Recent content by gilrain

Hm, I guess my understanding is inaccurate then. I'm sorry about the misinformation!

I used an S-shaped air lock in the fridge, and I checked it several times in a 24 hour period. The water level was always pushed up the exit side of the S. If I had gotten any suckback, wouldn't the water level have shifted to the other side, since it would now be tending to push into the...

Yes, that's what I was trying to say in my first response. I'm sorry it wasn't clear. (Pun intended!)

Hm, can't you just sight along the level of the liquid, like normal? The number you need to read should be even with the liquid, not submerged... so it shouldn't be tricky. Maybe I'm not understanding how you're doing this, but if you have a standard, floating hydrometer, it should be easy to...

No, no. Those are particulate matter slowly settling to the bottom. SG measures the density of the liquid. The things that effect that (sugar, alcohol, etc) are dissolved in the liquid and can't settle out. In specific, sugar dissolved in water is more dense than just water. You're measuring the...

Ooh, interesting technique! I'd also like to know how the cider tasted after pasteurization. Different at all, whether good or bad? I also like the idea of a "carb tester" plastic bottle. I hadn't read that, before. When I finally do a carbonated batch, I'll definitely adopt that... and maybe...

Ah, yeah, that makes sense. I'll probably do the same, if I ever make a carbonated batch, come to think of it.

Aha, hm. Yeah, that makes sense. Well, the water in my air locks is sanitized with no-rinse sanitizer... how long does the sanitizer stay active? I don't actually know what brand. I use Star San, now, but this was a white, powder sanitizer that came with my first brewing kit, unlabeled aside...

Well, my planned batch of "CK style," S-04, slightly fortified, cold crashed cider is coming along very well. It's been stuck at 1.020 for four days, twice as long as it took to go from 1.040 to 1.020. And with the airlock bubbling happily the whole time. Weird. However, I tasted the sample I...

I've seen a few people mention that, sterilizing their sugar by boiling. I could be wrong, but I think sugar, and things high in sugar (like honey), are hydrophiles. This means, in unscientific terms, that they draw water powerfully to themselves. That in turn makes it very difficult for...

Well, you could use the entire pack... or half a pack. The yeast will multiply up to what they can by themselves, so the amount you pitch, to a certain degree, just determines how quick a start the yeast gets. You do want enough so that they can immediately out-compete any other nasties, but a...

If you cold crashed it at 1.010 or a bit more, the residual sugar would probably keep the maple from tasting funny. A little more trouble, but if you have a fridge with enough room it's not too bad.

Actually, SG stands for Specific Gravity, which is what we're actually measuring with our hydrometers. OG is the Original (specific) Gravity, FG is the Final (specific) Gravity. So, use SG when just referring to any hydrometer reading. Like, "My OG was 1.060. I want an FG of 1.010. I checked the...

Hey CK, earlier in this thread, albeit in 2007, you said you no longer cold crash larger batches because of the pain of hauling 'em around. I assume that's not true, anymore? Or have you just devised a way to crash without moving your carboys?

That would be amazing for new cidermakers! This thread already cuts the learning curve by, oh, maybe five years? It's a couple-days project to read through, though. It's been said many times, but again, Thank You! Now, a quick question: I have two batches in primary, right now. These are 6 1/2...