Recent content by ejcrist

I haven't been drinking or making cider for very long so I can't comment on what truly good cider tastes like, but I couldn't agree more with your statement - hit the nail right on the top of the ole head. Couldn't agree more. The store bought stuff I've tried so far seemed pretty good but a...

Are you worried about contamination or that you added yeast nutrient, i.e., Fermaid K instead of Go-Ferm? I wouldn't worry about contamination at all. If you added Fermaid K instead of Go-Ferm I don't know what effect that will have but I wouldn't worry about it. I never heard of anyone having a...

Thanks for the info - that's good to know. I want to try a batch with one of the four different yeasts I tried but add nutrients to see how much it affects the flavor. If it affects the fermentation time I'm guessing the flavor probably changes somewhat and that would be interesting to see.

Roger that. I've never kegged anything but I'd assume it's the same as bottling so I'd figure it would be decent after about 3-4 months at the shortest, but that's just a guess on my part. I haven't tried any of the cider yeasts yet but they look to have similar profiles as wine yeasts, so I'm...

Slim - If you decide to make a batch using a starter, and if it's 5 gallons or more, I've found 1.5L works good. I've been taking that amount from the 6 gallons I plan to use and when you pitch the starter you end up with the total amount you wanted to start with in the beginning. If you're...

Just my opinion, but I make starters for wine, mead, and cider in most cases. In the case of cider the reason is I use ale yeasts and I never do less than a 6 gallon batch so I end up with about 5 gallons. And at the standard pitch rate for ales of 500,000 cells per ml you need about 141 billion...

When you say "finish" are you talking about primary fermentation? For me finished means bottled and ready to drink, but if you're talking about finished primary fermentation, the first batch is undergoing secondary in a carboy now and the second batch will get racked from the fermenting bucket...

Being I'm new at this I'm not exactly sure when the first batch will be ready, but if I had to guess I'd say probably around Christmas at the earliest. You can get a good Hannah pH meter from Midwest Supplies (http://www.midwestsupplies.com/checker-1-economical-ph-tester.html) that costs...

I'm new to making cider and have been drinking the Woodchuck while waiting for my batches to finish and age a little. Personally I like it. I didn't much care for the Angry Orchard but I thought Woodchuck was decent.

I have three batches currently underway with (1) Trader Joe's unfiltered Honeycrisp and S-04, (2) Musselman's unfiltered Honeycrisp and Nottingham, and (3) Tree Top unfiltered Honeycrisp and WLP002. I have another batch I put together with Tree-Top 3-Apple (Red and Golden Delicious and...

Thanks for the info gents - good to know. So far the two batches I launched Friday are churning along fine. Of course I'm not at the tasting point yet but I will say these two yeasts took over in the shortest time, and the most aggressive than any other yeast I've ever pitched for cider, wine...

I guess there's not many people using these two yeasts. In case anyone is interested, I made 1.5L starters on a stir plate yesterday for these two and pitched at room temperature (~ 75F), then waited for signs of fermentation before moving to a chest freezer w/controller set to an average of...

Thanks Maylar - appreciate the info. I'm with you on the OG. Mine are all around 1.050 which is where I want 'em. I resort to mead and wine if I want something higher but I like cider in the low range.

I agree totally. Thanks BTW for your input. That's why this whole "attenuation" stuff has my head spinning. I'm into wine, mead, and now cider, and I totally understand the alcohol tolerance issue and use it at length in my recipe calculations, but unfortunately beer yeasts don't list alcohol...

Ok, got it to a point. So will ale yeast stop converting sugars to alcohol once it reaches it's max attenuation (in theory)? And if so, will the addition of priming sugar not result in carbonation but only additional sugar/rise in gravity like from 1.010 to 1.011 like in your example?