We are the truest of true beginners, having made a single batch of hard cider 6 or 7 yrs ago … now wanting to try it again. Just picked approx 4 bushels of Jonamacs from our own 2 trees. Also have a MASSIVE bounty of an unknown variety of nice crabapples (mid-sized DARK burgundy & somewhat tart). Might these combine to make a decent cider? Any recommendations for other varieties to add (must be obtainable from a New England, USA grocery store)???

Hi everyone, just a general question on Campden tablet usage.

We've made cider before from juiced apples we picked up from a local orchard in the past. (They juice a lot for people to pick up and make cider with, it comes straight from their storage tanks.)

The first year everything turned out great, the second year... not so much we obviously had some contamination...

We've never used campden tablets before, and were wondering since we'll have the juice for a day or so before we can get it into the fermentation setup, should we add crushed tablets to the juice when we pick it up? From what I've read, you would want to do that 24 hours before fermentation anyway... would this basically add protection? Are there any other things we should know about the campden? (sounds like 1 tablet per gallon, crushed... we're aiming for 10 gallons total)

I'm also still not quite clear on the difference between the potassium vs sodium versions of the tablets?

Thanks for any insights you all might have.