Recent content by sleepy_doggy

anyone every try keeping a wild yeast “starter”? I poured out some juice from a batch that was fermenting rapidly and keep it in the fridge. I have just been using that to kick start my subsequent batches- pouring out a little into a new brew and replacing with fresh juice, like a sourdough starter.

So it was just some rampant yeast that made it vinegary? I personally like that funky cider, sharp and astringent like you get out of basque sidras. Perhaps the key is to keep it somewhat fresh, although I do know that in the basque they do age their ciders so they develop even more tannins.

No I haven’t! My gravity reader broke awhile back and I’m too lazy to get a new one- but my expectation is that it ends up somewhere around .05-1% alc at most. I’ve done a couple natural sodas in the past and the amount of potential alcohol is virtually undetectable - like a kombucha. But back...

Cold pasteurized doesn’t kill wild yeast - they basically blast the juice with UV light to kill off bacteria and then just keep it cold from press to market to inhibit yeast growth. So if the cider labeling says cold pasteurized and “Keep Refrigerated” just leave it out of the fridge long...

That sounds awesome! I have had similar experiences with wild fermentation. I’ve begun to lean in the direction of “low/no intervention” recently and I’ve had only great experiences. I have been purchasing cold pasteurized cider from the local farmers markets (‘tis the season in the northeast)...

This is exciting. The tang and the fizz are products of the acidity in the apples and the fermentation, respectively. I have just begun my own wild fermentation with wild apples and am quickly finding it to beget great cider. Just keep tasting and a watchful eye on the cap to ensure that it...

Guys, hypothesize all day but you will never know until you TASTE it! Most likely it's the pectin in the must coagulating all of your blueberry junk and your yeast caused it to rise.

My first batch was with the Granny Smith apples from my backyard and Brett Lambicus. Damn it was TART but, having used only Gma Smith, that was to be expected. The last time i tasted it was a month aged and it has begun to develop an interesting funk and that sour taste typical of Lambic...

So this is my 3rd go around on cider so I wanted to get a little experimental with my methods. I decided to ferment a combination of locally grown Gala, Empire, and Cortland with wlp 099 (Super High Gravity) yeast and a homemade syrup comprised of brown sugar and cinnamon. I started of with...