My First Brew - How I did it..

Not sure if I've done anything wrong with my brew but hey I thought I would chuck up what I've done to make my brew. Feel free to critique so it makes my next brew better or it may help someone else in the same boat as me...

OK well the aim of this experiment is to make cider - I would like a 8-9% drinkable and sweet, semi still cider.
I made beer many years ago but it was a failure and ended up giving all my gear away a lot of years ago.

I think my problem was last time I wasn't fastidious with my cleaning - this time I was ultra so..

Anyhow some pics and words...

PREP STAGE

First order of the day - flick on a sweet album for that background noise...



Then unpack that box and lets see what we have here..
A nice selection of everything in the starter kit and a premium grade cider kit swapped out for what was a lager.
Also picked up some sweet 750ml glass bottles with pop top lids - dam cheap by my reckoning - $2 each (ish)











Assembled the tap making sure the little slot was facing upwards
Then chuck the tap into the fermenter







Stick the temp gauge on the side of the fermenter





Add some marks for easy reference

CLEANING STAGE

Got sick of diesels clagging so switched the album



Cleaned EVERYTHING that will touch anything to do with the process.



Chuck 3L of COLD water into the fermenter and then the cold water CLEANER
Stir the **** out of it then clean everything including all implements like the bubble lock, stirrer and benchtop etc etc..













Ran some through the tap even



Let it all soak for 10 minutes..

STERILISING STAGE

While waiting for 10 minutes its almost guaranteed that side one will finish so flip over record..



Drain all the cleaning stuff out and rinse with some water
Next put 3L of COLD water in again and add the STERILISING sachet.
Stir like mad and then STERILISE everything including the benchtop.



Chuck the lid on and shake the **** out of the fermenter to get water every surface inside covered (put finger over the airlock hole before shaking - ASKMEWHY - laugh)



Drain sterilising water out and no further hygeine work required except keeping clean.

MAKING THE STUFF

New album time



Boil 3L of water



Cut open packaging and remove the add ins from the dry pouch in the packet



Pour in boiling water and add pouch contents then stir







Add 1kg of DEXTROSE and stir till its dissoved (careful not to hit the tap or it may knock off the sediment valve)





Add COLD water till you hit 23L mark and stir



Add Yeast and stir






One thing I forgot to do at this point and therefore didn't take a photo, was to measure the specific gravity with a hydrometer.
For reference mine was 1.041 when I measured a couple hours after it starting the brew.

Next chuck on the lid and make sure it is on tight (don't forget the o-ring around the inside of the lid)





Then fill the air lock half full of vodka to prevent exposure to the open air while fermentation goes on


And thats it - for now...



Except the mess to clean up


Got to keep it at 18-28 degrees for the next week. I've got the dehumdifier running next to it as it should keep the chill off the air overnight and keep it warm on colder days. As long as it doesn't get too hot and kill the yeast is what counts. I can always kick start the yeast again if it gets too cold..

For reference this is the brew kit I used - they are about $60 to buy including the 1kg of dextrose you need - apart from the kit and dextrose the only other consumables I'll need to buy for the next brew now are the cleaning sachets and carbonation drops.

The starter kit that includes a beer brew kit is $99 (but they knocked $20 off and took that out when i bought the cider)

RACKING STAGE

I had added half litre of apple concentrate to the mix a few days before and I measured the SG each day and at this point it was fairly stable at 1.004 give or take a point over 3 days. So decided it was time to rack

Chose an album again..



Then filled the sink and sterilized everything that was going to be used.. (not going to show individual pics)
That included the second fermenter (glass), the stopper, transfer hose and a new airlock. (need 2 airlocks for when I'm doing 2 batches simultaneously)





Then began the transfer with the suction hose.. (I should have used a auto siphon but they were sold out at the home brew shop)


Ended up with a 19L carbuoy full of cider and a flagon also (the flagon has a bit of the waste yeast in it so will most probably be yuck - but couldn't face tipping it out)





Heres a picture of a bubble I photographed on Friday - I thought it was cool

10 hours after racking the cider - the clarity is starting to show (with no clearing additives put in - yet)

Now we get to tonights stage of racking into the bottling bucket.

As always - album selection is critical..




Gave the bottling bucket and associated paraphenalia a dam good scrub and sanitise.. (only so many pics of cleaning you can show I guess)




After stirring in some Islingglass Finings I racked from the glass carbouy into the bottling bucket.




Then proceeded to clean all my bottles for bottling - will sanitise them right before bottling..






Then finally for tonight I placed it up nice and high for bottling action - sometime in the next couple of days.





Funny how it was 23L when I started but now I'm down to 16.5L (although I was naughty and drunk 2L last night after my racking into secondary - a bit premature but well... You know.... Laugh


FYI - the SG at the current moment is 1.002 which is exactly what the packet says it should be..

Plan is to bottle all the brown bottles with the cider still as it is now.

The 2 green grolsch bottles will be filled up but have carbonation drops added as a test. (or I may just do one)

The 2 clear flagons will be filled and a quarter of a stick of cinnamon in each one - one flagon will have carbonation drops added as a test case.

Choice post Bro..very informative with great pics.

Dont they have CD's in Unzud yet Bro??

troyp42 said:

Choice post Bro..very informative with great pics.

Dont they have CD's in Unzud yet Bro??

Click to expand...

CD's you say... yeah I think I remember trying them once but the needle kept sliding off so gave them a miss.







Also - Disclaimer - keep in mind this is my first attempt at cider and 2nd attempt at homebrew - young and no patience I think was the problem back then..

So anyhow no taking anything I say as correct or factual..

double post.. Oops

Today was bottling day - the smells on opening the fermenter were delicious and strong.

As per usual - my cider work isn't worth a damn without some sweet zinging sounds through the house so I chose something mellow for what I anticipated would be a very low energy activity..




Chucked 10L of water into a clean sink and 2oz's of starsan for some sterilizing and then threw in the caps/lids and a couple of bottles




I decided I was going to make the still cider as planned but also adding 3 bottles of difference.
I'll end up having for an experiment.. 1 x 2L bottle carbonated, 1 x 1.5L bottle carbonated with cinnamon flavouring and 1 x 1.5L bottle still cider with cinnamon flavouring.. So I grabbed out the carbonation drops and also some vodka I had chucked a couple cinnamon sticks in a couple days ago.





I then put 4 tablespoons of cinnamon/vodka mix into the 2 bottles I was making cinnamon flavoured and added in the carbonation drops were needed too.


And then the pour began..






My first bottle of cider - so proud..




And all done with labels.





Ended up with 16L of cider bottled - 3L has been flavoured with cinnamon and I've done a couple of trials for carbonation..

Final tally...
2 x 1.5L cinnamon, 2 x 2L flagons and 6 x 750ml of A Grade cider, 4 x 750ml of B Grade and a couple of C Grade 750ml bottles.
The smell is amazing and every time I get a whiff the appleness just gets stronger. Wait 4 weeks and i'll be reporting back with a thumbs up or a terrible hangover..

FWIW - I graded the C Grade as stuff from the bottom of the barrell which had a larger amount of sediment, the B Grade was the first bottle and the 3 bottles I poured after tipping up the fermenter to get more cider out - I assume that tipping it stirred up some sediment and may have mildly tainted the bottles. The A Grade was stuff from the middle of the barrell that had not been mixed with any sediment so hopefully will be the best stuff. I also took my experimental bottles from this lot to make the best possible experiment results..


All that remains is to wait 4 weeks - I'm starting to count the hours in my head in eager anticipation..

I suppose I'll start another batch in a couple of weeks time cos no doubt this lot won't last very long..

This post was fantastic, thanks for the many updates and photos!

Most welcome - cheers for the feedback..

The best thing about the first brew was the learning I have done - so many things I will do differently next brew. Also I have aquired more gear over the last couple of weeks which will make the next brew so much more streamlined..

Nice.
The pics of it all are terrific.

As for the albums, I really start to miss holding the album sleeve in your hand, looking at the imagery.

Now that you have the equipment you'll have to try on of the all juice recipes, some are pretty easy..

What do you mean by "all juice" - I assume you mean making the cider from juice rather than a concentrate packet/brew kit?

I was thinking about this and how I would do it (think I asked a question on one of the threads)

How does the result compare from all juice to mixing up from a concentrate?

Complexity doesn't phase me now as I'm confident I have my basic brewing techniques in the right zone and I have the right gear.

I'm more interested in the change of flavours and whether all juice will have a higher risk of a batch going bad from a rogue yeast in the fresh apple juice?

I'm weighing up either the "panty dropping" cider just cos its got a sweet name (laugh) and doesn't look terribly hard or trying my Mangrove Jacks concentrate again but with Nottingham yeast..

I want to start my next batch today but I'm away this coming weekend for 3 days and nights which will be right in the band of when I want to be keeping an eye on the SG.. So will start mid/end of next week I think - will spend the next week or so researching more and making a final decision of which way to go..

Yeah, that's about what I mean.

In the NZ, maybe it's not as common, but apple juice goes on sale at the grocery store every now and then.

I am new to this as well, I have not completed either, but I found two recipes that were super easy. Essentially, opened jugs, mixed in yeast, and wait. The only reason I mention it is you sometimes only need to buy/order yeast, and the rest is low-cost, easy to find ingredients.


After playing with beer also, I look at cider as one of two ways:

-wonderfully simple to make, low clean up and time.

-too simple and easy (now I have to find something else to do)