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September is here and the apples in the orchard are finally ready! It was a hot and sunny growing season with plenty of rain except for August which was a little dry. Pests were practically a non-issue since last year the apple crop was a total bust due to a spring heat wave and bloom killing...

I made a video of a bottling run at work the other day. We went through about 425 gallons that day, which is on the lighter side of what we usually do. I know some of you already saw it the other day, but I figured I'd share it with the rest of you.

French cider company releases a revolutionary new product . . . dehydrated cider power! https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=560486253984788&set=a.165825786784172.34578.148824365150981&type=1&theater Translation: After six months of trial and error, Cidrerie des Terroirs is lauching a new...

Left on a weeklong trip today. Realized I forgot to bottle a batch of house session ale I had in secondary before leaving the house. It had already been dryhopping for 7 days on an ounce of Cascade. Was planning to bottle before leaving. This is only my 4th batch of beer, and only second time...

Hey all! Just wanna invite everyone to Bellwether's Annual Home Cidermakers' Gathering. Join us for our annual home cidermakers' tasting and potluck. This event is free and open to everyone! Come talk cider with home cidermakers, industry professionals, cider geeks, and curious bystanders...

Ha! :D Made you look. But seriously, brewed a simple, light pale ale on Monday night. Nottingham yeast, OG of 1.055 with Perle @ 45 and Cascade @ 15 & 5 plus 7 day dry hop. Poured it into my new beer bucket primary which I picked up on Sunday from my LBHS to free up my carboys for long-term...

Been doing a lot of research recently on the history of cider, both foreign and domestic. Spending time combing through the Cornell University library catalogs and rare book depository, sifting through a lot of unhelpful text and occasionally uncovering some hidden gems. Thought I'd share a...

Over the past year of being on this board I've noticed a large variation in primary fermentation times so just for kicks I thought it might be fun to get some rough data and set up a poll. If you cold-crash, feel free to estimate what the time would have been. (ex. started at 1.060, crashed at...

Good news on the home front. Last month I was offered (and accepted) an assistant position at Bellwether Hard Cider, a regional cidery started by some friends of my parents (and former home cidermakers) where I've occasionally helped out over the years. This new position is a mix of...

After 10 days of bottle conditioning my most recent batch is nicely carbed and tastes great. Pasteurized last night and noticed that some of the bottles have a ton of lees in the bottom, half an inch in some cases, while the rest are normal. Started with pectic enzyme, racked twice during...

What started as an attempt to make a French style keeved cider completely failed but has transformed into an awesome tasting naturally fermenting cider. This is my first wild yeast fermentation yet is going even faster then the last batch I made using a champagne yeast. My research seemed to...

On a whim the other week I bought a medium toast oak spiral stick and added it to a batch to try and give it a little more body. After leaving it for 10 days there is more oak then I wanted for what has turned out to be a rather light cider and is giving it a noticeable unbalanced bitter-ish...

I've got a 5 gallon batch OG 1.060 going using a lager yeast. I was planning to bottle around 1.008 and bottle condition with pasteurization for a semi-dry sparkling product. After tracking the fairly steady fermentation around 0.003/day I had planned to bottle on Tuesday. When said day rolled...

Cloudy cider really doesn't bother me but I'm trying for a more professional look to my beverages. This batch started as 2.5 gallons cider from an orchard, I added the correct amount of pectic enzyme. let stand for 24 hrs and had 1inch plus of sediment, didn't rack off this though and just...

So I picked up a medium toast spiral oak stick at a local HBS on a whim. I was planning on starting a 5 gallon batch today anyways with the goal of a 7%-8% semi-dry naturally sparkling cider. Now most folks seem to advocate adding oak to the secondary and remove after it has reached their...

Noob question here, searched but couldn't find an answer anywhere. If after a week of fermentation a single SG reading shows a loss of 0.003 every day is it reasonable to expect the fermentation to continue at that steady rate? I'm just trying to figure out whats going on inside my carboy...

Hey all, been lurking around for a few weeks reading up and learning lots about home brewing etc but finally coming out of the shadows to ask a question. I've got my first ever batch of hard cider fermenting away in the basement right now at around 60 degrees. 5 gallon carboy, fresh pressed...