oops! greedy little beast..

well...xmas fun dies down and my attention turned away from fixing my bricked phone having hastily uninstalled something I shouldn't have uninstalled..rendering my phone a useless but glorified mp3 player for a day or so....to....oh yeah, the cider in the airing cupboard !

Opened up a PET bottle very very gingerly to see something similar to what I imagine a whale farting in a tea cup would look like...then managed to get a sample to calm down enough to take a reading....1.002..oops...left it too long and all my 'priming' sugar has fermented off, plus some more ! Well...it makes you pucker a little and it's now 8.5% but it'll do..not as sweet as I wanted but it is at least fizzzzzy...so i've killed off both bottles with campden and stuck them outside tonight...

It's a bit yeasty tasting so I'm hoping over the next few days, that'll subside....we'll see on testing day !

Orange Wine Madness

Here's the next brew... 1 litre of orange juice, 1 litre of grape juice, 1 kg sugar. Pretty simple. We shall see! Currently day 2 and fizzing like mad.

Something With A Kick.

I now have an empty brew bin... It would be a waste not to fill it.. I thought I'd make something a little stronger this time.

6Kg of sugar and 22 litres of water. Gives an SG of lots... 1.095. This equates to 15-16%.
Turbo-Mega-Ultra-Fast-Hulk Yeast added.

7 days start to finish... according to the distructions.... really?  We shall see.

Santas Winter Warmer

I decanted the Santas Winter Warmer into a pressure barrel on Sunday night. The SG was below 1.014 for the past few days. I had a little taster and it very promising. The instructions say 2 days for secondary ferment and 14 days to clear.... however, the same instructions said 6 days for the primary fermentation and it took over 12 days.. I’ll check the SG in a few days for an indication of the secondary fermentation. I read on the forums that it’s at it’s best after 6 weeks....

Behold !

Behold ! The Cooks Un-Patented CO2 Production Measurerererere...

To complete this project you need

1 Upturned Vase
1 Avent Baby bottle
1 5ml Childrens medicine syringe
A length of straw from the insides of a childrens drinking bottle
1 Medicine bung for dispensing childrens medicine from a bottle
some plasticine to close any leaks

From this, I worked out that my cider is producing about 5ml of Co2 in 30 minutes

To Carbonte, we need about 2 Parts Co2 per Volume i.e 9 Litres of Co2 dissolved in 4.5L of cider

So, that's 37.5 Days...blimey ! Better get bottling.

Other issues is final Sweetness tho...

1 Litre of CO2 at 1 Atmosphere weighs about 1.8g so I need 16.5g of Co2


Sugar converts to roughly 1/2 its weight in Co2 when it ferments...so that's about 33g Sugar I need to add in order to self carbonate whilst ending up at the same SG it is today...

So...I'll be sweetnening today/tomorrow to my target of 1.012 (it was that after last sweetening but I guess it's falled since it's been bubbling away again)...then adding 33g and sticking the lot into 2 plastic bottles....in 37.5 Days time I'll kill the ferment with campden unless the bottles have killed the house first ;-)  I'll also need to de-acidify it as it's on the acid side...that will probably cause an almightly fizz bomb if I do it at the end of fermentation (as it'll be carbonated hopefully)...so might be needing to do that first..or at least get it slightly less acidic than it is....

Festive Foam

The festive bitter is bubbling away like mad.. The instructions say fermentation should take 4-6 days to 1.014 at 20 deg c and the brew would be 5.7%. That seems like a very short fermentation? Can it really brew that fast? I'll check the sg on Saturday.

I've invested in a pressurised barrel for this batch.. Beer on tap! 4 week settling time... Just in time for Christmas.

Something amazing has happened....

First batch that I made, the one with the cider yeast.

I racked it off a week ago after it had cleared, and sweetened it to SG1015 and popped it into the airing cupboard to see whether it would have another little ferment. Nothing doing for 7 days but this morning, wonder of wonders, it was bubbling gently to itself.

Tonight I have bottled it to capture some natural fizz and in doing so I tasted some. It's bloody lovely. Seriously. It's a little "young", but it's a very nice drink, even now, and it has a very nice aftertaste. Give it a month or two to mature in the garage and I think it'll be a cracker. Ready just in time for the festive season in fact.

I genuinely can't believe it. I'm so chuffed.

Something Festive

Here's the next brew. "A strong, mellow ale balanced with choice aromatic and bittering hops". Bring it on!

Ginger Beer Bottled

18 bottles of Ginger beer.. SG 1.005. 6.5% ish. Added a little sugar to each. Not sure if it was needed? Tastes alright, considering it's full of yeast, flat and slightly warm.

Now that the brew bin is empty, I thought it would be rude not to fill it with another brew!! New post to follow....

Mud mud glorious mud

Thanks for your efforts the other night. By the time Ant and I had finished nurdling around there were 5 demijohns of alarming looking mud. However, 48 hours later, the dust has settled and there is a beautiful golden coloured liquid left on a large layer of sediment.

I will deliver the Draper bottle to their residence tomorrow morning. Ant R - do you want one to love and nurture?

For any that I keep, once fermentation is truly underway I am going to move it into the garage as a slow fermentation is by all accounts a better fermentation. Or so they say...

Warren cider....racked off

So, my cider seemed to have stopped - no bubbles visible when looking with a torch and it had cleared well. SG of 1005 which from a starting point of 1055 makes it about 6% alcohol by my calcs. I wanted to take it up to 1015 to encourage a bit more fermentation and add a bit of sweetness so I could bottle it and get it naturally carbonated.

Worked out that I needed 200g sugar per demijohn, dissolved that in water, added to a demijohn and racked the cider into it and I got 1015-ish. Hard to be exact.

I'm going to pop these into the airing cupboard for a few days to see whether I can provoke them into fermenting some more. If I get any action, it's into bottles and into the garage for a couple of months to round off.

The couple of mouthfuls I got when starting the racking were certainly drinkable, and that was without the added sugar. I'm hopeful that with a little time, it'll be a nice drink all in all.

Cider..final stages...

So..yesterday I measured the SG of the Cider to 1.004..no change since
since 22 oct so that's pretty much finished with an alchohol content of
(1.06-1.004)*129 = 7.2%

I want to get a final SG of 1.012..similar to Sainsburys Medium Dry
Cider so worked out the amount of sugar needed to reach that and figured
out it was an additional 100g Sugar in 4.5 Litres.

Boiled up the kettle and added 100g to a measuring Jug, then poured in
water until it reached about 200ml level and dissolved it
through...(200ml is about the amount I tend to lose when I rack for the
first time)

Poured that into a clean demijohn and racked the cider onto it..gave a
little swirl and measured some at exactly 1.012 (perfect of course ;-) )

It actually tastes drinkable now, although with a slight yeast fizz
still..It'll be similar to Thatcher's I think, but still very young and
will definitely improve over the next month or so...going to move it
somewhere warmer to see if I see any action in the airlock since adding
new sugar....if I do, I'll bottle into plastic bottles and bottle
ferment for a week or so before killing of the yeast with campden
(testing weekly to see how carbonated it is)....if I don't, I'll leave
it in the demijohn to age before using campden later on to stabilise it
(and have a flat cider instead)

getting there!

this is cooks cider at 3 weeks old....the airlock shows a little pressure still, so potentially still fermenting a little...if i get chance i might rack off and sweeten now..I rekon it's on its last legs fermentation wise so I'm considering sweetings, racking into cider plastic bottles and seeing how it carbonates over a week before killing off the yeast......but looks like its going to clear well  at least !

pucker up

it's super dry and with the tannin from the skins it definitely needs aging..but..it is clearing! no more fluorescent glow :)

extra press..

i have acquired a small 'vigo' press..a few rust spots but might help in getting through the process next week...

status update

Once a project manager, always a project manager.....

The three with the cider yeast in are going well. One is "going mental", one is "going sort of mental" the other one is showing a definite interest in having a go.

The two with the natural fermentation are being more circumspect. One is definitely fermenting slowly, the other I'm yet to be convinced about. There's something happening, just very slowly.

I have had a genius idea however. Whilst I am at Centerparcs, I will put them in the bathroom on the floor so when the underfloor heating comes on, they'll get a little warmth. That'll perk things up I reckon.

I'm becoming obsessed.

there's an alien in my soup

All 5 demijohns well under way from the look of it. Alien lifeforms present in all bottles. The actual liquid is really clear even at this stage which is good.

Hoping it'll all calm down before departure for Centerparcs or I might return after 4 days to find it's taken over the whole house.

Changed an airlock earlier, and there was a very pleasant smell coming out of the bottle.....

Another juicing and brewing session planned for next Wednesday evening. Bring a demi-john with you, help with the pressing and go home with some juice that's ready to brew. What could be more fun! Let me know.

oh well, I stirred it..

Having not referred to the site beforehand, and having spoken to the moman at the brew shop when I was picking more kit up earlier, I gave it a stir. Adjusted the pH to 3.2 from 2.8, chucked in the yeast and away we go.

So, I have 2 demijohns of natural fermentation and 3 with cider yeast in. I fear there is going to much frothing in the coming days, but I have a pint of juice left over in the fridge that I can top up with if necessary.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think I may have heard my first "bloop" from the "naturals" earlier. Maybe a bit early after 24 hours but you never know - it's quite warm in the kitchen.

I have the potential for at least another 30 litres of juice sitting in the garage waiting for me. I'm going to leave it a week and then juice it and then ferment it in the bucket....

Such excitement...

to stir or not to stir...that is the question..

well done mate! any blisters from all that fruiting?

if you're not conducting your primary ferment in the bucket..I'd rack it to demijohn without disturbing it otherwise you're demijohn will froth over through the airlock for the first week...
you could ferment for a few days in the bucket itself until its calmed down a bit before racking to the demijohns..just need to keep a damp cloth over it to keep the nasties out and then you can stir daily..
for reference.i had a clean juice after juicing and straining and put it direct into the demijohn...its still going ballistic but isn't frothing..id got any apple sediment in there it'd be a mess ! (cleaner juice in demijohn also means more left to drink after final racking...and/or less watering down when topping up after racking)
parsnip wine just started in a demijohn today..

Ashling Cottage cider underway

About 60kg of apples kindly donated by a chap called Richard who lives on the green and has an orchard.....and another 20kg from the fine folk of Crondall. If you want more apples, he's got tonnes (literally) and wants to get rid of them.

Pressed about half of what I collected today and now have:

- 2 demijohns sitting in the kitchen which will start fermenting of their own accord in a few days with luck (I added 2 tablespoons of pectolase to clear it but that was it - SG1055 and pH 3.2 so no added sugar). SG1055 if totally fermented would give a cider of 7.5%. As I'm planning on adding some sugar before I bottle it to get some fizz into it, I reckon 7.5% is enough as the second fermentation will add about 1% I think.

- 15 litres in a bucket with 4 campden tablets killing off the nasties, ready for racking into 3 demijohns and adding cider yeast, probably on Tuesday morning before work. I haven't tested the SG or pH of this batch yet but will do so before putting into demijohns in case it needs adjustment.

Quick question for you all. Whilst the 15 litres is sitting in the bucket, the sediment is settling out. Should I stir this up before putting into the demijohns or rack it off to give clearer juice? Don't want to lose any flavour. Maybe I'll do 1 clear and then stir it up for the other two?

Photos to follow....

cooks cider 1 week in...

Brew Started

Just finished making up the Coopers Ginger Beer. I had an unfortunate accident with the sugar and added 2kg instead of recommended 1kg. The SG went up to 1.040, which I think should make about 6% alcohol.... err I think!?

The brew bin is now sat under my computer desk amongst the numerous power supplies, UPS, NAS and modem keeping it nice and warm.

Ginger and Chilli Beer

Purchased the items for my first brew... It should have a kick!

I've just been reading the instructions. It says the final alcohol content should be 3.5%. This is clearly a typo and obviously should read..... 13.5%. ....

Off to the shops for more sugar.