Recent content by Hickory_Bill

Thanks, I figured I was good, but I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something that everyone else knew about.

If I want the sweetness of 1030 Sg, how do you know how much Stevia to add to get there? Is the Sg with Stevia the same as the original sugar? I suppose I could taste test it until it is correct.

I already picked some up from the local brew supply store.

another thought Boiling water, it was hot and a bit messy. ONEDIT: I poured a couple cups of boiling water into each, and rolled it around to cover every surface.

I just made my first batch of cider, and thanks to the good people of this forum, I was able to overcome several challenges between bad yeast?, poor nutrients, and too much sugar. My plan is to serve some tomorrow night at a labor day / birthday party, but I wanted some input on Food Safety...

That makes sense. A Big Thanks to everyone who has helped me. I've started a new gallon with K1V-1116 and added nutrients. It is performing entirely different. It is fermenting far more vigorously that the previous batch, and took my gallon from 1060 to dry in 2 days at 78F. I...

The fermentation has really tapered off again (this morning), I think I'm safe from explosions.

I filled a 2 L bottle tighten the lid set it in a large metal pot, and set it outside on the grill. We'll see what happens overnight. It's still 80F in Northern Illinois.

Thanks, that makes sense. I'll have to figure out how to relieve the pressure at 15 psi.

So 60 PSI is too much? I'm not sure what you mean by "overnight". What is the pressure inside a unopened bottle of beer?

I think your right, the yeast seemed a bit unhealthy. Question though, doesn't the smack pak have all the nutrient needed? for the 5 gal, or is that just to re-activate?

Iv'e also read soda bottles are good to about 100 psi (2L or 3L). I may use some of those, again with a 60 psi relief in the lid.

You are correct, it is sweeter than the original Apple Juice at 1005. The plan was to convert all the additional sugar to alcohol, end up at 12% ABV. But as it stands I only ended up at 6% ABV. I still have a week of fermentation before trying to serve it, and the crowd that will be...

Yes, That's my concern as well. I read somewhere that beer is somewhere between 45-60 psi. I thought I'd pressure test one of my empty bottles to 75 PSI, and if it holds, Install 60 PSI pressure relief valves in the lids. Grainger has them for $6. That way it will end up with a nice...

Update on my progress. I added some pumpkin pie spice (2 tsp) with one gallon of cider when I did the fermenting. This created a lot of floties. Because of this I decided I need to filter before I tried to carbonate. After about 3 weeks I didn't see any real drop in Sg so I decided to...