It's that time of year.
Not as great of apple crop as last year for me, I'll leave mine to fatten up the bears/deer.
A few local orchards do cider without preservatives just UV treatment. Hope to get some this week and start the first fall batch.
I've a few glass 5-gal carboys, airlocks, ..........and yeast that takes 20% ABV
Anybody else?
Michael_Js (09-15-2021)
Sipping on Apple Wine as we speak. Bumper crop of apples and brewed up about 8 gallons or so. Used Champagne yeast so pretty sure it would get close to 20%. Gave my checker gauge to the guy who bought the essential extractor. It would take a freeze job to make it hard which sticking it in the freezer for a few days and throwing away the ice ball is how I was taught. lol. Actually last time I tried it the wine was too strong to freeze very good. Just make it slushy..so never mind. Its probably hard enough.
Innkeeper (09-16-2021),Mad Trapper (09-16-2021)
How much sugar you add/gallon bigwheel? Cider usually will do 6-8% alcohol on it's own. To get my good yeast drunk so it stops working I usually need ~ 2lbs sugar/gallon. The air lock will stop bubblin, and the cider will still be a little sweet. Less sugar and you get a "dry" cider.Originally Posted by bigwheel
If I get a dry batch, I'll add a little sugar to each bottle when bottling the batch. It will ferment again and make a champagne type brew with bubbles and carbonation. Need to be careful there, too much sugar and wrong bottles can lead to detonations.
One of the best batches I ever made didn't use sugar, just lots of honey. That gets expensive, but was almost like a fine mead.
The five gallon batch had about 8 lbs and the 3 gallon batch had six I think. Weather was mighty hot and didn't really know how long to let it work since it was my first adventure with apples. so locked it down after 30 days. I was hoping for some bubbly but apparently the ABV was too high to get it kick started again. I added sugar and more yeast and no ferment. Its kicking my coola as we speak. lol Meant to say we probably make wine different than some others. I make Cowboy Wine or as sometimes called Chalk in the Ghettos of West Texas. Its however much cheap fruit a person can stuff into a ladies knee high stocking along with 2 lbs sugar person gallon water and yeast. You put it in a bucket and give it a squeeze once a day for ten days and squeeze it dry on day ten and throw it away. Duct tape the seam on the bucket and check it once a week. When it clears up a little its time to drink it. lol. This link tells a lot about it. Those prisoners are pretty resourceful.
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2...ison-moonshine
Last edited by bigwheel; 09-17-2021 at 10:34 PM.
Mad Trapper (09-18-2021)
I'll try to do some pictures for next batches. Should be mighty fine Thanksgiving time.
bigwheel (04-03-2023)
Im on my third 1.75 liter used plastic former vodka bottle on this batch. Got four or five left. Glad I snatched those things heavy over the past few years out of the pretty neighbors recycle bin. She quit drinking recently..but I have a bunch saved up. Use em to make root beer ginger ale and wine etc. The wine Tastes surprisingly special when dusted off with the ho made ginger ale..which I got to quit drinking. It messed up my platelets according to my last blood test and that's the only thing stopping us old guys on blood thinners to keep from bleeding to death on shaving cut... So I bees cutting back drastic on that. Afraid I wont have any left for Thanksgiving sniff sniff. The apples are few on the trees. |
https://www.stylecraze.com/articles/...cts-of-ginger/
I do 5-gal glass carboys batches. 5-gal cider + 8 lbs sugar is a full load. For bottles bigger is better as cleaning them sucks. I do 1/2-gal beer growlers, or reuse vodka bottles with re-seal caps. Those are 750-mL, also have same top 16-oz brown beer bottles.
I also add yeast nutrient and energizer from the home brew store. I get a quart of the yeast/brew started for a day or two then pout that in the batch. If your cider is cold/in frig , let it warm up overnight to start a batch
don't know why this picture posts sideways? from last year
Wow..you know how its done right! Very cool. Now what is our definition of hard cider? Thanks. Heard there was two was to make it including freezing it but I forget the other right now. lol. I tried the freeze method once as previously mentioned and swear the stuff could have been used for antifreeze in a pinch.
Hard for me is just fermented.
The frozen stuff, poured off we call apple jack, that can get real strong. That's fractional crystallization where the water freezes but the ethanol don't. The bottle batch above had some outside last winter, - 20 oF and just made a slush never froze. You get some real strong of what pours off , but save the rest as it's just weaker and still good if your not looking to get sauced.
I have a friend who does grapes/fine wines. Also makes grappa with a still, ~150-180 proof. That is about like "moonshine". He's offered to distill some of my cider.
Edit: @Bigwheel the apple jack got me to think about two somethings you've maybe never done, ice fishing and worrying about your beer freezing.
We'd put a few shots of Allen's 100 ginger brandy in a beer if we left the fire on cold days
bigwheel (09-18-2021)
Actually did drink frozen beer more than once. That left a big snow cone in the bottle. I got enthused to go ice fishing one time but never could find any ice around here except the thin stuff on the highway that makes yups and pilled up truck drivers have wrecks.
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