Thanks for the "clarification." :-)
However, I may have committed some cardinal sin with this batch. A friend at the pub chided me severely because I boiled it. He says I have set the pectin and driven off the volatiles.
After the references to stunning the yeast and treating it much like beer, it just seemed instinctive to boil it to eliminate any nasties before fermentation. I know some people like the lottery of natural yeasts, but the odds did not seem good to me, especially as I'm not really familiar with the source of these apples.
I boiled the must for 30 minutes, then cooled it and pitched Lalvin EC 1118, which is a champagne yeast. I wanted cider yeast, but my local HBS didn't carry it, so I made do.
I'm not terribly worried about the pectin. At worst, I can clarify it later, or I can just drink cloudy cider, which is no problem to me. (Or is there another reason I SHOULD be worried about the pectin?)
The thing about the volatiles does concern me a bit though. Will this harm my flavor profile?
Is this a horrible sin, or just a minor glitch in the learning process? Has anyone else boiled their must before fermenting? How will it affect the cider?
BTW, I'm not getting a very active fermentation (at least not compared to beer). It's sitting in my basement at about 70 degrees F with only a little foam on the top and no real bubbling. Do I need to repitch or anything?
TIA
Michael