UlyssesGrant
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- Oct 17, 2012
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Hi;
First post on here, and first time making my own booze. I was going off minimal information, and dove right in, so please let me know if I've done something wrong, and please also let me know if you have any suggestions for the rest of the process.
I took 2, sanitized, 23 litre carboys to the local orchard, and had them filled with unpasteurized cider, straight from the press. Once I got them home, I took a sterilized length of tube, and syphoned some cider off of each carboy off into a stove pot. I heated that up on the stove, and added 4Lbs of brown sugar. I simmered that till the sugar was completely liquified, and started the yeast in water. I sterilized a long spoon that I borrowed from my pop's unused, winemaking supplies, and used it to stir 2Lbs of sugar/cider solution, and 1pkg of champagne yeast solution into each carboy. I stirred pretty hard, in both directions, and got a real whirlpool effect going to make sure the yeast and sugar was equally distributed throughout the cider. Attached the airlocks, and added the water. Put both carboys in the closet. I checked on them soon after, and they were both fizzing away, and the air traps were bubbling away. The whole room smelled and still smells like delicious, apple champagne.
It's been fermenting away in my workshop for a week now. Air lock is still bubbling, though with slightly less vigor.
Here's what I was planning to do from here on out:
Wait until there is no action in the airlocks for at least a day or two. Rack to my bottling bucket. If it's still cloudy, I was planning on racking it through a cheese cloth on it's way to the bottling bucket. Is that a bad idea? Will my champiderwine end up tasting like a cheesecloth?
Once in the bottling bucket, I was planning to melt about a cup and a half more of brown sugar (per 23 Litres) and stir that in. The idea is to prime the cider so it carbs in the bottle, NOT to sweeten.
I was going to bottle in glass quarts with a standard, beer capper.
I want to get enough sugar in there to give it a nice, natural carb, but I don't want too much sugar in there to avoid bottlebombs. I cannot cold crash (no fridge space), and I don't want to bottle pateurize if I can avoid it.
I want to leave a few bottles in the cellar for at least a year or two to see how this stuff ages, so I don't mind the fact that it will probably come out more like a sparking wine than a cider. I am fine with it being dry. More like an apple champagne. I want to make sure that my thinking is sound as far as waiting for no more airlock action before racking. I am assuming at that point, that the yeast has run out of food (sugar), and that all the yeast can do in the bottle at that point, is eat up the small amount of added sugar to produce a nice fizz.
I have no hydrometer (hygrometer in my humidor though), no thermometer, and no measuring cup. Flying by the seat of my pants on this one.
Aside from buying the proper tools, and NOT being so slipshod in my approach, any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
First post on here, and first time making my own booze. I was going off minimal information, and dove right in, so please let me know if I've done something wrong, and please also let me know if you have any suggestions for the rest of the process.
I took 2, sanitized, 23 litre carboys to the local orchard, and had them filled with unpasteurized cider, straight from the press. Once I got them home, I took a sterilized length of tube, and syphoned some cider off of each carboy off into a stove pot. I heated that up on the stove, and added 4Lbs of brown sugar. I simmered that till the sugar was completely liquified, and started the yeast in water. I sterilized a long spoon that I borrowed from my pop's unused, winemaking supplies, and used it to stir 2Lbs of sugar/cider solution, and 1pkg of champagne yeast solution into each carboy. I stirred pretty hard, in both directions, and got a real whirlpool effect going to make sure the yeast and sugar was equally distributed throughout the cider. Attached the airlocks, and added the water. Put both carboys in the closet. I checked on them soon after, and they were both fizzing away, and the air traps were bubbling away. The whole room smelled and still smells like delicious, apple champagne.
It's been fermenting away in my workshop for a week now. Air lock is still bubbling, though with slightly less vigor.
Here's what I was planning to do from here on out:
Wait until there is no action in the airlocks for at least a day or two. Rack to my bottling bucket. If it's still cloudy, I was planning on racking it through a cheese cloth on it's way to the bottling bucket. Is that a bad idea? Will my champiderwine end up tasting like a cheesecloth?
Once in the bottling bucket, I was planning to melt about a cup and a half more of brown sugar (per 23 Litres) and stir that in. The idea is to prime the cider so it carbs in the bottle, NOT to sweeten.
I was going to bottle in glass quarts with a standard, beer capper.
I want to get enough sugar in there to give it a nice, natural carb, but I don't want too much sugar in there to avoid bottlebombs. I cannot cold crash (no fridge space), and I don't want to bottle pateurize if I can avoid it.
I want to leave a few bottles in the cellar for at least a year or two to see how this stuff ages, so I don't mind the fact that it will probably come out more like a sparking wine than a cider. I am fine with it being dry. More like an apple champagne. I want to make sure that my thinking is sound as far as waiting for no more airlock action before racking. I am assuming at that point, that the yeast has run out of food (sugar), and that all the yeast can do in the bottle at that point, is eat up the small amount of added sugar to produce a nice fizz.
I have no hydrometer (hygrometer in my humidor though
), no thermometer, and no measuring cup. Flying by the seat of my pants on this one. Aside from buying the proper tools, and NOT being so slipshod in my approach, any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
aka yeast from the cider. I highly suggest purchasing the hydrometer. I found one for US$6 on Amazon - very cheap! I use malic acid and yeast nutrient before I pitch the yeast so it has enough balanced flavor and food for the yeast to munch off of. 
