Recent content by benkrupt

I am using Nottingham ale yeast, sorry spelling mistake... A dash of honey and a little bit of dextrose to try and keep the yeasties happy. Reading was just over 1005. I know it's close to bottling but I added 3l of water so worried alcohol content will be a bit too weak. Plus secondary I wanted...

I have just finished my primary on an old fashioned ginger beer that I have been brewing. It's 15l and the bubbles were slowing down, so I filtered it all into another 15l to filter all the ginger pieces, etc. I then topped it up with about 3l of distiller water and added a day of honey to...

Thanks mate. That info certainly help. You da man

I am refining my pear cider recipes... They seem to be on the money with champagne yeast and peckham pears, with no added sugar. However I was wondering at what ripeness should you juice your pears before adding to primary. What is the difference in flavour, alcohol content from really ripe...

Cheers for the info guys... Awesome

Great thanks for that.. I'm going to put 4 of each batch aside and try one every 6 months. Keen to know what a cider would be like in 2-3 years!

Finished my pear cider and bottled with champagne yeast. Going to store for 6 months... But has anyone kept it for longer. I'm curious .... Can you keep in cupboard for say 6-12 months? Cheers

Just a quick question for all you brewing finatics. How long can you keep cider? Most people say it's good in 6 months. What's it like in say 6 years? Saw someone open a bottle of champagne that was from 1975 and it still tasted alright... Does this apply to cider? Would be interested to hear...

Great thanks mate. Will try and source it.

Hi there, Anyone have a good India pale ale recipe? First time brewing and would love a drinkable beer. What sort of water do u use as well? Any help would be appreciated

Was wondering if anybody had an idea on what the perfect ph levels are for apple and pear cider. I was told 3.9-4.0 was a good figure but someone recently told me that this reading is to high in terms of acidity. They suggested 3.4. And do people use malic acid and precipitated chalk to get it...

Thanks mate yeah that sounds interesting, the malt cider. Doesn't sound right adding grain but I will have to experiment and find out. I am looking to get a touch more sweetness to my dry cider. I did the 50/50 pear with Bosc and packham with champagne yeast and it was pretty tasty after 3...

Thanks for that. Haven't tried Nottingham before. Heard you need to let it age a lot. What's the difference in taste in regards to champagne yeast and that? I have made three new batches today. One with champagne, one with Nottingham and one called sn9. Very interested to taste the difference...

If I'm making the pear concentrate myself, how do you work out the sugar levels in order to work out how much to put in each bottle?

I made quite a decent batch of pear cider but if I had to improve I would like the pear taste to come through a bit more. I used champagne yeast and have been told that strips the flavour a bit. Any suggestions... Also if I was to add pear concentrate just before bottling would I be doing this...