Recent content by Quaker

Rogue Shakespeare Stout

I started with 10. Those are mostly now producing. Now I have 40. I don't feel there's incremental work, but the majority still aren't producing yet, so I haven't experienced what harvesting could be like. i use the same spray regimen on all whether producing or not. I suppose there is a stair...

Picked my Major variety 2 weeks ago due to watercore setting in on the ripest ones. Similar happened last year and I barely salvaged any of them. So I opted to harvest them a bit underripe. I also picked my Hewes crabs. Otherwise I've only collected a few Grimes Golden that have dropped, but...

Hard to help without a better description of what makes it undrinkable. If it’s acid lacking, you could easily test that with a glass size sample and add some. Ditto with tannin. You absolutely don’t need to add those upfront. Generally perry is said to be far more difficult to make well...

I like it dry with firm tannins and light carbonation. I think my cider tap is set to about 1.8 volumes CO2. Never liked my initial batches due to acidity of dessert fruit. Last year I finally got bitter-sweet fruit from my trees and I’m thrilled now. When someone prefers it a little...

Not much to it. After grinding the fruit, add pectinase and let sit overnight. I first added potassium metabisulfite to avoid active fermentation and let sit about 8 hours or so, and then added the pectinase and stored overnight, pressing the next day. I used dosages per the bottle based on...

Pears are more difficult in every aspect it seems. They ripen from inside out and thus make it easy to miss their ideal ripeness. Reading up on perry makers, they seem to macerate their pear mash longer before pressing, often with pectinase enzyme added to break done the pectins prior to...

No fruit yet. They were grafted in 2015 with scions from NW Cider and transplanted last year. Still eager to taste it myself.

I have all 3 if you catch me in January. Best to PM me now with an email address since I rarely check this forum any longer. I also participate in the NA Scion Exchange Facebook group. My orchard is rounded out with all I want (mostly cider and perry varieties), but I still offer scions to...

If you’re fermenting it, then definitely opt for some bittersweet varieties. The typical dessert or eating apples have much higher acidity. Once the sugars are eaten up the by yeast, an acidic tang will remain. Last fall I was finally harvesting fruit from my own trees and it makes a...

I second the coffee character of brown malt.

Pick me and you can save on shipping, I’m local!

I have some red and green gooseberries. At perfect ripeness they easily come free from the branches. They are a little tougher to pluck off when they aren’t quite ripe yet. And as mentioned earlier, they feel a bit softer when ripe; they give a bit like a firm water balloon.

Did you notice the automatic flushing on urinals happens as you approach instead of as you back away? That’s always baffled me in Asia.

I'm giving you the benefit of a doubt and trusting you'd have been able to identify off flavors by now if these were caused by an infection. Plus the attenuation levels mentioned above seemed on the low side with room for a little more fermentation to happen.