Need cider help

[Smh77]

Hello all,

I'm trying to make a cider for my non-beer loving cousin. He's tried a lot of different ciders and it turns out he likes them for the most part, however the simpler the better. His favorite appears to be strongbow or something along those lines. Does anybody have a recipe with something similar?

I don't really know anything about making cider either, like, do you boil it? and What kind of apple juice do you use?
So any tips are strongly appreciated.

[corkybstewart]

cider is really easy. You don't have to boil it, but some people will pasteurize fresh juic by heating it to 170F and holding it there for 20 minutes, or add a Campden tablet.
I make one cider every fall from my trees and a neighbor's trees, but I also make a couple from Walmart pasteurized juice. Make sure it has no preservatives.
You can use pretty much any dry yeast, I like Nottingham and I even made a batch with Safale-S58(I think that's the number) Sanitize the carboy, pour the hydrated yeast in and then just add the apple juice. Put the airlock on it and keep it cool like beer. It will stink pretty bad, it throws a lot of sulfur so be prepared to hear some snide comments from the family members about who has the bad gas problem.
When it' finished fermenting I rack it to secondary for several months, then rack it again to a keg for serving.
Variations are easy too. This year I made a spiced cider with several pounds of honey, some clove, ginger and cinnamon. I'm looking forward to tryingit next fall. A lot of people use brown sugar too, there's no "right" way to make a good cider as long as you're patient.

[Smh77]

Thanks Corky! That does sound pretty straight forward. Is there anything you would suggest adding for a first attempt at cider besides just apple juice?