Recent content by weejub

In

In, please!

I think it would depend on how much yeast, size of bottle, etc. I like to put a bottle up in a plastic water bottle and then feel how hard it gets. If it starts to blow out the bottom and is rock hard within a couple days, I think you will need to pasteurize. You can simply run your bottles...

They work fine :) I do 3-6 gallons in 7 gallon buckets and carboys and I just typically syphon a bit into my hydrometer tube and then taste test it after reading.

This is awesome! :)

Love it - I am hoping to do something similar someday soon :) I have a lot of learning to do on the electrical aspects, though.

Yea I think it may have helped take out my batch. Additional note: On my second and "good" batch. It took me a full two cans of apple concentrate to get my SG up to around 1.05 from 1.015'ish where I wanted it for bottle conditioning.

That first batch was a failure - my first :( SG never went anywhere with it - yeast must have been killed by campden or something odd - not sure what happened. I am adjusting my recipe accordingly.

I just put my 3 gallon batch through the dishwasher. It was really carbing quickly. I hope the dishwasher killed the yeast :) I'm going to pasteurize my test plastic bottle, too and monitor its progress.

I don't think the type of apples is an issue - should be able to use about anything. I think the issue is the amount of campden vs the amount of yeast, possibly. Also could be some bottles got more and some less? Did your test bottle taste dryer than before, too?

Yea - You would just skip the bottle conditioning part. You may want to let it sit in secondary for longer, too - maybe a month vs a week or two. I'm doing precise measuring of back sweetening for three gallons to get back to 1.05'ish - I'll let you know how that comes out. I get the feeling...

I have done three batches were I tested the time AFTER bottling and BEFORE pasteurizing for carbs. Three weeks in the bottle was TOO LONG. The bottles leaked when I ran them through the dishwasher. The cider came out like a fizziest sparkling wine I have ever seen. The cider dried...

I've had a similar issue with my last batch and so I was "back to the boards" looking for advice for pitching new yeast into a secondary or just letting it sit for several weeks, etc. For now, mine is in my glass carboy waiting for a week or two - I will revisit it then. Definitely get the...

Well at two weeks I was still at 1.05+ SG!!! Not sure if yeast was old or if I put in less than I thought, but got very little cake compared to previous batches. I moved to secondary and am doing SG again in a week or so.

I honestly don't taste a lot of difference. On the brown sugar, I boiled it first, though with some water.