After reading a bunch about diy fermenting I figured I could ferment juice w/o any special equipment except yeast and here we are.
I ordered 6 foil packs of Lalvin EC-1118 from Amazon and used maybe a 1/4 tsp and started my first batch, 1 gallon of apple wine. Within a week I had 2 more half gallons cooking for cider. The wine made a great hard cider btw
In the past 2 months I have tried both purple and white grape (purple grape cider rocks my world) and have settled on a Solara type of brewing for the apple juice, i.e. removing about half weekly and replacing with plain juice and sugar water. Currently I've got 3 96oz bottles producing over a gallon for me every weekend. After racking I add 1/2 cup frozen, thawed and smashed Blueberries to each 1/2 gallon of cider for flavor. I give it 36-48 hrs before removing and bottling, works like a charm.
Two plus weeks ago I started 2 half gallons of sugar water and have been bottling prison hooch with sugar free water singles. Sunkist, Crush, Starburst, etc make these for 16oz water bottles and are pretty good with the booze.
I had no idea it was this simple
