Recent content by Dsavant

Just to share. I opened a swing top bottle lastnight shortly after posting then re-capped it. I opened it again just a few minutes ago and it was completely flat. Unless I'm mistaken this method worked, correct?

So, my test bottle was pretty solid today, and swmbo and I cracked open a smaller 12oz bottle today and.... It is just fantastic! We had a couple of friends try it and they were in love! I opened up a swing top bottle and let the carbonation die out a bit then ran it alongside the rest of the...

So, a small update: swmbo and I checked the hydrometer (fg was at 1.010) and bottled late last night. We ended up adding about 3.5 ounces of brewers best ginger flavoring and 3 cans of fajc. I'm going to let it carb just a little bit and then pasteurize once my test bottle is about where I want...

Hmm, honestly I was just trying to be lazy about it as I have a 5 gallon batch, and wanted to use a lot of pint sized bottles (I think the stock pot I have would only hold 3 or so at a time) so I really didn't want to spend an entire day pasteurizing when I could do it in an hour or two in the...

So I'm cold crashing my cider and will be back sweeten and bottled on Saturday. I'm going to fill a test bottle, and will pasteurize once that it's as carbed as I want (I don't want it to be too carbonated, my goal is a little around beer). I have read both the stovetop pasteurization threads as...

Great, thanks! Fermentation slowed down a little, and it was sitting at 1.020 yesterday, so a little longer I'm guessing and I'll crash it, then bottle, back sweeten, carb, and pasteurize and let you know how it goes!

What I'd really want to do is cold crash, then bottle carb (I'm pretty sure I'll be able to handle bottle pasteurizing) I just didn't know if getting it off the yeast cake before cold crashing helps/was necessary. I assume it doesn't matter. Tbh I'm not even certain I need to/should cold crash...

When I go to cold crash, should I: 1. Just cap the primary, and put it in the fridge 2. Transfer to secondary first, then crash I've seen people saying to do it either way

The FG I'm aiming for is more a target number than anything, I fully expect and understand that the chances of me stopping fermentation at that exact amount are slim to none at this time. In regards to letting it ferment completely dry, I figure I could do that, but if I'm around/ready to crash...

Yup! The ones I have do indeed have the spout to empty them. As for the headspace, good looking out! I had actually filled it, but had taken a picture for a friend of mine prior to filling all the way.

Short update on this, as I really haven't done anything with this until my hydrometer came. OG was 1.050 so I did not add any additional sugar, as I intend to ferment it to 1.008, which puts me at 5.5% which sounds perfect for who I'm brewing this for. I plan on cold crashing it once it reaches...

That's completely fine, I appreciate all the information from the two of you. I need as much as possible before I give it a go tomorrow :)

Thanks a ton! That was a lot of extremely useful information. I was wondering how long I was gonna be able to skate by without a Hydro and I guess nows that time. I'll give it a go, and after looking at pappers guide for pasteurizing, I think that's actually the route I'm going to go. Thanks again!

Hello there, I'm fairly new to brewing (only have 1 batch of beer, and 2 of cider under my belt) and have been looking around for some decent hard cider recipes that seemed pretty easy to throw together, and after comparing a few, I've come up with the below: 5 gallons of AJ Nottingham...