm not an expert, but I do okay.

Staggered nutrient addition is useful to avoid stressing your yeast so it's drinkable sooner. Same goes for degassing, but that also brings oxygen into the ferment to help improve taste.

My personal favorite yeast is RC212 because it's very temperature tolerant and is good to 16%ish ABV. So if you want a good basic 1 gallon recipe for dry traditional:

In a 2 gallon bucket, add 5.3 lbs of honey and enough water to reach 1.125 specific gravity (should be around 1.4 gallon total volume). Rehydrate 5g of RC212 in 7.5g of go ferm in 100ml of ~115F water. After 10 minutes of that, add 75ml of honey/water must to the rehydrating yeast, stir, then pitch into the bucket.

At 24/48/72 and 96 hours after pitching your yeast, add 2g of fermaid O to the brew. Degas twice per day for the first week by stirring aggressively.

After specific gravity doesn't change for a week, rack it off the lees into a sanitized 1 gallon carboy that has a medium toasted oak spiral (half of one of these is perfect) in it and let sit in secondary until it's clear enough to read newspaper headlines through the mead and carboy. Then bottle and age for another 6-12 months before drinking.

So you basically need the following:

• Water
  
• Yeast
  
• Something for yeast to eat
  
• Something to keep the water and yeast in
  
  Water from your tap works fine, even if you live in an area that uses chlorine or chloramine.
  
  I like to use champagne yeast since it's cheap and tolerates a high alcohol percentage while not tasting disgusting.
  
  Sugar is yeast food. You can just dissolve regular sugar in water or you can get fancy and use the sugar in juices and fruits.
  
  For a vessel you need something that can withstand a little bit of pressure and have a way to let gas out. This means always plastic and never glass. Soda bottles or plastic milk cartons work well for this if you put a balloon with a pinhole in it over the top. That lets extra pressure out while not letting anything weird in since yeast isn't the only microorganism that eats sugar (you don't want mold or bacteria).
  
  That's about it! You can flavor it before or after to get different tastes. Quick disclaimer:
  
  > Recipes are undertaken at your own risk, and should be consumed only at the legal drinking age for your area. White mold is your friend, green think again. #hoochresponsibly

should work pretty well. wine yeast is super cheap on amazon, it can tolerate higher levels of alcohol. I use Red Star Cuvee to make Skeeter Pee, which is a baby step up from Kilju in difficulty.

Just go to amazon and search the name of whatever yeast.
Lalvin d47

Lalvin 71b

Just for example

you must have missed my previous point:

>-cook your meals at home (buy in bulk/on sale)

This wine kit, and $100 worth of supplies from a craft beer store around here, will make 30 bottles of wine.

you essentially dont need to leave your house to get shitfaced on the cheap.

Background

Based upon my initial question: Is it wine or meed?, I am working on my first Mead/Pyment. I've taken the original recipe I cobbled together from a variety of sources.

Is it mead? Well yes. According to the calculators in the sidebar concord juice is about 8.89% sugar. Honey is roughly 80%. I'm no math wiz, but I fussed with both Google and Wolframalpha and 8.89% of two gallons is roughly 45 Tablespoons or 0.23 pounds of sugars, 1 Gallon of Honey is roughly equivalent to 204 tablespoons of sugars or 7.9 pounds of sugars. yes I know Different types of sugars, etc. etc. But the mixture here is getting much more than 51% of the sugars from honey, so: 'tis a Wine -> Mead -> Melomel -> Pyment.


The following is an expansion of The GotMead format for recipes.

1. Ingredients
   
   • Star-San - not technically an ingredient, but it's for sterilization. I think of it as an anti-ingredient keeping the bad bugs out. (Sprayer use= 1/4 tsp to 650ml water & 60 second exposure)
     
   • 1.5 Gallons of boiled tap water (more or less to make things work out.) NOTE: I have well water, not city water - so no chlorine & plenty of minerals.
     
   • ~2 Gallons of homemade concord grape juice. (SG 1.060)
     Last year I pressed about about six gallons of grape juice from concords of my own. I was going to make jelly in the winter and froze it in the deep freeze.
     
   • 10lbs (now 15lbs) of Pure N Simple Honey.
     
   • ~3 tsp Fermax from Amazon.
     
   • Red Star Premier Blanc [Amazon] (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00434CB74)
     
     
2. Equipment
   
   • Large Stainless stock pot (for initial boil)
     
   • 5 Gallon food grade bucket & Lid sterilized.
     
   • 4 Gallon Sams club water bottle playing the role of carboy.
     
   • Hydrometer
     
   • Transfer hose
     
   • Water lock/ Bubbler
     
     
3. Preparation
   
   • Thaw the grape juice overnight in the fridge in a large container in case of leakage.
     
   • Sterilization/pasteurization.
     Thinking through the volume of Honey (~1 gallon) and aiming for a 4 gallon carboy; bring 1.5 gallon of water to a boil. Turn off heat, add the grape juice in order to pasteurize the juice without setting the pectin, stir in about 10-12 pounds of honey. (remove any scum that forms)
     
   • Sanitize the bucket and lid, and stirring spoon.
     
   • Stir vigorously as you add the ingredients.
     
   • add to the bucket, check the temperature and the SG - calculate remaining honey or water and add as needed. Stir till mixed, or your arm falls off - whichever comes first.
     
   • Check the temperature until it is at least down to about 80 degrees then add the yeast we're off to primary fermentation.
     
     
4. Primary fermentation.
   
   • 5 gallon sterilized bucket & lid with airlock.
     
   • Actual Original Specific Gravity (OG): 1.130 (I thought it was 1.122 but the must was still quite warm.)
     
   • I will plan on testing as fermentation tapers off and make a decision then on adding additional honey and warm water (carefully of course) in order to restart fermentation. (adjust to desired SG as needed).
     
   • Once fermentation has stopped transfer it to the secondary.
     
     
5. Secondary.
   
   • 4 gallon sams club water jug (plastic) with airlock.
     
   • Saved my honey jugs just in case I had any left over that wouldn't fit in the carboy.
     
   • Time. Lots of time.
     
     Notes:
     
     9/13/16 Initial. Retested SG, it was at 1.130.
     
     9/15/16 Sterilized a large spoon and vigerously stirred to aerate. SG at 1.074, fermentation is fast and furious.
     
     9/16/16 Aerated/degassed. 3tsp fermax. SG 1.050
     
     9/16/16 Aerated/degassed. SG 1.026
     
     9/21/16 Racking Day. SG 0.998 (ABV 18%?). Upon racking there was not quite enough in the carboy. After staring at it for twenty minutes I decided to gamble and added one gallon of water, and 5LBS of honey to bring it up to just below the base of the neck. Retesting the SG was 1.030. It is currently sitting inside a 5 gallon bucket in my bathroom, I'll transfer it to the closet as soon as I'm reasonably certain it won't go Mt. St. Helens on my wardrobe.
     
     

Amazon is your friend! https://www.amazon.com/Crystal-Pellet-Hops-2-oz/dp/B074DBMGN3/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=O0RLHH3KNVMD&keywords=crystal+hop+pellets&qid=1556209324&s=gateway&sprefix=crystal+hop&sr=8-1

Red Star Premier Blanc Wine Yeast, 5 g, (Pack of 11) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WFBRV18/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_B4w4DbSMKV9XZ

34172 Are surprises allowed?

Edit: Linked an item.

Just an example, as you could probably get it at the grocer or cheaper elsewhere but all you'll need is some citric acid and a sweetener of your choice(optional).

They also sell it for canning but I'm not sure if it tastes the same. Don't really see why not.

Citric acid is what gives that tang in sour patch kids and pretty much everything else that is sour in the candy world. Just a warning that it may slowly dissolve the gelatin, so I wouldn't put it on until you are ready to eat it.

Red star I think. It comes in a yellow package, and is a dry yeast. I'll double check when I get home from class.

-edit-

On the phone but here it is:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00434CB74/ref=redir_mdp_mobile

Champagne yeast is worth it for the 90 cent price! I don't want to by all snotty here but its the one thing imo you gotta spend money on for a decent product.... that having been said I've never tried making hooch with bread yeast. https://www.amazon.com/Pasteur-Champagne-Making-Moonshine-Distilling/dp/B00WFBRV18/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1481124482&sr=8-6&keywords=champagne+yeast

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiGu6PxcSUQ

Watch this video. I just started making some based on his recipe. I would increase the speed to 1.25 the guy talks way too slow for me. You could order some airlocks and some yeast on amazon and all he would need is any 2 quart juice he wants that does not have preservatives in it.

The Great Value walmart brand is working well for me, also the Aldi brand Apple juice is working well.

https://www.amazon.com/Red-Star-Premier-Blanc-Yeast/dp/B00WFBRV18/

Air lock would be completely optional as the dudes video he shows you just to do it with the lid on.

My go to yeast is Red Star Premier Blanc Wine Yeast. I just used it where the temperature was around 75 ambient and it came out perfect. It will be dry but never had flat. I just bottle with some sugar and carb it.

Here you go-

3-Piece Air Locks, 3 Piece... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07M7TN5BY?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Red Star Red Star Premier Blanc... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00434CB74?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

ATP - Vinyl-Flex PVC Food Grade... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PXJDESI?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

HYDROMETER - ALCOHOL, 0-200 PROOF... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B013S1VAM4?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

LD Carlson Yeast Nutrient, 2 oz. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0149IY8F6?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

As far as recipes, I’m still working on these first 2. Adding black tea and raisins and b-vitamins seems to have kept things bubbling.

As far as juices, I get most everything from Aldi (or Trader Joe’s if you’re fancy) very few preservatives, dirt cheap prices and unique flavored juices (Harissa Mango Pineapple juice??!?)

Hope that helps! I’ll post updates as the batch progresses. 2 days from now I’ll probably cold crash and do a gelatin clarifier.

No problem. I didnt bag the berries, but it would have been cleaner if I did. They were colorless and largely pulp by the time the fermentation was done, but they added a lot of excellent flavor. They were largely filtered out when we bottled from the secondary.

We did a second batch with blueberry, which was not quite as well recieved, but was equally interesting. I could see nectarines or maybe peaches as being pretty nice as well.

This is the yeast I used, this is the honey. I dont have the recipe handy, but Im betting I found it on /r/homebrewing. Search there for ciders/cysers and you should find some interesting ones. Also, dont overlook adding brewing nutrients to ciders/cysers. The juice doesnt have the right agents like barley does, and needs some additional "energizing" nutrients to really work. These are mega cheap though, generally pennys every batch. They should be listed on any recipe you find.

Good luck, and as always, have a homebrew.

I used this puree in this beer. Previously I had used two cans of the same stuff in an apricot hefeweizen.

Vintner's Harvest Fruit Puree - Apricot 3lbs. 1oz. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HDY01B8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_cBjNDbQN2D7NK

Not the most doable things because Amazon has terrible prices but I gave it a shot based on this recipe. https://www.reddit.com/r/Homebrewing/comments/5u86ht/neipa_recipe_help_extract/

Fermentables: 4lb Extra Light DME 1lb Wheat DME (late addition - 15min) 3lb Extra Light DME (late addition - 15min)

Steeping Grains (155F for 30min): 1lb Carapils 1lb Maris Otter

Hop Schedule: 2oz Columbus - 30min 1oz Amarillo - Flameout (for 10min) 1oz Citra - Flameout (for 10min) 1oz Amarillo - Dry Hop day 5 in primary for 5 days 3oz Citra - Dry Hop day 5 in primary for 5 days

Yeast Dry Safale S-04 English Ale

https://www.amazon.com/North-Mountain-Supply-French-Cubes/dp/B07PDNH5ZS/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?keywords=french+oak+cubes&qid=1563105488&s=gateway&sprefix=french+oak+c&sr=8-2

For a drier cider I’d use Champagne Yeast. You should either get more juice or a smaller bucket/carboy.

>Will you be giving the yeast a proper starter and vitamins?

I don't think I will, unless it's something I can do with household items. I'm trying to challenge myself to do this as frugally as I can. I'm basically just using yeast and this airlock
> Will you be crashing them or running them the entire time?

I'm not too familiar with the terminology, but my plan is to add the yeast to fruit juice, wait until it stops reacting, and then pour it into another container through a cheesecloth to filter out the inactive yeast.
>What is the temperature where they are fermenting?

Room temp, roughly 65-70
>What is the starting gravity?

Not too sure about this. I'm probably going with grape juice or some fruit concentrate. Could I measure this with a scale?
>What is the max ABV of the yeast?

I couldn't find those specifications, but all the reviews suggest it's the ideal product for brewing with juice. Maybe it'll say on the back of the packet?

What yeast did you use?

I've used both Lalvin 71B-1122 and Lalvin D-47. The 71B was very drinkable shortly after racking while the D-47 is best left for about 6 months. Those were both recommended in the forums I read prior to starting mead making.

Amazon UK has GoFerm at least.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=goferm&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

And fermaid O

https://www.amazon.co.uk/CellarScience-AD332A-Fermaid-O-12/dp/B074D9F114/ref=sr_1_8?keywords=organic+yeast+nutrient+brewing&qid=1566584797&s=gateway&sr=8-8

(Both are available to ship to SW10 at least).

How good is this yeast?

Got a packet with 3lbs of dakota clover honey in a 1-gallon jug going with this yeast for 1 week, now.

Without a proper airlock, the brewing vessel is either going to build up pressure and pop, or it's going to let in all sorts of things from the air, and would be about as safe as any attempt to drink grape juice that's been sitting out on the counter for a few weeks.

It's possible to brew this way, but it's almost guaranteed to end up poorly. There's a very high chance of it going bad, that is, of growing mold or other unwanted microbiotic visitors. You'll probably be able to see this happen.

Even if it doesn't work, the end result will most likely be one of the nastiest forms of wine you've ever had. It's not quite prison hooch, but it'll be close.

----

If you and your friends really want to try and get into brewing on the cheap, my suggestion is to start with an airlock and bung like these, find a gallon of apple juice or apple cider at the grocery store in a glass bottle with no preservatives (check the label), and drop in 1/4 of a packet of a brewing yeast like this one. It's a very beginner friendly (and kinda harsh) yeast that will survive mistreatment and bad conditions no problem. You put the yeast in the apple juice, you put a little water in the airlock, you put the airlock on the jug, and wait a month. You'll want to get a food safe hose to siphon out the brew when it's done, and you'll need bottles to age it in (the stuff will taste bad at first but give it 5-8 months and you'll have somethign wonderful). When the brew finishes that first month, fill up the bottles and seal them, then keep them somewhere cool for 5-8 months. Note: you'll need clean glass bottles, and you'll want to sanitize them or else any bugs in there will make the brew go bad while it ages. I like swing top bottles, they don't require a capper machine or a supply of caps.

Total cost to brew up a simple tasty cider, including all supplies:

• ~8$ for the gallon jug of cider to start.
  
• ~2$ for a pack of EC1118 yeast (the amazon link above is for 5 packets)
  
• ~3$ for an airlock and a bung
  
• ~18-20$ for a half dozen 16oz swing top bottles
  
• ~5$ for a hose
  
  Coming out to less than 50$ to get started, and most of that you won't have to buy again for later brews. If you find a local homebrewing shop you might be able to get these things cheaper... or not. At least you should be able to find them in single packs instead of amazon's bulk sets.

I would just sneak this on: http://www.amazon.com/Spike-Your-Juice-Kits-Value/dp/B003QVL4SW#customerReviews

I really wanted to post the quantities because I had been looking for a starting point recipe and couldn’t find much.

I don’t know that the antibacterial quality of the hops was the problem. They were as carbonated as the rest of that batch (ginger-apple/basil- maple agave). I believe that I wasn’t using enough priming sugar. I had good bubbles on a batch that I added a whole apple too which had ~15grams of sugar. This batch I ensured every bottle had 15grams of sugar be it from juice, fruit, or adding priming sugar, and a hybrid of these.

The hops I ordered from Amazon but have since found a local brew shop I might try to buy them from.

Home Brew Ohio 3 oz Citra Hop... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0716D9H3N?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Huell Melon Pellet Hops 2 oz https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074DB8QZP?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Warming: Deep frying experience is required in this recipe, this is a terrible recipe for first timers due to the inherent danger of frying something as moist as fresh salmon skins.

Step 1. Acquire salmon skins, dry very very well, then dry some more. Paper towels might not be enough, hair dryer recommended, or some time in the freezer on a cooling rack. I sliced them into squares about 2in x 2in.

Step 2. Fill a tall pot with your choice of frying oil, I used lard. I used about 4 cups, but it is dependent on your setup. 4 Cups gave me about oil about 2-3 inches deep to use.

Step 3. Heat to about 350-375 degrees on medium high. plop in dry salmon skin 2 at a time (to maintain temp). Use a spider or chopsticks to flip them after about 1 minute, then fry that side 1 minute more. Extract to a sheets on paper towels on a plate.

Step 4. Repeat process, a lid may be needed to contain the oil if it gets too crazy, but the steam produce will feed back into the oil and cause more sputtering, so keep it off centered.

After you are done with the process, you can filter the still warm oil through some coffee filters or made for oil filters if you want.

I used the lard to make Sesame salad dressing without filtering.

Chop up hella garlic, like 10 pieces, into warm lard, optional, you can fry the garlic till it's light brown.
For every cup of garlic infused lard I used about 4 tablespoons of ground up toasted sesame seeds (toasted in the pan, but seasame seed 'butter' is available in asian markets, it's like natural peanut butter but is made from seasame seeds, alternatively, tahini is the same idea.), a tablespoon of mayo, 2 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon mirin, 1-2 tablespoons of soy sauce, and 1-2 tablespoons of seasame seed oil. To make salad dressing that 'tastes' right but is full of fat, I use citiric acid (http://www.amazon.com/Barry-Farm-Citric-Acid-oz/dp/B0001FUGTE) in place of extra vinegar. Add water, splenda, and salt to taste.

The citric acid also makes for a tangy salmon skins or pork rinds with a light spray of vinegar and a sprinkling of citiric acid.

Since Spikeyourjuice.com seems to either be down or I was banned... http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003QVL4SW

It is not great. Oddly, it isn't good with grape juice. However, I have found juices to use it in that are pretty darned tasty.

I turn a big bottle of juice into a high powered fruity prison-type wine that doesn't taste bad...usually.

And yes, it is frugal. The packet of yeast stuff comes out to less than a dollar per pack (if you just buy the packs and not the kit). And it turns a $3 bottle of juice into 46 ounces of wine. The equivalent of almost 2 bottles of wine. So, about 2 bucks for a bottle of wine.

Pomegranite-Blueberry is pretty tasty.

I bought some of these
North Mountain Supply American Oak Cubes (Medium Toast, 4 Ounce) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PDNG5X4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_MekADbMFQXNX6

I put two in but personally didn't taste much of a difference

Yup as they've said below - Super Kleer is awesome. Though it wont hurt your mead to sit on the lees after you clear, it will eventually add off-flavors. Once you hit it with SC it'll be crystal and you can decanter/siphon/transfer off the lees and age.

https://www.amazon.com/Liquor-Quik-Super-Kleer-KC-Finings/dp/B01KW2H1ZC

I will sometimes filter, or give it time. But I swear by this stuff

https://www.amazon.com/Liquor-Quik-Super-Kleer-KC-Finings/dp/B01KW2H1ZC

It's like magic

Also, as mentioned, pectic enzyme at pitching makes a lot of difference. But only if you care about cider being cloudy. I don't notice any discernible quality difference except one's shinier

I've considered buying the e-z caps too. But then I realized it's essentially one of these airlocks with a convenient screw top attachment to fit on a standard 2 liter bottle and some yeast. If you're trying to go cheap, it might be worth putting together the few pieces necessary to DIY, add some rubber stoppers and a gallon jug of juice and you're pretty much good to go.

In fact, I might just buy all that stuff now...

Edit: It'd probably be cheaper at a local homebrew shop, none of these links I put in here actually come from Amazon so you can't get combined or Amazon Prime shipping. :(

Looky here at this.

[Perfect gift idea for otters] (https://www.amazon.com/Spike-Your-Juice-Kits-Value/dp/B003QVL4SW)

Done that: https://www.amazon.com/Spike-Your-Juice-Kits-Value/dp/B003QVL4SW

But I much prefer the professionally produced variety.

I was watching an interview with Berner (popular marijuana producer) who was saying one of their fears of corporatization of the industry is reducing the quality of the product (e.g. not taking the time to properly dry) in order to sell more units cheaper. I think that's bound to happen like every industry, but for me it will still be cheaper to buy from the store now matter what quality I want. Just the electricity costs and odor keep me from doing it, not to mention time.

Cut out the middleman:
10 packets of Champagne yeast: $5.50
2 airlocks: $5.99

Everyone's got time for it! Next time you're at the store, get a gallon or two of apple juice... the one in the glass jug. Get one or two Of these and a few packets Of this and you're good to go. If you want to get to the scientific part, get one of these to measure potential and finished alcohol content.

Dump out 1/3 of the juice, add more sugar for more alcohol if you want, add the yeast, put the air lock on and throw it in a dark place for a few weeks ;)

Heh.

My dad's getting into brewing. I figured he should start small.

Ive done it before with this. Got 18% and fairly neutral flavor.