Recent content by inexplorata

Well, no action. Looks like a re-pitch is in order. Thinking about rehydrating as advised upthread, only using a packet of SO4 I've got... slow worker, and easy enough to stop. I'm going to try to halt things in time to leave it sweet -- 1.015 or so? Target a 43--point drop, then rack and cold...

Well, I went simplest first and added 2 tsp of boiled yeast in a quarter cup of water, cooled. Sloshed it 'round just a bit. No action after 12 hours, but I suppose I'd best wait, what, 48 before taking further action?

I think I might've overestimated how far Wyeast's 4632 Dry Mead Yeast would go. 19 pounds of honey later, my OG read a whopping 1.135 back in September; this morning's reading (late January) was 1.058, which I believe still puts me in the "sickly sweet" end of things? Now I'm wondering if...

:ban: So my wife, who just started keeping bees (yay!) was given some equipment from a colleague who just stopped keeping bees -- a neat pile of old-school gear, including a 100-year-old centrifuge. And a big food-safe bucket. "Yeah, there's some honey in there, too," he told her. "It's a...

Seems appropriate to kick this and mention I've been tasting it off and on for months, opened another last night. Still nicely carbed, clear, beautiful... and has an overwhelming eucalyptus nose that makes drinking it no fun. I went back to store-bought yeasts this year. :)

I had a dog that begged at the table. I cured him of it by always giving him a slice of lemon. He stopped begging, because the result sucked. As others have suggested, if you have a few bottles of something that didn't work out quite right, that's the stuff to give to this guy.

If the smell/taste is sort of a camphor/medicine-y/mentholatum sort of thing, welcome to the world of Colorado wild yeasts. At least my experience with them, they don't make particularly nice tasting ciders. Very active, though. Just the taste is off, and doesn't get better with age.

So I did a bunch of experiments with wild yeasts last year, and actually wound up with several bottles of something I liked quite a bit. I've been reading about the harvesting process, and intuitively it seems a little overcomplicated for cider making. Is there any compelling reason I can't...

Just noticed this; we have (what I'm pretty sure is) a big red delicious tree that seems to produce exceptionally well about every other year, and sits with one or two apples on the off years. It's certainly the tree, not the frost or bees; neighbors have one just like it that does the same, but...

I'm going to follow this with interest, as my plum tree is looking like it's going to deliver in a big way this year. Keep us updated on how it goes!

I'm going to give this a go this year. Weird frost in my part of Colorado, my apple tree (which gave me 12 gallons of juice last year) is a lost cause, but my peach tree's yield is going to be insane. I've found complicated recipes online, but BigKahuna, seriously just replace the juice in the...

...Or to spoil an exceptionally well-made cider. :tank:

http://www.beveragedaily.com/Markets/Antioxidant-rich-cider-under-the-microscope

Looking at my notes, by OG was 1.050, and it came down to 1.000 before it petered out. The *taste* is decent, but it did give me an uncharacteristic headache. :) The smell is pretty off-putting after a few sips, though. And that was even in a narrow half-pint glass. :(

Just as an update, I bottled this and it carbed up, had my first taste last night. ...Odd nose to it, almost like eucalyptus or Cepacol? Very weird. I may go back to cultured yeasts next year.