cool...i'll have to check out better-bottles once i move into a larger space. i'm really enjoying the brewing process so far, it's pretty fun.
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anyone ever make hard cider? I know its more akin to making wine than beer, but I think I may give it a shot here in a few weeks.
Evan Wrote:anyone ever make hard cider? I know its more akin to making wine than beer, but I think I may give it a shot here in a few weeks.
I've made several batches, and my parents have made several dozen. It's much simpler than making wine or beer, and it makes a great session beverage.
I've never made a batch with store-bought cider, I've only done it using fresh apples and a cider press. If you plan on doing it with cider from the grocery store, try and get some with the shortest ingredients label. Ideally, it would just be apple juice.
Use champagne yeast, keep everything you use sanitary, use an airlock on your fermentation vessel, rack it before you bottle, and if you want it sparkling add corn sugar when you do the final racking before bottling. I would also suggest making a 5 gallon batch, as I really find that anything less goes too quickly and is somewhat less than satisfactory. If you save pry-off top beer bottles they can be re-used when you get to bottling.
I'd be more than willing to help out with any stage of the operation.
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Evan Wrote:anyone ever make hard cider? I know its more akin to making wine than beer, but I think I may give it a shot here in a few weeks.
Why is fermented grapes for sissies but fermented apples isn't? 
If anyone manages to make proper scrumpy, I will gladly buy it off you.
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Apoc Wrote:Evan Wrote:anyone ever make hard cider? I know its more akin to making wine than beer, but I think I may give it a shot here in a few weeks.
Why is fermented grapes for sissies but fermented apples isn't?
If anyone manages to make proper scrumpy, I will gladly buy it off you.
because fermented grapes is served in a dainty glass where you sniff and swish it before you go back to holding the glass like a limp wristed fairy while trying to be pretentious.
cider is served in a big mug, and used to be the rowdy tavern drink in this country before the germans brought over beer which was cheaper and faster to produce.
good cider is hard to find. only decent stuff Ive found is Harpoon Cider, and thats only seasonal and only at a few shops Ive been to.
I've still got some cider from Phil's parents, I'll bring some over when I come pick up those knives.
(09-25-2019, 03:18 PM)V1GiLaNtE Wrote: I think you need to see a mental health professional.
Evan Wrote:because fermented grapes is served in a dainty glass where you sniff and swish it before you go back to holding the glass like a limp wristed fairy while trying to be pretentious.
I'd think a Miata driver would be good at judging things based on their own experience and not because of how others do it.
Harpoon seems like it would taste more like apple juice than cider at 4.1%.
'76 911S | '14 328xi | '17 GTI | In memoriam: '08 848, '85 944
"Here, at last, is the cure for texting while driving. The millions of deaths which occur every year due to the iPhone’s ability to stream the Kim K/Ray-J video in 4G could all be avoided, every last one of them, if the government issued everyone a Seventies 911 and made sure they always left the house five minutes later than they’d wanted to. It would help if it could be made to rain as well. Full attention on the road. Guaranteed." -Jack Baruth
Apoc Wrote:Harpoon seems like it would taste more like apple juice than cider at 4.1%.
the higher alcohol content ones taste funny through his sipee-cup.
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Apoc Wrote:Harpoon seems like it would taste more like apple juice than cider at 4.1%. which is more than most beer, so whats your point? most is 5%-6%
Good cider (IMO) is not sweet or syrupy like the kind most grocery stores carry.
Harpoon and Strongbow arent sweet, but strongbow tastes watery for some reason.
Evan Wrote:Good cider (IMO) is not sweet or syrupy like the kind most grocery stores carry.
+1, dry cider FTW
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cool writeup. When I saw the bathtub without reading I thought we were gonna learn about meth.
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Evan Wrote:Apoc Wrote:Harpoon seems like it would taste more like apple juice than cider at 4.1%. which is more than most beer, so whats your point? most is 5%-6%
My point is at 4.1%, it would be more prone to being too sweet (which we agree is bad) than most "good" cider that has a higher ABV.
Beers tend to average 4.5-5.0% btw. Heck, even Coors Light (barf) is 4.2% 
'76 911S | '14 328xi | '17 GTI | In memoriam: '08 848, '85 944
"Here, at last, is the cure for texting while driving. The millions of deaths which occur every year due to the iPhone’s ability to stream the Kim K/Ray-J video in 4G could all be avoided, every last one of them, if the government issued everyone a Seventies 911 and made sure they always left the house five minutes later than they’d wanted to. It would help if it could be made to rain as well. Full attention on the road. Guaranteed." -Jack Baruth
Apoc Wrote:Evan Wrote:Apoc Wrote:Harpoon seems like it would taste more like apple juice than cider at 4.1%. which is more than most beer, so whats your point? most is 5%-6%
My point is at 4.1%, it would be more prone to being too sweet (which we agree is bad) than most "good" cider that has a higher ABV.
Beers tend to average 4.5-5.0% btw. Heck, even Coors Light (barf) is 4.2%
That kinda depends. I've had a varietal (one kinda of apple) cider that was quite dry, but had an alcohol content of less than 4%. If it's not a particularly sweet apple, it's simply not going to have that much sugar available for fermentation.
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So, I've been drinking this stuff for a month or two now, and it's not very good.
Before you all jump on the bandwagon and say "I told you so", my recipe needs tweaking. Brown sugar instead of white sugar, or a mixture of brown sugar and molasses. A finer chop on the ginger, perhaps some chopping on the raisins or even varietal raisins, a better job peeling the lemons to avoid the pith, maybe even some different citrus thrown in. Maybe even an ale yeast instead of champagne yeast.
It wasn't a failure, it just didn't come out to style. Tastes very medicinal. Also, came out around 8.5%, so on the strong side.
I'm gonna make another batch in the near future, hopefully with some tweaks it'll be better.
I've been making shitloads of actual beer though, so if anyone in MD/NOVA wants to get together and brew and/or drink some....
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PGK Wrote:I've been making shitloads of actual beer though, so if anyone in MD/NOVA wants to get together and brew and/or drink some....
Sign me up... can we brew some trippel ales? 
'76 911S | '14 328xi | '17 GTI | In memoriam: '08 848, '85 944
"Here, at last, is the cure for texting while driving. The millions of deaths which occur every year due to the iPhone’s ability to stream the Kim K/Ray-J video in 4G could all be avoided, every last one of them, if the government issued everyone a Seventies 911 and made sure they always left the house five minutes later than they’d wanted to. It would help if it could be made to rain as well. Full attention on the road. Guaranteed." -Jack Baruth
Apoc Wrote:PGK Wrote:I've been making shitloads of actual beer though, so if anyone in MD/NOVA wants to get together and brew and/or drink some....
Sign me up... can we brew some trippel ales?
I've got a belgian-style spiced trippel something or other in one of my fermenters as we speak. we'll see how it goes. Should be ready in another 4-6 weeks.
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