Git cher bru awn!

Alright, so as everyone here should know, fall/winter is cider/dark beer brewing time. I've got 5 Gallons of local cider pitched with White Labs' WLP775 English Cider Yeast bubbling away quite happily in the computer room. I know some of you home/school-brew, so what do you have working for the winter?

Waiting on my kit to get here along with the rest of my crap. Should be in by the end of December, I hope.

As mentioned before, I am attempting to make cider in my dormitory from scratch. I have two-three liter carbuoys with stoppers and airlocks, and about 9.25 grams of Red Star champagne yeast left. My batch called for about 30 apples worth of juice, 3/4 cup of sugar, and .75 grams of yeast per bottle.

My first attempt became disasterous. My suitemate was supposed to bring a blender, but instead brought a bootleg rubbermaid smoothie maker. It turned the apples into apple sauce. I made a ghetto last ditch attempt to press the stuff using two cups and a coffee filter, but I only made about 1/4 of a solo cup before quitting. No way could I press six liters of the stuff using cups and a coffee filter.

I will try a legit blender this weekend, otherwise Im quitting. No local farmstands for un-pasteurized cider for me.

We just finished pressing a few gallons of cider recently, and I've got one gallon in my carboy right now. I use Honey instead of yeast, which makes the fermenting a bit slower.

I need to get my hands on another carboy and airlock, because I want to experiment with adding blackberries to the mixture.

We got a late start this year, because we had to rebuild our cider press. The old one was yet another flood victim. But we got a TON of apples this year, and still have plenty waiting to be pressed. We could come away with upwards of 10-15 gallons of cider, much of it for drinking, more of it for making hard stuff out of.

I attended a 'cider festival' last weekend at a winery in Orange county, and tasted 'one of the top 5 ciders in the country' (that's what the tag said) It was tasty, but most of what you're getting there is too carbonated. I don't much care for the 'sparkling' bit.

?

tallen702 wrote:

evillepaintball wrote:

Waiting on my kit to get here along with the rest of my crap. Should be in by the end of December, I hope.

Why is it going to take that long for it to get to you?

Because It's being shipped from Indiana to Germany...by the government.

nah, just my household goods shipment.The movers came and packed everything up and took it away on the 17th of October.

Reb Cpl wrote:

Red Hook is not too far from me. I've got to make a trip down in that general direction one night this weekend anyway. After your FB post, I looked into it, and I think we're going to feel the place out.

Thanks for the tip.

They're the ones who taught me everything I know about homebrewing when I was at the CIA. They do apple harvests every fall, do big-group brews, etc. It's a little shop in an outbuilding on their property (at least it was when I was there) but they're really cool people who are more than happy to help people learn the craft.

a juicer?

tallen702 wrote:

sparging

Why does that word sound so dirty?