Recent content by buMbLeB

Nope! Of course I've already started down my path, but this is still great info. Especially because I know exactly where that tree is, and I plan on going back next year and improving on whatever I get this time. I'm super appreciative of you and everyone else who took time to help me out...

Quick tip - make sure your Campden tablets are fully dissolved and well-stirred into the juice, unless you're ok with a spontaneous wild ferment taking off. You can find my own recent thread in this sub detailing just such an adventure.

Update: so my mead yeast "smack pack" was slow to activate - again, I've never used them before - so I had to wait overnight to pitch. Meanwhile I siphoned off an imperial gallon into a carboy to keep as a wild yeast version. This morning I woke to find that it had completely blown off the...

Thanks, this is what I'm going to do. However the floor is still open if others have ideas or opinions. I'm especially curious to know why the campdens were seemingly ineffective - it was my first time using them, and I added 1 crushed tab per approximate 1 gallon of juice, adding more as I made...

help Help HELP!!! Thank you everyone for your input, but I now have a much more immediate situation - despite adding what I believe was the appropriate measure of Campden tablets, I have nonetheless returned home the next day to find my airlock merrily bubbling away, despite not yet having...

Thanks for the info, this is actually the yeast I end up going with as it's the one they had at the beer shop. It's summer where I am right now, so while I can keep it under that temperature most of the time, I can't run air conditioning 24/7. My other option is to use the lalvin 1118 I always...

Thank you! That's exactly the sort of Intel I was hoping for.

Thanks for the link, will read ASAP. I don't have a press and have way too many apples to freeze or fridge so all hope likes in my juicer. But I do understand it keeps pulp too, so I'll add it back. Meanwhile, I'm very interested in yeast suggestions.

I only have a hydrometer, and I won't know until I start juicing the apples tomorrow, by which time I'll have visited the brew store to get sulphites etc, and also yeast.

Ok so I've been around awhile and done several apple wines, ginger beer and cider from store bought juice, among other things. I've almost always used lalvin 1118, despite it being deprecated for cider I've liked it just fine. I've never used any sulphites or sorbates, I have (gasp!) boiled my...

I'd definitely avoid using balloons, not only due to their taste but I'm not sure how they might behave in the presence of alcohol. I normally just use different size containers, but I have topped up with apple juice before, it did restart fermentation on a small scale so you just have to wait...

I'd purchased some ribena intending to ferment it, then realized it had preservatives and just drank it, but now I'm motivated to try some in a cider. FYI it's widely available in Canada, for those within reach.

From my own experience, indefinitely, which really means "until it starts to appear cloudy, or has any particulate buildup". In practice this means a handful of uses on previously cleaned implements - probably more than five but less than ten. I don't think it "goes bad" in the sense of losing...

I don't see any mention of sulfites, sorbate or boiling - maybe I missed it? If not...

It's not kilju, but here's a base recipe I'm still tweaking that generally tastes pretty decent and is super cheap: boil 2.5 gallons Tetley Orange pekoe tea plus 3 whole cloves for 30 minutes. Cool overnight with bags in then remove. Boil the other 2.5 gallons (minus 1 litre) add 14 cups sugar...