Recent content by hwilshusen

I use dextrose because it dissolves easier. Most table sugar is cane. At least S&H is.

No boiling necessary or desired. It may leave a "cooked taste" according to some people. The boiling for beer is mainly for the hops. Just do normal sanitizing of equipment.

I rack to a "secondary" for a couple days even when I plan to carbonate. The reason I do this is when I bottle I stir every six pack to keep the syrup suspended. So any trub that gets transfered also gets suspended. Careful racking would negate the need for this. I need to do this.

If you let it ferment to completion (dry), yes. If you want it sweet you need to back sweeten and then pasteurize.

Sure you can. Just be sure to have a webcam set up for our enjoyment.:)

If you do this be sure to fill 1 or 2 plastic soda bottles. When they get stiff pasteurize immediately. Just this week I did a little experiment with carbonation. The plan was to take Upstatemike's (.Y.) cider and pasteurize at different levels of carbonation. A 12 pack at bottling time, a 12...

I still like beer. However, since I've made Upstatemike's Carmel Apple Cider (my 1st cider) it's hard to find/take the time to brew beer. Cider is much less time consuming. I've been able to make 3 batches of cider and still haven't had the time to brew the 2 beer kits I had before making my 1st...

Maybe a chard of glass in the eye. But it's worth it for the advancement of brewing science.

Transferring to secondary AFTER adding campden?

When I started brewing I went hog wild brewing a batch almost every week. So I was forced to use some twist off bottles. Some of them were flat when opened. All of them were tested for leaks at bottling time. I used a bench capper and new caps (regular caps). Just because a capped bottle holds a...

ABV calculation is (OG - FG) x 131= ABV Most apple juice I have tested has a SG of about 1.050. When I add 2# of sugar to 5 gal the SG is about 1.064. Let it ferment to 1.000. 1.064-1.000= 0.064 x 131= 8.38% . More sugar added to the apple juice will increase the OG. Not sure if it is lineal.

What temp are you keeping it at? At 65* F Notty should have gotten that down to 1.010 in 2 weeks max. Maybe the juice you used was stabilized?

Yep. One fifth of every thing except the yeast. Use half the package. You can,t save the yeast after it's been opened very long any way.

Letting it go dry and back sweetening is the busy/lazy persons way. No need to constantly monitor and allot time to bottle.

LOL Location: Shenanigans, MA