zoomusikgrl
New Member
hello all! i am three days into my very first home brewing experiment.
so i've been on this urban homesteading kick all year- lacto fermented pickles, homemade bread, wild yeast bread starter, home grown veggies, farmers cheese, etc etc. during which time, my roommate gave me one of those "spike your juice" kits (i know, i know, bear with me!). we tried it with store bought juice. it was disgusting, we drank a glass and tossed the rest.
the other day i decided- why not try it with fresh pressed juice? i'm interested in learning how to make my own booze, i have the kit already, why the hell not. i can't possibly be the first person on the internet to attempt to use this kit with unpasteurized juice. and either way, i'm only out the cost of a bag of apples.
so i did a little reading about home brewed hard cider. i pressed 16 gala apples from the farmers market in my breville juicer (filtering out as much froth as i could), sterilized a half gallon plastic bottle, added 3/4 cup of white sugar and 1/4 cup of raw honey, pitched the "magical" yeast, and stuck in the bung and airlock. (i was out of brown sugar, i hope the white sugar wasn't a mistake.)
the kit says this stuff is drinkable after 48 hours, but i'm at 56 hours and the yeast is still churning away, so i guess it's not done fermenting. there is a krausen formed, and everything below that is going in a constant circular motion.
the airlock was getting kinda gross with all the bubbling going on, and i was starting to see a few fruit flies, so i rinsed it, filled it back up with vodka, wrapped it in saran wrap, and moved the bottle into a cabinet. the smell when i took the top off was pleasant, faintly apple-y. i also stuck a turkey baster in below the top layer and tried a small sip- and it was sweet but not fizzy.
i know these forums frown upon making hooch. i just had this thing on hand and figured it would be an easy way to dip my toe into the home brewing pool without any investment. i've got my fingers crossed that this comes out better than the ocean spray flavored nightmare we made last time haha.
(also, the bung and cylinder airlock from this kit are from buon vino manufacturing company, in case anyone was curious. still trying to determine what sort of yeast it is.)
so i've been on this urban homesteading kick all year- lacto fermented pickles, homemade bread, wild yeast bread starter, home grown veggies, farmers cheese, etc etc. during which time, my roommate gave me one of those "spike your juice" kits (i know, i know, bear with me!). we tried it with store bought juice. it was disgusting, we drank a glass and tossed the rest.
the other day i decided- why not try it with fresh pressed juice? i'm interested in learning how to make my own booze, i have the kit already, why the hell not. i can't possibly be the first person on the internet to attempt to use this kit with unpasteurized juice. and either way, i'm only out the cost of a bag of apples.
so i did a little reading about home brewed hard cider. i pressed 16 gala apples from the farmers market in my breville juicer (filtering out as much froth as i could), sterilized a half gallon plastic bottle, added 3/4 cup of white sugar and 1/4 cup of raw honey, pitched the "magical" yeast, and stuck in the bung and airlock. (i was out of brown sugar, i hope the white sugar wasn't a mistake.)
the kit says this stuff is drinkable after 48 hours, but i'm at 56 hours and the yeast is still churning away, so i guess it's not done fermenting. there is a krausen formed, and everything below that is going in a constant circular motion.
the airlock was getting kinda gross with all the bubbling going on, and i was starting to see a few fruit flies, so i rinsed it, filled it back up with vodka, wrapped it in saran wrap, and moved the bottle into a cabinet. the smell when i took the top off was pleasant, faintly apple-y. i also stuck a turkey baster in below the top layer and tried a small sip- and it was sweet but not fizzy.
i know these forums frown upon making hooch. i just had this thing on hand and figured it would be an easy way to dip my toe into the home brewing pool without any investment. i've got my fingers crossed that this comes out better than the ocean spray flavored nightmare we made last time haha.
(also, the bung and cylinder airlock from this kit are from buon vino manufacturing company, in case anyone was curious. still trying to determine what sort of yeast it is.)