So here I am, racking off a finished mild ale into a keg when I look over at the kitchen counter and see two lonely gallons of apple juice on the counter.
I think to myself "You know what would taste good right now? HARD CIDER!". Alas, I have none in the house, and my batch of Apfelwein is two weeks from bottling.
With one of my fermenting buckets soon to be freed up, I think to myself that making a small batch of quick-and-dirty sweet hard cider would fill a hole in my larder.
Alas! I have no yeast! Woe is me!
But wait - I have the trub in my aforementioned and soon to be empty fermenter! And - as luck would have it, the trub is free of hop and grain detritus.
So... and evil plan is made...
- Rack off every bit of the yummy ale
- Unceremoniously dump a couple of gallons of apple juice on the yeast cake
- Wait a couple of days until there's just enough residual sugar to sweeten it to my liking, and enough alcohol to make it worth drinking (say, about 3.5% ABV)
- Cold crash to stop the fermentation and to rapidly achieve optimal swilling temperature
- Bottle back in the original containers, and drink it up quickly.
I can hear the naysayers already. I'll get off flavors from the dregs of my yummy ale... more off flavors from the ale yeast... and for the love of all that's sacred, I'm probably massively overpitching. Clearly, the person who cooked up this evil plan is insane, and must be stopped.
I hear the naysayers and you know what? They're probably right. This experiment in hobo chemistry can't possibly have a happy ending. Hundreds may die at tasting time. Even worse, GALLONS of fermentables may be ruined without a single person getting drunk!
Well, friends, that's why such experiments are done. It's all in the name of MAD HOBO SCIENCE, I tell you.
I have exceeding low expectations of this experiment. It will probably taste nasty, and smell worse. I'll probably drink it and wish I had something good (like MD 20/20 or Bud Light) to get the taste out of my mouth. It's entirely possible this will be the worst excuse for an alcoholic beverage in recorded history. But you know what? People have probably sought the heavenly embrace of intoxication with far, far worse swill that we can possibly imagine.
Best regards,
Dr. Evil, mad hobo scientist.
I think to myself "You know what would taste good right now? HARD CIDER!". Alas, I have none in the house, and my batch of Apfelwein is two weeks from bottling.
With one of my fermenting buckets soon to be freed up, I think to myself that making a small batch of quick-and-dirty sweet hard cider would fill a hole in my larder.
Alas! I have no yeast! Woe is me!
But wait - I have the trub in my aforementioned and soon to be empty fermenter! And - as luck would have it, the trub is free of hop and grain detritus.
So... and evil plan is made...
- Rack off every bit of the yummy ale
- Unceremoniously dump a couple of gallons of apple juice on the yeast cake
- Wait a couple of days until there's just enough residual sugar to sweeten it to my liking, and enough alcohol to make it worth drinking (say, about 3.5% ABV)
- Cold crash to stop the fermentation and to rapidly achieve optimal swilling temperature
- Bottle back in the original containers, and drink it up quickly.
I can hear the naysayers already. I'll get off flavors from the dregs of my yummy ale... more off flavors from the ale yeast... and for the love of all that's sacred, I'm probably massively overpitching. Clearly, the person who cooked up this evil plan is insane, and must be stopped.
I hear the naysayers and you know what? They're probably right. This experiment in hobo chemistry can't possibly have a happy ending. Hundreds may die at tasting time. Even worse, GALLONS of fermentables may be ruined without a single person getting drunk!
Well, friends, that's why such experiments are done. It's all in the name of MAD HOBO SCIENCE, I tell you.
I have exceeding low expectations of this experiment. It will probably taste nasty, and smell worse. I'll probably drink it and wish I had something good (like MD 20/20 or Bud Light) to get the taste out of my mouth. It's entirely possible this will be the worst excuse for an alcoholic beverage in recorded history. But you know what? People have probably sought the heavenly embrace of intoxication with far, far worse swill that we can possibly imagine.
Best regards,
Dr. Evil, mad hobo scientist.