Recent content by JoeSponge

Took my wife out for a drive for our anniversary today (Oct 16th) -- I had pulled a map of all the apple orchards in Virginia, and I was looking for anything that would have some fun activities (and hopefully bulk cider) -- we would up at Drumhellers, in Lovingston -- a nice place, small-ish...

Easy on the pineapple... a Goodsize Pineapple Wine will give you a BOOM pineapple headache. Dr. Goodsize, Pineapple Wine Actually, I thought that the acids and the enzymes would prevent the yeast from fermenting... guess I'll have to spend some time with the Great Evil Internet Search...

Pear "cider" = Peary. And, Peach "cider" = "Peachy". No, seriously. Which is supposedly where we get the word, Peachy. In colonial times, aged Peachy was considered on par with the finest wines, and became an apellation for high quality. You can also look up "Mobby", which was a peach...

I did my "class" last night. It was much fun, and I don't think that the guinea pigs minded it much, either. I did a re-cap on my original post https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/schools-back-session-simple-cider-208437/ My mantra is becoming "larger batches, bottle sooner, out of sight...

I did my "class" last night. A good time was had by (me), everybody else was on their own. It went well, w/ few minor hitches. (note to self: start the cider tasting AFTER the talk and pitching... second note to self: when the talky-interrupty-lady-who-came-to-socialize-and-interupt gets...

Simpler is better, for first timers... I am wondering how to deal with yeast loading, clearing the cider, and keeping sweetness -- and cold-crashing came to mind. I guess I haven't put as much thought into the end of the fermentation. In a week or two, they'll have some cider in a jug, that...

The latest apple juice has already started drying out. What does it taste like? You might want to just get some regular preserved apple juice to back-sweeten your cider with, as it shouldn't cause the original batch to start up again. Can you do a gravity reading on the one you just...

Well, this is a SWEET find.. I'm getting ready to do a "class" for the folks at work... Mine will be simpler still, as they'll show up w/ juice, I'll dose them w/ yeast, then we'll talk about what to expect for their first shot. The ginger sounds intriguing tho'... Thanks!

After thoughts... I chose SA-04 because it's supposed to be a clean, cold-crashable yeast... I will recommend that they crash a little early, to keep some sugar, and hopefully, render a drinkable cider earlier than the 6 month mark. Comments? If they don't cold-crash, what can/should...

I've been asked to do a "cider get-together" by one of the guys at work for some of the folks in the office... Anybody done anything like this? Any hints? Anything I ought to consider, etc.? They've heard me go on about my attempts, and several folks have guinea-pigged for me with early...

I may retry the Graf for my next batch... I like the idea of something that can be consumed in weeks instead of months, and it's easy enough... I'll just have to crash it next time, rather than let it ferment out all the way...

They'll get enjoyment from the cider, but the sight of adanac sitting nekkid suckin' cider wit' a straw would give them quite a belly laf... and then the rest of us, 'cuz you KNOW somebody'd post it to youtube... But seriously... I have been brewing cider for somewhat over a year, and I...

Son-of-a-gun... I hadn't thought of that. I made MINE Sunday night, also. Wow, now I gotta think of a super-cool-special name for it. Heh. Oh, and I'm going to have to give a bottle to one of the folks at work... his birthday was 10-10-10.

Just pitched last Sunday (4 nights ago). No Krausen, gentle apple smell, still dark and cloudy... How long 'til it starts to clear? I used 3.5 gallons of some kosher AJ, but it was a year old and quite carmelly and a dark hue. The rest was the water (and additives) and 1/2 gallon of...

JFTR, I have been searching for the simplest automated / online tools that would let me calculate the "time-to-sterile" for hot water immersion. I can probably fake steady-state calculations, but that's not what we're looking for. I did turn up useful information in my searches... From my...