Recent content by Griffin10

My house tends to stay around mid- to high-50s during the winter (just cuz we are too cheap to turn up the heat!), but in CA it doesn't vary too much day vs. night. So far our fermentation has been going ok, definitely kind of slow to start, and never gets going too vigorously you might say...

If you are talking about Costco, which carries Tree Top (from concentrate) and Kirkland (not from concentrate), I have done both several times (about 5x 5-gallon batches of each) over the last year. If I had to pick, I'd say not from concentrate is what I personally like better - the plain...

My mom loves heating up the cider we give here - just a minute or two in the microwave and not spiced or anything. It is nice and warming on occasion. I started brewing last December/January, so the holidays were kind of over, but I am DEFINITELY going to try doing a hot mulled cider in the...

My two cents on costs - I agree with making bigger batches (5 gallons) at a time, though I have never re-used yeast. Homebrewing does take some monetary outlay in the beginning, but over time, it can be cheaper than store-bought. I bought my carboy, tubing, bottles, etc. and use Costco juice...

Sure, I don't mind, I'll PM you.

On timing - my first few batches were with that same Champagne yeast. I tended to let sit in secondary for 2 weeks, until stuff has dropped down to the sediment layer and it is looking pretty clear. I usually then rack back off on that into a 5-gallon carboy to get rid of the sediment and allow...

Speaking of OCD, I made myself a brewing journal using Adobe InDesign, but I'm sure Word or something similar would work too, just not as fancy. I keep three sections: 1) Costs 2) Recipes 3) Journal Costs - I keep a rounded log of brewing-related costs because I was curious if it would...

Call me cruel, but this makes me want you to give her a blind taste test - make your cider, then re-bottle some strongbow side by side, and see what she likes better!

Most 5 gallon batches seem to use a 5g packet of yeast, so using about 3/5 of a packet for 3 gallons should work. I did this with my first batch - just kinda eyeballed it to use a "little over half" of the yeast, and it was all good.

Thanks everyone. I've also started round two......

By the way, the bottles ended up sitting for exactly 1 week before we decided to pasteurize. They were maybe even a little under carbonated, but I didn't want to risk it. So away we went! 16 bottles and no incidents - I call it a win! We managed to wait one more week after that to open them up...

I'd be interested to hear about this too - the Costco 2-pack of gallon jugs of tree top juice for $8 is tempting when you have student loans, haha. They are made from concentrate, but technically only contain apple juice and vitamin C, no preservatives - so they should technically be ok? But is...

This is precisely what I'm afraid of - especially since this cider went from OG of 1.056 to 1.002 in two weeks flat, three weeks to carb in the bottles just seems like too long. In light of this, despite my best (uneducated) guess that it didn't look ready, I opened a bottle today just to...

Hi All, Thanks to everyone who gave me advice or reassurance on starting my First Cider - it is now bottled!! Yesterday was day 21 of my cider. It spent pretty much exactly 2 weeks in primary, then 1 week in secondary. I know it could probably do with a little more to mellow out, but I am...

Hi All, So my cider went into secondary today, after two weeks in primary. I used my racking cane to take samples for the hydrometer (thanks to everyone's advice about this), and the SG was 1.002. I tried some and it was a bit harsh and definitely strong, but also appley and delightfully...