Recent content by columbian

By Apple juice concentrate, do you mean the frozen stuff you mix with water to make Apple juice? Is this better than brown sugar? What nutrient do you use?

Not good news, but not unexpected either. Sounds like I cut my losses and do the next one in glass. For the secondary fermentation, would it be ok to put only about 3 gallons in a 5 or 6.5 gal carboy? Or would the extra space create a problem? and do I put an airlock on during secondary? I...

No ph strips here, but I can get them. Why do you ask?

Graham: During the secondary fermentation, do you put airlocks on the cider? Can it sit at a lower temp than 60? Tim

That's certainly possible. But 2 things give me hope it's not: 1 these jugs are sturdy, and apparently well-made ones from fruit or vegetable juice; 2 It tasted sort of like this right after fermentation in a glass carboy had stopped, and during the first few weeks after racking. As they've...

Started fermentation last November (2012) so time's probably not the solution.

I used to make cider casually decades ago. It was cloudy and yeasty, but fun to drink. Being all grown up now, I picked, ground and squeezed a variety of apples last Fall (2012), then loaded up a 5-gal carboy and fermented it with a store-bought yeast. After fermentation had stopped, I racked...

I fermented about four gallons of cider in a carboy, have radked them into half-gallon jugs where they have cleared very nicely. There is sediment, but I can siphon off the clear stuff. I bought a new capper, and have collected a couple dozen 14-oz beer bottles in which I'd like to make...

Mano': Thanks for this information. I'd not recalled that the Hydro is measuring the weight of the displaced fluid. That clarifies things a lot. I already opted for caution, and racked into four and a fraction gals, all but one pretty clear. I guess I'll have to drink it no matter how...

What's "FG"?

I need to bottle, about 5 gallons of cider, but only have a few beer bottles (and NO swing-tops, darn it!) but lots of wine bottles. So I guess I need to make sure the cider is completely done fermenting. There's also a lot of air above the cider in my secondary, and it's not fermenting. So...

I made this press from a kit that included the welded-together screw and handle, an acme thread nut and plate, and metal straps. I forget if the tub staves came too, or if I had to make them myself. After only one season, the 3/4-inch plywood pressing plate I made got worn completely through...

Does this stop fermentation?

What is cold crashing?

I'm trying to get my hydrometer knowledge up to speed. Can anyone tell me what the three different scales measure? I know the one with a 1.00 at the top is specific gravity, but what are the other two? Can the hydrometer give me any clue of my present alcohol level if I didn't use it before...