Recent content by Sewer_Urchen

You'd also be surprised what a racking can do for clearing it. It just looks to me like the settling yeast is getting caught up on a carboy you didn't clean well enough (rings) and there's some rings from previous batches still leaving a little texture for them to get stuck on...doesn't mean...

That strain of yeast might not do well in the colder room (in my experience 04 and 05 tend to do better around 70*), if it's too sweet try adding a different yeast, like a wine yeast; I usually use Red Star Champagne or Lalvin D-47, they can ferment down as far as .992, and go slow but can...

Time...give it lots of time. At least if it's dry, it'll mellow out with time...especially if you made it strong, my cider comes out around 12% and tastes harsh (sometimes undrinkable) for 8 months, a year even. If it's just juice fermented with no additives it won't need that long. Also...

Every chance I get, I can go to the redemption center and they'll sell them to me for a nickel ea. Bottle caps, regular ol' beer bottle caps; just be sure to switch your capper to the wine bottle size (If you have one of those red hand held's, the silver rings that grip the neck are set to "26"...

You will need to add pectic enzyme with that method...add it two weeks before you bottle.

I do it all the time...like I said, 1C water and 1C sugar, boil 12 oz. cranberries for 5 min, pour syrup and cranberries in fermenter, let sit 6 weeks.

Blueberry is a very subtle flavor to begin with, I guess it depends on how many blueberries you used...blueberry beer usually uses syrup, beer brewed with natural blueberries in my experience tends to be just a hint of flavor. You might consider finding some blueberry extract.

just at the local orchard, 1 lb of sugar per gallon of juice is my standard recipe. Mix of brown and white sugar, sometimes honey. Couple of cinnamon sticks in the secondary...takes a year to make. We're off subject... the extracts might be a good place to look.

It all depends on what you're brewing...I always use wine and champagne yeast, and they have all come out very flavorful, even the dry ones, but I ferment wine/champagne with the cider, not the 6% stuff you'd buy at the store, OG's usually around 1.092-098. If you're fermenting the quick stuff...

True that, or add a teaspoon of sugar to a glass when you pour it...my dad likes doing that with my cider, as he likes it sweeter than I do.

Age...age...age... Champagne yeast can ferment down to .992 and will leave the cider with little flavor, but with age that will mellow and the apple will come back. Downside, it could be 6 months from now.

you can use 1:1 ratio when subbing honey for table sugar. It will ferment almost as fast, just be sure to warm a little (not to a boil, just warm) cider and dissolve the honey in it. People who describe cysers that take 6 mos. are usually talking about wine style cysers, where they put close...

Well, the real answer is to put less sugar in your initial cider...so when the yeast ferments out it's not like wine, leaving it with the rubbing alcohol taste you describe (by the way, if you let the cider age for a year in the bottle the apple flavor's definitely come back). From there you...

No, fruit flavors escape during primary fermentation. Fruit in the secondary is the perfect time for the addition. Pectic enzyme is really only necessary if you're boiling the fruit, which is a good way to be sure it's sanitary. For example, I'll boil 8 oz of raspberries in 1 C water and 1C...

Yes, go for it. I put fruit in my secondary all the time. You will want to be sure it's fermented out before you prime to carbonate in the bottle. The fruit has simple sugars that the yeast will continue to consume. So, yes, there will be plenty of yeast to carbonate when you bottle. The...