Hi I'm new!

[HvacTechnicianMusician]

Hi I'm from Minnesota. I've grown lots of tropical fruit bearing plants at home, maintain a healthy aquarium with long lived fish without checking parameters; do audio engineering as a hobby as well.

Recently picked up brewing because of my lack of time for music due to HVAC work ( I used to do nursing work in hospice/memory care at nursing homes) now I do HVAC.

Started a Apple cyser with organic un-pasturized cider and honey (3 lbs honey, the rest is cider)

the photo is from after adding nutrients 5 days ago, going on 2 weeks it's not as foam but I see active bubbles rising to the surface. I'm using EC1118

A friend who owns a winery said to ferment it as cold as I can and to do primary for 2 months minimum..wait for it to clear up and wait 5 days then siphon to a different container, and then do that again 4 to 5 times more. And keep it cold.

I haven't measured specific gravity of this because I measure specific gravity all the time at work lol..ie natural gas, propane, butane etc...
I like winging things. I want to learn how to brew by: look, feel, aroma, senses, time-frame and have it be good
It's a home brew after all

But I'm here cuz I Wana do it well. Thanks for having me

I shall call whatever the final result is "APPLE SHIZA" instead of cyser...hehe
A little play on words

 

[lumpher]

Welcome, hvac. There are a lot of people here who consider brewing a top level science, and then there are we who, as you say, brew by look, feel, etc. I have a lot of the gauges and toys for brewing, and I'd use them except I'd have to blow the dust off them first. Too much trouble... I think most of us use a combination of art and science. It's my thought that you can make a good beer with science, a good beer treatng it as an art, but it takes a combination of science and art, usually gained by experience, to make a great beer.

 

[ncbrewer]

Welcome and good luck.

 

[HBT_Admin]

Welcome to HBT! We're glad to have you join us!

 

[Knightshade]

Hey!! Welcome to the forum!

I hope your experiment ends well. I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable just winging it, but I definitely try not to take this thing too seriously and don't beat myself up too much when I make a mistake. I've got one conditioning right now that I'm fighting the impulse to throw out...because it might turn out...at least okay? I really only need to be okay long enough to try it again, so that is at least one battle potentially won...

 

[AzOr]

Welcome to HBT!
Apple cyser is what got me hooked to mead making years ago. We bottled our batch and would occasionally pop one open to share. After about 15-18 months we opened a bottle and wow. When I took the first sip it was flavorful and had body to it. I remember thinking, this isn’t bad. By the third sip, I was thinking- I’d pay really good money for this stuff. Before that point, it was just ok. Nothing spectacular. That was my first batch, since then I’ve gotten better and my meads taste better much sooner. Although age always helps.

About the racking four or five times, that may work in a winery where you’re working with hundreds of gallons, but at our scale, you’ll end up wasting too much good stuff.
You’ll be fine racking off your primary vessel and aging it (sur lie).
And you can ferment and age according to the range of your yeast. No need to store it “cold”.

Best of luck and hope you stick around here.