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no. bulk age for about a month, maybe a month and a half on the first batch, then learned that cider is like wine and should age awhile! haha! second batch I bulk aged for about 3 months, maybe a little more before I bottled.

wow, nobody has any idea why my first 2 batches of cider did not carb up? both were 5 gallon batches and after about 3 months in the carboy I bottled with 5 oz of cane sugar:confused:

I've only been doing this for about 2 years now, but out of all the batches of beer and cider I've done, I've had "active fermentation" meaning bubbles rapidly going through the airlock within 5-10 hours of pitching the yeast. I've never done hydrometer readings to measure fermentation...

how many months is "months" my first batch I tasted after 3 months. it was awful. after a year, it was much better. at first, it was a very strong alcohol flavor, with very little apple flavor. but the harshness has mellowed and it's much smoother now.

what's it taste like when you ferment pure cane sugar? or was there other flavors in there as well? Never thought about mixing up pure sugar and just adding yeast. isn't that what rum is from? fermented cane sugar that's been distilled?

been doing this home brew thing for about 2 years now. I've done 2 batches of cider and just started my third. First batch of cider was a lesson on aging. I thought like beer, my cider/mead would taste great in 2-3 months. oops. a year later it was mellowed out and very smooth...

Pasturized cider you can just pour and pitch yeast. I just started a batch this weekend, but it's more of an apple mead. 5 gallons of cider, 6 lbs of honey and 6 lbs of brown sugar, with some "apple pie spices" I'll tell you how it tastes next year! but, it was store bought, pasturized...

I got the email file you sent, but it's time to go run some errands, so I'll post back later after looking at it. And yes, I've read the Dannybrew stuff a lot, which is why I was draining as fast as the system allows, since he said it was fine that way.

OK, so drain first, THEN add the "mash out" water of 6 quarts to raise the grain bed temp? THEN add the "fly sparge" volume for batch sparge? maybe that's why my efficiencies have been so low on my first few all grains...I've been adding hot water to the mash to raise temps before draining...

so I mash with 12 quarts at 163 to get mash temps of 152, then add 6 quarts of 200 degree water to raise up to 168, drain, then add the full volume of "fly sparge" water of almost 3.5 gallons at 168 to do the batch sparge? now, on to the question where earlier someone said "draining batch...

OK, I found the "fly sparge" option of single infusion mash, medium body. and now it automatically added a 2nd step of adding 6 quarts of water to bring temps to 168. THAT makes sense now! here's another screen shot...

OK, thanks. I'll look there. (you typed this as I was screen capturing and posting my post above with the pic)

I'm not even sure what fields I need to be adjusting in here. I've set grain temp/equipment temp for the initial mash-in, which says to add 12 quarts of water at 163, to get my mash temp of 152, that makes sense to me. but what is the "decotion boil temp" field for? I'm not trying to do a...

I'm still looking around and figuring it all out. I don't even see where I can select those options when working with the mash steps...

I'm on beersmith 2.0 if that matters. just downloaded it yesterday

Thanks, but that's what I have selected..."single infusion, medium body, batch sparge" it says "batch sparge with 3 steps, (.27 gal, 2.26 gal, 2.26 gal) with 168 degree water" why the "first sparge" of only .27 gallon? is this added to the MLT at the end of the mash period? how does only...

ok. I'm a fool for not using this wonderful tool earlier, clearly I don't know ANYTHING about calculating bitter units, color, etc. and would study recipies that had good reviews, what was in them, and trying to mimic them with my own twist by reading different "flavor profiles" of different...

I'm using a big rectangle cooler, copper pipe in the bottom drilled full of holes. I batch sparge, and the system drains FAST! I can do my first run-off in about a minute and a half, same with sparge. been wondering if it's TOO fast I'm getting better, but the first few batches ended...

a-ha, so it's more a function of the yeast combined with the temps, ferment lager yeasts cold (50s) then bottle condition and let store at cold temps after carbonation has built up. makes more sense then! so, I can lager in my basement, in an un-heated room then! no need to head to the...

I've been thinking of lagering. trying to understand it fully. you do the lagering before bottling, right? down to around 40 degrees? Explain to me about the yeast... I thought when the yeast got cold, they went "dormant" which is why fermentation temps need to stay in the low to...