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I did a 5 gallon batch of cider (just local, fresh pressed, UV treated, fermented on Wyeast Sweet Mead strain), and after a month and change in primary carboy, it's down below 1.00, and I think ready to bottle for dry, carb'ed cider goodness. Is it a no-no to re-use the lees/yeast in the...

Mine has been on Wyeast Sweet Mead yeast for about 5 weeks. Tastes fantastic now, getting ready to bottle in a few days... it finished below 1.00, and tastes really pretty darned tremendous, to my mind. Oddly more like green fresh apples than the original cider tasted, I think. Anyone know if...

I am finding that the semi-tripel (added too much water into the primary, so wound up undershooting the specified OG, but got a decent alcohol content from the Wyeast High Gravity yeast) has definitely gotten better over a few months. Dubbel had some bubblegum flavor that has now dissipated as...

Saniclean also takes 2 ounces per four gallons. Starsan is on ounce per 5 gallons. Saniclean is not half the price of starsan, so it's more expensive... foam is fine. Don't let it trouble you.

I don't think I could go back to having to rinse after sanitizing... aside from anything else, I always worried about risk of infection, which means you might save $.20 per batch on sanitizer, and have to toss the occasional infected batch, at a much higher cost...

I'd rather have it by weight, I think in these cases using volumetric measurement is a dangerous business... If you look at baking, the way in which you measure flour (heaped scoop, shaken to settle in a measuring pitcher, loosely sifted or packed) can make or ruin a loaf of bread. Same thing...

I wasn't sure whether the 2/3s should be packed or on the loose side... holdover precaution from bread baking by baker's measures (always weight-based). So I measured loosely packed cups, which came out to 117 grams, definitely less than the 5.333 ounces you mention, by about 30g. Maybe not...

Yeah, I measured a non-packed 2/3s of a cup of dextrose in 2 cups of water for each batch. Allowed to cool a little, then put in the bottling bucket, siphoned all the beer onto it with an angle so as to swirl the mixture together. Glad to hear that it should be fine. These three were batches...

I don't put them in the fridge early, but I do confess that I'll open one ever few days through the carb'ing to see how they are shaping up... I just can't WAIT :) However, generally, the two to three weeks are worth waiting for, and sometimes more to let the flavors settle down a bit.

I've gotten definitely lower than 1.020, and even I think below 1.010, but these were beers this time that had not only specialty grains but were made with at least partly amber extract... I usually use pale, and had no issue with that. I've never had one blow up, but I haven't been doing this...

I have had batches with US-05 where they were carb'ed and well drinkable in under a week. I'm not expecting that in this case... HOWEVER, maybe I should try to drink them all in under three weeks to keep the explosions down. :mug:

Wondering also whether it makes a difference that I dipped the sanitized hydrometer in the fermenter, instead of using the little sample tube for this round... The bottles were indeed well sanitized, were clean, and are capped as tightly as I could figure out with the twin-lever I've got...

They were in for over a month, really... it would have been 5 weeks on Friday/Saturday.

The expected initial gravity was 1.050-1.054 roughly... They all have some darker tones that are (I assume) non-fermentable. The Nukey was the one at 1.020, and is the one I'm most concerned about... The odd bit is that I have never had a problem with beers I did where I didn't use the...

Just finished off three batches, bottled etc. They were in the primaries for over four weeks, I had no remaining airlock activity, and after a two day stretch in the middle where they got a bit too chilly (power outage after the nor'easter) I kept them in the boiler room at a nice solid 64-67...

Just use starsan. It's so much easier, so much better, an SO cheap when you really break down the costs. It even breaks down into yeast nutrient! You can use stale starsan to water your plants! You can sanitize with just a plant mister! (I'm not a paid spokesperson, but I was so stoked...

two more... breakneck ridge is right near us on the river, and sleepy hollow is right down the road (Washington Irving story featuring pumpkin-headed headless horseman:)

I'm shooting for simple and if that means dry, so it will be. I just don't want it flat as funky apple wine I've had in the past hasn't really hit my happy spot. Not sure whether good source cider makes a difference over any other apple juice, but I'm hoping so...

I don't really want to add extra sugars or other stuff. No added flavors etc. It was just local cider, and actually some of the VERY best fresh cider I've had in a long while. Height of the season. Nothing wrong with adding adjuncts etc, but for me the idea of going simple with the best...

I've had a simple cider fermenting in a carboy for two weeks this weekend. It's just fresh pressed cider (no preservatives, natch, it's local fresh cider that's UV treated) and Sweet Mead yeast. At what point do I figure it's done fermenting? At what point do I bottle? I don't mind it...