Beer, cider, friends, fun... and the GRE.

[glasseye]

This weekend was rather productive. I:

- Went to the farmer's market with ursule.
- Started a batch of hard cider made from apple cider bought at said market (pure juice, no preservatives!)
- Cleaned up yeast blow-out from the aforementioned hard cider.
- Finally bottled the pumpkin ale that I started in November. 8.1%, and darn tasty.
- Hung out with ursule, tejolote, and ryunohi during a general craft night at our place.
- Consumed beer, scotch, and pizza with the aforementioned people.
- Hacked together a holder for engraving coin dies.
- Did a bunch of GRE practice questions.
- Went for a nice walk through the forested area of Ravenna Park with ursule.
- Played some video games (okay, so this wasn't exactly productive).

Comments

[aelfgyfu.livejournal.com]

So what cider recipe / method are you using? Mom just finished pressing 4 gallons of gravenstine cider for me, which we are freezing until we have some other varieties ready to mix it with, but I am planning on producing a lot of hard cider and cyser fairly soon... I am going to do the cyser with the mead-making equiptment Hank bought, but I also want to experiment with more traditional cider. In fact, do you know someplace I can get a used barel for making cider in? I am sort of wanting to experiment with making things in barels and decanting later, since I also make things to decant into and that is the medieval way of doing it.

[glasseye.livejournal.com]

I'm not really using a recipe. :)

The cider we got at the market didn't say what kind of apple(s) it was pressed from, but I know that it's pure juice, and quite sweet. It didn't taste very tart at all, but once the yeast eats all the sugar that may change.

Here's what I did:

Sanitized everything with 1-step cleanser.
Heated 1gal of cider, just to bring it to room temperature (it was mostly frozen.)
Hydrated 1 packet of Premier Cuvée champagne yeast in 1/4 cup warm water w/ pinch of sugar and yeast nutrient. (about 15 minutes.)
Put 1tsp yeast nutrient in fermenter (1gal water jug.)
Put 1/2tsp acid blend in fermenter (I would have used lemon juice here if we'd had any.)
Put 1/2 of cider into fermenter.
Added hydrated yeast.
Put last 1/2 of cider into fermenter.

Unfortunately I neglected to take a hydrometer reading, so I'll have no idea how potent the stuff is.

I skipped the usual step of aerating the must, since when I was putting the frozen cider into the pot to melt it there was much agitation. ;)


Regarding barrels, the best place to ask would be a homebrew store. There's one at the Oregon City side of the old bridge. I want to try that too At Some Point.

[sablebadger.livejournal.com]

You'll probably be able to figure out how potent it is by how often you black out while drinking it.

;)

[ursula]

My dad always uses champagne yeast, too.

glasseye wasn't listing my projects, so he didn't mention that the endless net is done.

[sablebadger.livejournal.com]

Best bet for a "barrel" for making a cider/brewing/whatever in, is a 5 gallon glass jug, called a "Carboy".

You can find them cheap sometimes in random places, but brewing store will have them.

The reason for this over a barrel is Sanitation. There are a lot more yeasts/infectious agents floating around these days, as opposed to back in the day (increased industrialization will do that to a society) so you really want to make sure you're doing a clean environment, and only exposing the sugary source to the right kinds of agents.

badger

[aelfgyfu.livejournal.com]

Well, I already have one of those. :-P

[sablebadger.livejournal.com]

Glass is easier to sanitize than plastic or wood. Wood has some benefits if you can get a decent clean barrel, in that wood has some natural antiseptic properties. But it can also impart off flavors especially the american grown oaks. English oaks impart much less flavor to drinks fermenting in them, but the silly english cut most of their trees down, and the oak they used in period to store and ferment is not really available for construction of barrels.

If you want a nice barrel with a wax/parafin lining to get the look, and the cleanliness you can check the J something Townsend catalog that I am sure you know about. the recreation catalog mostly focussed on colonial, but with some period stuff.

badger

[aelfgyfu.livejournal.com]

Jas Townsend - my friends! ;-) I have bought many radom little fiddly items from them. I keep eyeing their barrels as water barrels for events too, but so $! :-P