truckjohn

Recipes 

Hey all,

I finally decided that for this year -- I would finally get back to basics and quit ruining batches of "Experimental" cider...

5 gallons of 1.05 SG fruit stand apple cider is sitting in my carboy with campden tablets assassinating the wild beasties..... I am going to pour in a few cans of Apple Juice Concentrate to bump it up a bit...

Why buy it when I could smoosh apples.... well.. I don't have a cider press and have succeeded in ruining 2-bushels of apples so far...

The 1st bushel -- I was fooling around with mixing bananas and beano into the crushed apples..... Got nothing but weird off-flavors.... Dumped that batch...

The 2nd bushel -- I crushed them up in September, added Campden tablets and then Yeast... and within 2 weeks they had kicked over and are now solidly in the "Vinegar" camp.... 4 gallons of Vinegar with the floating slimey mother and all.... Tested the acid -- a stout 9% acetic acid... and it tastes it too... Puckery! The shame of it was that it would have probably made a fine cider otherwise.... But.. on the Up side.... I am going to be giving away plenty of home made vinegar this year!

The lesson in all this.... There is a fine reason why people ferment Grape Wine on the Pomace and they ferment Apples on the Juice only! If fermenting apples on the Pomace worked better -- we would be doing it that way....

But... If you want to make Vinegar -- I recommend it.

Thanks

MeadWitch

Recipes 

Since you have vinegar, why not make the most of it? Garlic vinegars, chive vinegars, raspberry or blackberry vinegars, rosemary/garlic vinegars, etc. Flavored vinegars sell for a high dollar at Whole Foods and such. Package them up in nice bottles and wax. And don't forget to include a good pour spout. There are all your X-mas gifts for the season!

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Primary: Cider House Rules Cider

Tertiary: Sweet Dried Cherry/Vanilla Mead, Prickly Pear Mead, Jalapeno-Peach Sweet Mead

Bottled: Huajillo Honey Mead - 4 bottles only, first ever mead, Light Draft Style Cider, Raspberry Mead, Hibiscus Mead, JAOM, Peach Melba Mead, Limoncello, Kahlua, Spiced Winter Cider, Orange/Vanilla Mead