Recent content by HarryBlueHands

I'm in the process of bottling 18 galls of cider. Last night I washed and sanitized 20 old bottles. It took awhile to do this. Am I being too cautious by sanitizing them? Is just a good cleaning enough? Thanks

Thanks for the help. I plan on bottling six gallons tonight. Wish me luck.:tank:

I'm ready to bottle 18 gallons of cider. I've heard people sanitize the cork by soaking in vodka over night. I'm bottling approximately a hundred bottles and doing this to cut down on cost. It kills me to use a whole bottle of vodka for this. I know I'm cheap but my tax return hasn't arrived...

My cider has been fermenting in my basement at 58 degrees for a month now. I read in a couple places (I can't remember where) that between 40 and 60 degrees is ideal for cider. I'm using champagne yeast. Do certain types of yeast ferment better in different temps? I hope I wasn't mislead...

Do you use toasted oak chips for applewine? I've heard a few different opinions on this and would like to hear yours.

Is acid blend commonly used in making applewine/hard cider? If so how does one know when to add it to the must? During primary or secondary?:confused:

I'm in the process of making hard cider and I'm not sure how to tell when the best time to rack is. I have 3 batches of 5 gallons in the works. The must has been fermenting since December 24th. I assume I should do it soon. I also plan on adding oak chips for flavoring. Is this done when...

Soaked in water or cider?

Has anyone ever used oak chips in a glass carboy to age their cider? Just curious.

understood

I've done it once with my first true batch (cider,sugar and yeast). It's called freeze distillation. I simply frozen the apple wine in three quarter full plastic milk containers. Once froze they were tipped upside down and after a day most of the applejack seperated from the ice. It definately...

Hello friends, Yes, I'm a newbie to this forum and to home brewing as well. I'm posting this to see if what I have done so far is correct. The following recipe was given to me by a local farmer. So here it goes... I am making 18 gallons of apple wine (three 6 gallon carboys). Everything was...