Recent content by rivalry15

The maple sugar definitely made it stronger ABV wise but the aroma was tough to keep after pouring half the keg. Not sure how I can keep that smell.....

I have primarily used WLP002 and fermented around 58-60 degrees. I like it because it leaves a fair bit of apple aroma and a touch of sweetness. I do have some samples of new Fermentis cider yeasts I want to try to see how they perform. I expect they act more like a wine yeast.

I have gotten away with only using one pack of WL yeast, but I typically use 2 to make sure I have the numbers of yeasties needed for a good ferment along with nutrient.

Hi All, I made my first batch of maple cider and I gotta say that I didn’t expect the maple to really come through but it did. I used 5 gallons of fresh pressed orchard cider, 1 lb of granulated maple sugar and WLP002 yeast as that usually cuts off and leaves a tiny bit of sweetness and apple...

Well it sounds like all of those will make some delicious cider!

Did you “sweat” the apples for a few weeks baby letting them sit out and slightly soften? Pressing a fresh picked hard apple can often lead to a lower yield.

That’s impressive and nearly done. Definitely the more economical way to go about it.

My SSBT 1/5HP chiller arrived today. Neat little system with a small footprint. I won’t have it up and running until the next batch is chosen though. I was looking at larger units with more cooling power but chose the 1/5 as I only use two 7g brew buckets and may upgrade to 14g system next fall...

I wasn’t able to find any HBS in the US that had it so I went to Fermentis directly and they offered to send sample.

I reached out to Fermentis when I saw they had 4 new types of yeast coming out to find out when they would be available here in the US. Got word the other day they could export from France and they arrived today. Can’t wait to try them out and see their profiles! I’ll update as I use these.

I have 2 - 7 gal brew buckets both with the FTSS. Having the chiller coil and pump included with the FTSS and temp controller are a nice benefit. That can be done though with a ferm chamber of fridge. I will say that the need to always watch the ice gets annoying. I did have a few issues this...

I had a few ciders clear nicely and then suddenly cloud back up. It turned out to be malolactic fermentation which apparently kicked in after the initial fermentation. It did clear eventually.

I would agree with Winesap and Harrison’s. I have Northern Spy, Baldwins and Winesap waiting to be pressed and I like the flavor winesaps give. I would love to try Franklins but that’s a few years out.

The 002 was the hands down winner for me, cleared very nice, left some sweetness behind with some apple aroma that some of the others did not. I did not have cooling capabilities back then so they may have gotten warm which affected the flavors. The 775 cider yeast was the runner up and was...

I did the same thing is you a few years ago, I tested several yeasts, WLP001, WLP002, WLP028 and WLP775. 002 came out the best for me and I have used it since.