Sumtin's brewing in the basement...

Paschale · April 07, 2006, 12:53:27 AM

Well, last night I spent bottling my first batch of hard cider. 8) Did a test run of one bottle a couple of weeks ago, and MAN was it TASTY!!!!!! Giddy up!

I've read that the best hard cider comes from natural yeast, and that's what this batch was. Pretty amazing stuff. I'm hoping that it will carbonate a little bit by the time I take it home for Easter. I just love the fact that the natural yeast just lying around on these apples turned that cider into a very tasty brew.

I'm going to try my hand using some of the leftovers of that cider, which still has some active yeast cultures, and make a sourdough starter. If all goes well, on Easter, we'll be drinking some of the hard cider, alongside some bread made from the same yeast. 8)

SwampDonkey · April 07, 2006, 05:51:37 AM

I love sour dough bread. 8)

johnjbc · April 07, 2006, 07:41:24 PM

My Boss a few years back got the idea to brew up a batch. When it was ready he got a case of returnable beer bottles and a caper. He filled the bottles almost full and added a little sugar and pressed the caps on. He had been checking the temperature in his basement and it was just right for aging . He had been giving us a report 8) every morning of how it was coming along. After about a week he came in looking tired.

They were watching TV and Boom there was an explosion

in the basement. They couldn't go down in the basement for fear of another bottle blowing

up and spraying glass at them. They spent the next 3 weeks counting explosions. Couldn't go away from home because they were counting the explosions to know when it was safe to go down and clean up the mess. That was his last and only attempt at brewing. smiley_hollywood_cool
Be sure you don't put in to much sugar it ferments into CO2 and builds up pressure.

ohsoloco · April 07, 2006, 07:53:49 PM

It doesn't take much sugar to prime something for carbonation. I think it's only around 3/4 of a cup for 5 gallons of brew (I'm just guessing, it's been a while since I brewed anything).

Paschale, maybe using packaged yeast was my problem, and that's why I ended up with such a flat tasting cider :( I still have to get around to bottling my raspberry wine...got a gallon aging in the basement that I made from fresh picked wild raspberries back in July 8)

sawguy21 · April 07, 2006, 11:50:38 PM

Johnjbc, I remember friend of my dad's doing that. DanG near caused a divorce ;D

Paschale · April 08, 2006, 11:30:57 AM

To avoid exploding bottles

, what I do, is run a test single bottle, and instead of adding priming sugar to the entire carboy, I just add a 1/2 tsp per 12 oz. bottle, which is what the books I've read suggested. I found in this case, it was just right, though it didn't carbonate the cider fully. It just had a pleasant little pop to it. I don't have to worry about exploding bottles too much with the natural yeast, since they don't have a high tolerance to alcohol--they'll die off on their own between 6-7%.

I have two more batches ready to bottle. When I did the test run on my cherry/apple cider, it was way too dry. I'm going to add a whole teaspoon on my second test run, and see what happens. Since this uses natural yeast too, it should just carbonate a little bit, and then sweeten the whole thing up. I may have to finally go even a little higher than a tsp to make it only a semi dry.

As to the exploding bottles, there are ways to take care of that. What I've always thought I'd do in that case is to just go down there, group all of those bottles together, and place a metal trash can on top. It's a bomb shelter! ;D

The other thing you can do, if you get a bottle or two randomly exploding, and want to keep them, is pasteurize the bottles by placing them in a vat of boiling water just long enough to get the insides up to around 120 degrees or so, which will then kill the yeast and stop the fermentation process. I've read in several books that this is an accepted method of controlling fermentation too. Or place them in the freezer for about an hour, cool things down, and then keep them refrigerated at a very cold temperature until you want to drink them. Both temperature extremes slow things down. Only problem is that the freezing/cooling thing won't kill the yeast.

What I'd do in that case is grab a cooler full of ice, bring it downstairs, chuck all of those bottles in the cooler, then after several hours, get my biggest pot on the stove boiling away, then drop in those bottles in batches. I'd pull one out after about 15 minutes, pop it open, test the temp to see if it's reached the temperature that will kill the yeast, and then you're good to go--saved the cider, and prevented anymore messes. 8)

ohsoloco: I'll look forward to hearing about that raspberry wine! It's cool you made that yourself from wild raspberries! 8)

When you say it was a flat cider, do you mean flat tasting, or not carbonated? Also, what kind of packaged yeast did you use? I have a batch going of commercial champagne yeast, mixed in with a cider mixture that has a gallon of raspberry juice in it. I'm hoping it turns out OK for me.

SwampDonkey · April 08, 2006, 01:56:27 PM

Wish I new somebody that could make me some home made wine. pout :'(

ohsoloco · April 10, 2006, 07:57:11 PM

Paschale....yeah, by flat I mean flat tasting :( I simply put five gallons of freshly pressed cider in a carboy and threw in some yeast (I'm pretty sure I used champagne yeast). The stuff fermented like the dickens, but by the time it was done it was the color of pee...and probably tasted about he same :-\ It's still in bottles in my parent's basement, I never threw it out yet :D

All of my friends have been bugging me to get that raspberry wine bottled. I'll only get five bottles out of my gallon, so I still have to put one away for a few years to age well ;D

Swampdonkey, come on down the first week of July and you can help me pick wild raspberries, they're growing all over my place. If we pick enough I'll just mail you a case a few months later ;D The hardest part of making it is actually picking the raspberries. Most recipies call for 3-5 pounds of fruit per gallon....it takes a long time to pick that many. I'd still love to get enough for a five gallon batch, but none of my friends that love the wine are around when it's pickin' time :

SwampDonkey · April 11, 2006, 05:23:36 AM

It's easier to pick'm outta the garden. No brush piles and bigger berries. ;D I picked a washtub full last summer.

I'm going to get a juicer and try it on some frozen ones I have still in the fridge.

ohsoloco · April 11, 2006, 12:09:01 PM

You have the hard part taken care of, Swampdonkey :D All you really need is a carboy, airlock, siphon hose, and a plastic fermentation bucket and you'd be pretty much set to make wine

The local grocery store bakery is a great place to get plastic food grade buckets with sealable lids...their donut glaze and the like are shipped in those.

I rarely mess with specific gravity or anything like that. As long as it tastes good ;)

Paschale · April 11, 2006, 12:15:19 PM

Quote from: ohsoloco on April 11, 2006, 12:09:01 PM
I rarely mess with specific gravity or anything like that. As long as it tastes good ;)

I agree, though it's nice to know what kind of kick she has after the fact.

ohsoloco, I think you should try those bottles--who knows, maybe they've really mellowed out into a nice cider. 8) Mine turned out to be the color of a cloudy chardonay--that might be some people's definition of the color of something you don't wanna drink. ;D

SwampDonkey · April 11, 2006, 12:27:14 PM

If I pester you fellas long enough, something might come my way ??? :D :D

I'll admit that I'm no alcoholic beverage guy, but I'll try anything that had some juice in the ingredients, at least once. Just keep the pets away from the brew. :D